by everythingsd | Jul 31, 2021 | Larry Porter
Coots are quite common on Midlands lakes—large or small—this spring. It was an overcast afternoon, and a large number of coots were lounging on or near a mud flat at Lincoln’s Holmes Lake as I drove through the suburban park. Flying is not a coot’s strong point. They...
by everythingsd | Jul 31, 2021 | Larry Porter
Steve Kruse wore a huge smile beneath his cold-weather hoodie when we met in a parking area near the dam at Stagecoach Lake near Hickman, Nebraska, last week. The mid-April temperature was in the high 20s, a thick layer of clouds produced a gray morning and a stiff...
by everythingsd | Jul 31, 2021 | Larry Porter
As the father of three daughters and the grandfather of six, I’ve seen my share of primping. But not even preparation for a prom rivals the preening carried on by great egrets during the spring. Great egrets grow long plumes that flow from their backs like fine, lacey...
by everythingsd | Jul 31, 2021 | Larry Porter
It’s hard to believe, but a male indigo bunting is a fake. Its strikingly beautiful blue feathers are a pigment of our imagination. There isn’t a speck of blue pigment in any of its feathers. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, their color comes from...
by everythingsd | Jul 31, 2021 | Larry Porter
I know it’s deceiving to give human characteristics and emotions to animals, birds and inanimate objects, but there are times it just can’t be helped. The writing tool is called anthropomorphism, and there are lots of examples. Perhaps the most familiar is the Walt...
