Browsing: Environment

Groundsel Bush adds a splash of white to our world.

Nature has a language of its own, often expressed in colors or structures that send signals to the rest of the world. So it is with spines on caterpillars, like those on the beautiful Io moth.

Field trips are not just for children in traditional school settings, especially when the outing has so much educational value.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected the Gulf – Caribbean Oceanographic Consortium, cooperatively led by The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON), to operate the third new oceanographic research ship to carry out regional scale research in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

From live to dry and back again, Resurrection Fern is a survivor.

Rhodes Bayou will be humming on Sept. 13 as the site of the first-ever Hummingbird Happy Hour hosted by the Pascagoula River Audubon Center.

Owls are quite beautiful. Many sport brown, red, gray and white feathers in an array of patterns. Snowy owls are completely white, but they are not a common site south of Canada. Seeing a white owl in our part of the world is, therefore, a reason to take a second look.

For free-ranging Wolf Spiders, they take their egg sacs with them – securely attached to the spinnerets located at the end of their abdomens.

There is a hum of excitement in the air at the Pascagoula River Audubon Center as the staff prepares for its first-ever Hummingbird Festival. Held in conjunction with the fall migration, the Hummingbird Festival will be Sept. 13 and 14 and features activities for all ages.

A name can make an impression – good or bad. So it is with Gulf Toadfish. Brings a smile to your face, right? Well, let me speak up for the lowly Gulf Toadfish, with a face only a mother could love.

Some birds just take your breath away when you see them. That is the case for the large and brightly colored Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks that seem to have appeared out of nowhere in the past few years in South Mississippi.

I take great pleasure in telling anyone just how cool and beautiful spiders can be. This is especially true for my spider-phobic friends, for whom I have great empathy. I also like to allay the fears of others that have grown up with the belief that spiders are creatures to be feared.

Paddling with ease in front of Singing River Hospital, two Black-bellied whistling ducks are raising a flock of little ducklings and catching the attention of staff and patients. Dozens of ducks call the pond home along with the family of Black-bellied whistling ducks

Sponsored by The District Coffee Company and the Ocean Springs Chamber, one downtown business is taking trash head-on.

With a name that ends in “roach,” you have to feel a bit sorry for that creature, right? Let’s just say that our aversion to roaches is solely human and for a different critter, but it does not bode well for warming up to Sea Roaches.

Birders are our best teachers and naturalists. Today’s birders are those that not only look but also document what they observe (the list). Bird watchers, like myself, enjoy seeing birds but are not keen to keep a list.