Editor’s note: Rick Hollis of rural North Liberty, is past president and newsletter editor for the Iowa City Bird Club. By Rick Hollis, community contributor Winter bird-watching can be very exciting. Last year we saw a snowy owl irruption (yes that is spelled right). An irruption is the unusual occurrence of higher than normal numbers [...]
continue »Ice fishing will never replace open-water angling in my affections, but it will do until spring returns. Three of the biggest thrills of open-water angling — the detection of the bite, the hookset and the battle — are substantially subdued in ice fishing. And, of course, personal comfort is harder to come by when the [...]
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Raise the number of buck deer that Gov. Terry Branstad has bagged to three. The five-term governor could hardly contain his pride Monday in describing to reporters at his weekly news conference how he shot an eight-point buck during the governor’s deer hunt near Leon in Decatur County last weekend. “This is the biggest [...]
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The nearly two dozen trumpeter swans residing here on the Cedar River below the roller dam in Cedar Rapids attest to the success of the state’s swan reintroduction program. “For all the effort that has gone into the program, a large flock in an urban area is a nice indication that it is paying off,” [...]
continue »CEDAR RAPIDS — After finishing a close second last year and in the top five in the preceding three years, Brad Teel of Independence finally won the Cedar Rapids Bassmasters’ fisherman of the year title in 2012. Teel, 31, speaking Wednesday evening at the club’s annual awards banquet, said it’s an honor to have his [...]
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Rich Patterson knows much about nature, but the longtime director of the Indian Creek Nature Center says he learns something new all the time. So Patterson now finds himself stumped, trying to figure out what critter or critters dug holes through a snow pile and frozen ground and deep into the ground in recent days [...]
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Voluntary conservation, the prevalent method in Iowa, is not making the state’s water any cleaner, according to a study released today by the Environmental Working Group. “If we are serious about cleaning up Iowa’s water, we are going to need regulations” to curb damaging farming practices, said study co-author Craig Cox, EWG senior vice president [...]
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The state’s deer population, in decline since 2006 in response to hunters’ intensified efforts to kill does, is down another 10 percent this year, according to Department of Natural Resources research biologist Tom Litchfield. Hunters will see fewer deer than they are accustomed to during the upcoming shotgun seasons, Saturday through Dec. 5 and Dec. [...]
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D14, a Decorah bald eagle fitted with a satellite transmitter, was electrocuted Monday near Rockford, Iowa, about 50 miles southwest of its natal nest at the Decorah Fish Hatchery. “The bird was obviously electrocuted with electrical burns to one foot and burns to one wing,” said Bob Anderson, director of the Raptor Resource Project, which [...]
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The world-famous Decorah eagles may be taking a year’s hiatus from their highly acclaimed reality show. “They’re building a new nest about 300 feet from the old one. If they actually move into it, we won’t be able to install nest cameras” until after next year’s brood has left the nest, said Bob Anderson, director [...]
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