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When snowy owls appear in Michigan, biologists and researchers get busy
By Buckmasters Online
From Saginaw Bay to Sault Ste. Marie to Kalamazoo, people across Michigan this winter have reported an influx of snowy owls far, far from their Arctic tundra home. These beautiful white birds, with piercing yellow eyes and nearly 5-foot wingspans, are North America's largest owls, averaging between 3.5 and 6.5 pounds in weight. Snowy owls are rapto... READ MORE
Misdirected desert cardinal relocates in Louisiana
By Buckmasters Online
Photo: A pyrrhuloxia, commonly known as a desert cardinal, was observed and photographed by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist Dan O’Malley.
No one would confuse Jefferson Davis Parish in southwest Louisiana with the deserts of the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico, but that didn’t matter to one desert cardina... READ MORE
Give me a home, where the buffalo roam
By Buckmasters Online
“Home on the Range,” a favorite song of school children and lovers of wide open spaces, is a bit inaccurate when it comes to one proper, scientific name. There aren’t any buffalo on the range, but there are American bison. Explorers, French fur trappers and settlers first named these enormous creatures. They used a word in s... READ MORE
If you care about food, respect the humble bat
By David Rainer
Photo: Gray bats exit one of thousands of caves in Alabama to forage for insects during the night. – Photo Courtesy Steve Davis/ADNCR
One of the most maligned species in the animal kingdom is under scrutiny in Alabama, for good reason. Nick Sharp, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division’s nongame biologist, puts the situation in per... READ MORE
Banding elusive Saw-whet Owls
By Buckmasters Online
Some visitors to Indiana Dunes State Park will be burning the midnight oil in mid October when they come to observe the popular Saw-whet Owl banding project, now in its seventh year.
The banding project monitors long-term changes in Saw-whet owl populations as found along Lake Michigan’s southern shore, by counting owls and studying the bird... READ MORE
Eastern hellbenders new video stars
By Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Eastern hellbenders, slippery cold water salamanders that can grow more than 2 feet long, are one of the best known, yet least seen amphibians.
That’s why it’s so unusual that a few of them have become new video stars.
The videos became available following a Georgia Department of Natural Resources hellbender survey which canvassed a G... READ MORE