Search Results for: wild thing

“Season of Misery” for colonial Americans and true Yankees

Guest post by Dane A. Morrison Recently, the online journal Common-place published a roundtable on Kathleen Donegan’s Seasons of Misery: Catastrophe and Colonial Settlement in Early America, a book that has garnered a good deal of attention among early Americanists. The collection of brief essays expands upon a session held at the American Studies Association…

The nature of our neighborhood: house sparrows

Guest post by Leslie Day The house sparrow’s Latin name, Passer domesticus, means small, active bird (Passer) belonging to a house (domesticus). House sparrows are tough little New York City birds that fill our parks, streets, sidewalks, and back yards with their daily comings and goings. One hundred house sparrows were introduced from Europe into Brooklyn and Manhattan…

The nature of our neighborhood: house sparrows

Guest post by Leslie Day The house sparrow’s Latin name, Passer domesticus, means small, active bird (Passer) belonging to a house (domesticus). House sparrows are tough little New York City birds that fill our parks, streets, sidewalks, and back yards with their daily comings and goings. One hundred house sparrows were introduced from Europe into Brooklyn and Manhattan…

The stranding of so many Kemp’s ridley turtles in Massachusetts is both good news and bad news

An expert’s perspective: James R. Spotila In recent weeks, sea turtles have been stranding in historic numbers along the beaches of Cape Cod. A recent article in the New York Times tells the story of heroic volunteer efforts to rescue the stranded turtles, and it highlights the uncertainties (and the hunches) as the scientific community tries…

A Marsh is Born

By Vincent J. Burke, executive editor A hawk went aloft, stealing everyone’s attention. It was a familiar scene for the speaker, a wildlife manager whose back was turned to the soaring bird. You could see the slight smile form on his face as he recognized the failed attempts of the rows of seated listeners to conceal their interest.…