Stan Tekiela

Winter in the northwoods is a special place and time of year. There is just something exceptional and inviting about the absolute silence, stillness, and wildness that combines to make it a great place to be alone and experience nature.
Several interesting and unique species occur in the northwoods. I’m especially intrigued by northwoods “specialists.” Recently I searched for a specialty bird, the black-backed woodpecker.

Even common critters in nature can exhibit amazing behaviors or characteristics. The Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) may be the most common yet overlooked critter in America. They are found throughout the entire eastern half of the country; a nearly identical cousin inhabits the western half.
I recently spotted an Eastern gray squirrel black morph – an uncommon critter with many cool stories to tell.

Diversity is the key to the strength and resilience of Mother Nature. Diversity in the plant world ranges from single celled plants, known as algae, to giant sequoia trees. The diversity of insects is almost too much to fathom. As for birds, more than 11,000 different species of bird flit around the world in so many vibrant colors, shapes, and sizes.

Bird migration is one of nature’s most interesting, yet mysterious events. On the surface, migration seems simple and straight forward, but it has many shades of complexity.
There are more than 11,000 species of birds and about 40% migrate in some way. Migrations range from simple elevation changes for mountain species to short distant movements to avoid unfavorable weather, to long distant trips to warm climates to escape winter, to the granddaddy of them all: migration from one end of the planet to the other.