BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Seriously, it could happen to anyone. Well, any working mom operating on instinct and snap-judgements who needs to snag some groceries before she flies back home to those perpetually ravenous kiddos. Okay… maybe it couldn’t happen to anyone. But...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD This year's class of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) naval aviators have started flight school! I’ve been watching these youngsters on daily dog-walks in the park since early May. When they first showed up I noticed their resemblance, in size...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Walking with my terrier-boy in Lafayette Park, I often happen upon the beginning of a late-afternoon performance by the American Robin Ballet Company. The dancers scatter across the lawn, their dark charcoal cloaks and garnet waistcoats vivid...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD The melody seeped into my REM cycle, making me just lucid enough to believe someone was singing a cappella outside my window. But my sleep-clouded brain couldn’t make out the words and I didn’t recognize the voice either. Besides, who would want...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Everyone has their own personal markers of summer—the flash of a firefly, the pulsing hum of cicadas, the aroma of freshly cut grass... I'm sure you have a favorite. To my mind, nothing says summer quite as definitively as the sight of chimney...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD As the most literal of helicopter parents, a ruby-throated hummingbird mom (RTH, Archilochus colubris) takes hovering to a whole new competitive level. In the case of this feathered sprite (2.8 – 3.5″ long, including bill, and just over 1/10 of...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD There’s been a marked decline in the number of sunspots over the past decade or so. That’s what NASA scientists say, and I have no reason to doubt their research findings. Luckily, I haven’t observed any reduction in the terrestrial version of...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD It's a fine world, though rich in hardships at times. ~ Larry McMurtry There's a sweetness in the lament of a Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) that makes the sorrow bearable, and believable. Theirs isn't an pop tune about a hookup with a...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD JAY! JAY! JAY! Uh oh... I’ve been spotted! The Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) on guard have ratted me out. Halt! Who goes there? Thought you could just slip past, did you? Not on my watch. Hey everybody—look! Look! Over there!” Now every...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Heat and Humidity have resumed their annual one-upmanship contest here in Arch City. Being outdoors mid-day can be unpleasant, so my canine companion and I have been trying to beat them to the starting...