Wilder Good

Barn Swallow – These cute birds make nests of mud and straw.  Their nests are not all that different from early homes of the pioneers, and some Indians, who made homes out of dirt.  Those “people nests” were called adobe, sod, and dugout. Barn swallow nests can

Scorpion – Scorpions have a wicked design.  They have two huge crab claws out front to grip prey with and then – WHAM – a venomous stinger slams prey from directly overhead.  Then the predator eats the paralyzed prey alive. The stinger is on the end of

Indian Paintbrush – Indian Paintbrush is another wildflower with a sweet name. The name comes from the look of the leaves – they look half-dipped into red paint.  If you look close you can see the circular red blooms, but also that half of each green leaf

Female Cottonwood Tree – The little green balls in this photo are parts of a female cottonwood tree.  Surprised?  Cottonwood trees are either boys or girls. These round growths are called catkins.  The catkin is a group of small flowers arranged around a stem in the center,

Praying Mantis Egg Sack – Praying Mantis mating usually happens during the fall.  After the female has her eggs fertilized by a male she lays between 10 to 400 of them.  The eggs are laid in frothy pile on a secure structure like a tree or a

Great Horned Owl – An owl with horns, that is about as cool as it gets.  Except that they aren’t horns, of course, just tufts of feathers.  But the whole package of huge predatory bird and large yellow eyes and ‘horns’ makes for a great animal.  Their