Birds and other wildlife can sometimes find their surroundings overripe for intoxication. Fruit can become alcoholic in several ways. Sometimes in the fall, fruit matures too much and ferments. In the winter, cold concentrates a fruit’s sugar, which then breaks down and produces alcohol.

You might steal a kiss under its green branches, but in nature, mistletoe is a parasitic plant that attaches to and steals nutrients from trees.

While on the road this holiday season, be on the lookout for these roadside dive-bombers: American kestrels.

Blue jays are relatively large songbirds (about the size of a robin) with blue upperparts and whitish underparts. A blue crest on the head can be raised or lowered depending on the bird’s mood.

As you drive country highways, it sometimes seems that hawks are everywhere -- perched on telephone poles and fence posts or circling overhead.

If you venture out near the woods after dark, you might hear the high-pitched cry of a flying squirrel.

Look around the Mississippi flyway this fall, and you may see the greater or lesser scaup ("SKOPP"). Scaups are diving ducks that can fully submerge and swim underwater for food.

November is prime mating season for white-tailed deer. It's not too hard to see deer today, but around 100 years ago they were hard to spot.

Discover nature this week with Missouri Hummingbirds. A “glittering fragment of the rainbow” is how an early American naturalist described the hummingbird. He must have been impressed with its shimmering green plumage and crimson throat feathers. Also impressive are the size and speed of hummingbirds. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are by far our smallest bird. They are a mere three inches long and weigh as little as one dime. Missouri has some migrant hummingbirds, but the ruby-throated hummingbird

Discover nature this week with Missouri's caterpillars. The bright wings of butterflies catch your eyes, and many people notice. But few notice naturally drab caterpillars. Butterflies find mates, reproduce, and die. Caterpillars have much bigger jobs. They hatch from tiny eggs to grow into fat, fleshy larvae. Then they transform into graceful adults. All that takes lots of energy, so caterpillars are basically eating machines. Most caterpillars only eat the leaves of certain plants. Monarch