Wild About Utah

The magic of fire! The magic of trillions of highly excited electrons giving us heat, light, comfort, and excitement- seen in the dancing eyes of my grandchildren. My high school chemistry students were all pyromaniacs. “Mr. Greene, are we going to burn something today?” a common refrain as they entered the classroom. A community fire …

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“A deep chesty bawl echoes from rimrock to rimrock, rolls down the mountain, and fades into the far blackness of the night. It is an outburst of wild defiant sorrow…. Every living thing (and perhaps many a dead one as well) pays heed to that call. To the deer it is a reminder of the …

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Summer temperatures in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve may often exceed 100 degrees with only a 15 degree drop at night. This is not uncommon in this portion of the Mojave Desert. Over the millennia, amazing adaptations have been made by plants and animal alike to enhance their survival here. Anatomical, physiological and behavioral adaptations …

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As the Winter Olympics were getting into full swing , I was glued to the TV. I was dazzled by the super speed and skills of the athletes. Then I heard the Natural History Museum of Utah had just opened its traveling exhibit Bug World, which could teach me about the small super athletes of …

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Sweet aromas of Indian Ricegrass are lifted by the breeze, whirled into a miniature maelstrom within the watery globes of morning dew. The dewdrops quiver and are dislodged from their positions on wisps of down. Tender webbed feet – ornamented with streaks of yellow so reminiscent of the sunlight now greeting them – grip a …

Continue reading "Life is Like a Box of Wood Ducks"

“Get more! Snap another one! Keep shooting, Dr. Koz!” Silent whisper-yells bombard, as if I’m a paparazzi capturing exclusive, behind the scenes footage of Taylor Swift or some other super star. However, these are kid whispers, and I’m just a 2nd-grade teacher leaning out my exterior classroom door, taking pictures of a curious little Black-Capped …

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One of the most important services of the Bridgerland Audubon Society is the engagement of the public in participatory science. Starting with the first Logan/Cache County Christmas Bird Count in 1955, we have encouraged novice and advanced birders within the designated 15-mile diameter Watch Circle to participate from home. Then in mid-February, everyone can participate …

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When I opened the door to the special exhibit on the Ice Age at Salt Lake’s Natural History Museum, I found myself face to face with the long, looping tusks of a wooly mammoth. Once I caught my breath, I could see the mammoth’s head was painted on a piece of wood, but the tusks …

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Several years ago, we placed a bird feeder near the lodge at Beaver Mountain Ski Area in Logan Canyon thinking it would attract some interest by the many thousands of skiers passing through. Later, we added another bird feeder nearby for the Sageland Collaborative project on the black crown rosy finch in a less disturbed …

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“This is an old business, walking slowly over the land with an appreciation of its immediacy to the senses and what lies hidden in it.” -Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams The snow came late this year. If it is a measuring stick, Beaver Mountain ski area, in Logan Canyon, did not open before Christmas for the …

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