This article explores how cardinals perceive their environment, and how they explore their place in it, especially with respect to color.
Do Cardinals Know They Are Red? A Closer Look at a Christmas Icon
The Green Thing We Forgot: Living Lighter on a Crowded Earth
The story goes like this: a young cashier gently suggests to an older woman that she bring her own grocery bags next time because plastic is bad for the planet. The woman smiles and says, “We didn’t have the green thing in my day.” Then she begins listing everything her generation did before “sustainability” became... Continue Reading →
Cognitive Showdown: Crows vs. Toddlers in the Science of Intelligence
Corvids, particularly crows and magpies, exhibit cognitive abilities comparable to human toddlers, including tool use, self-recognition, and social inference. Their intelligence prompts reconsideration of evolutionary assumptions about cognition. Recognizing these advanced mental processes highlights the need for conservation efforts to protect these remarkable birds amidst human threats to their habitats.
All Hail the Pumpkin King: The Spellbinding Saga of the World’s Favorite Squash
The pumpkin, cultivated since ancient times, has become a cultural icon, symbolizing fall, Halloween, culinary tradition and modern commerce.
So long and thanks for all the frogs
It seems incredible that it was three weeks ago that I dragged my overstuffed bags past the sun room and caught a final glimpse of the frog pond I created, observed, fretted over, and about which I’ve shared in couple of times in blog posts. As we gear up for a new life in Kansas... Continue Reading →
De-Extinction in Your Backyard Laboratory
I’ve been reading a lot lately about de-extinction. Quaggas, Passenger Pigeons, the Thylacine (or Tasmanian tiger - in fact neither a tiger, nor specifically Tasmanian). Not remotely smacking of necromancy, smart geneticists are working diligently to bring these and other species back from the afterlife. In doing so, they expect not only to resurrect the... Continue Reading →
No Place for Frogs
Last summer, listening to nights filled with frog calls from the trees around our house, I resolved to put in a frog pond in our garden. My hope was to encourage breeding and bring our property a tiny step further towards being a well-rounded habitat for native wildlife. A Gray Treefrog, one of the species... Continue Reading →
ERIC DORFMAN 