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Cable Natural History Museum

Connecting People to Northwoods Nature

science natural sciences

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6:55

321 – Honeysuckle from Near and Far

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/05/09

The cool, damp air smelled delicious as I ambled up the gravel road. I’ve been up and down ladders and scaffolding for exhibit construction lately, and so I haven’t had the energy for big bike rides in the afternoon. That’s fine. I will still be able to bike once the mosquitoes hatch, but I won’t be able to walk slowly without a head net. When the blossoms of a honeysuckle bush caught my eye, I was even happier for my slow pace. I stopped to admire the prismatic raindrops caught under each flower’s

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6:00

320 – Plant Professors of Early Spring

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/05/02

“During this activity,” I explained, “you will each become a professor of something in these woods.” Over the years, I’ve found that this Professor Hike activity is very effective at connecting students to nature. What’s been a surprise, especially as I lead it with adults instead of sixth graders, is how wonderful it is at connecting people to each other as they teach and learn. Professors indeed, these little plants have reminded me of the value in taking the time to look closely. I can’t wait

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5:51

319 – The Woodcock Dating Game

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/04/25

I heard it first, since I knew what to expect. I pointed eagerly toward a featureless place in the bushes. Peent. The brand-new birder with me strained to pick that one sound out of the thicket. Peent. We waited; breaths held. Peent. Nature has invented some pretty interesting courtship behavior over the eons, and American woodcocks are a lovely example. Somewhere in the bushes, a female woodcock pretends not to watch the male’s strenuous antics. If he passes muster, she will let him approach her,

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6:53

318 – Appreciating Earthly Gifts

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/04/18

What if we stopped calling trees, water, minerals, fruits, fish, soil, and everything else Natural Resources and started using the term Earthly Gifts? This was one of the first questions posed by Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer at a talk last month in La Crosse, WI. Kimmerer is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants.I’ve been thinking about Robin’s words…and finding her ideas echoed elsewhere. Kathleen Dean Moore is another of my favorite

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5:42

317 – Finding Snow Fleas

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/04/11

With soggy skies above and soggy snow below, my recent hike on the North Country Trail was not inspiring a love for spring. But with my head bent to watch my footing, I noticed a sprinkling of debris coated the surface of the softening snow. Suddenly one of the little specks vanished. Crouching down for a better look, I discovered that most of the sprinkles were tiny, leaping springtails known as snow fleas. I dug out my macro camera.The post 317 – Finding Snow Fleas first appeared on Cable Natural

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6:45

316 – Protecting Birds from Your Windows

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/04/04

Birds can collide with windows in any season, but I’ve always noticed an increasing number of those sickening thuds in spring. As waves of migrating birds head north, we see both a huge increase in the number of individuals, and an increase in birds who are new to the neighborhood and more likely to be hoodwinked by windows. Now that warm days are turning even window washing and yardwork into attractive tasks because they give us excuses to get outside, it’s a good time to think about making your

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7:06

315 – Predaceous Diving Beetle Trends

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/03/28

As a naturalist, I get the strangest emails. I try not to check them at home, but when my phone buzzed and the subject said “June bug on steroids?” it was worth interrupting my evening chores. “The past couple nights I’ve heard something hit our window at night when we have lights on and each time I’ve thought ‘that sounded like a June bug… but BIGGER.’” wrote a Museum member. Chuckling, I wrote her back, “Looks like a predaceous diving beetle! That’s their normal size!” The post 315 – Predaceous

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7:17

314 – The Vocabulary of Seeing

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/03/21

“To name and describe you must first see, and science polishes the gift of seeing,” wrote Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass. In this week’s Natural Connections, we’ll explore some of the vocabulary of winter tree identification, and the beautiful ecology it helps us to see. The post 314 – The Vocabulary of Seeing first appeared on Cable Natural History Museum.

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6:56

313 – Freezer Burn

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/03/14

One consequence of this weird winter is that plants like mosses, ferns, and wintergreen who are usually protected by a blanket of snow are now exposed to drying winds. This can result in what is essentially freezer burn in nature. The post 313 – Freezer Burn first appeared on Cable Natural History Museum.

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7:03

312 – Bark Eaters

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/03/07

“Who’s eating my trees?” asked a participant on a hike last week. I’d been wondering the same thing! A few weeks ago I noticed creamy colored exposed wood on several small maple trees along my driveway. “Why do animals even eat bark?” someone else asked. Good question. The living cells of the inner bark contain complex carbohydrates, sugars, and minerals. Right now, when the maple sap is running through the xylem, the inner bark is extra sweet! Even in the dead of winter, inner bark was a source of

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6:07

311 – Frozen Flows

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/02/29

As our world changes, I’m grieving my old friends cross-country skiing (on natural snow) and the subnivean zone, while still making a point to appreciate new delights. I can’t even count how many times I’ve looked at the frozen surface of a North Shore river and wanted to walk the whimsical ice formations up through bedrock canyons. But on past visits the snow was too deep, the wind chill too brutally cold, or the skiing too good to choose that adventure. This past weekend, conditions were finally

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5:24

310 – Friends at our Feeders

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/02/22

I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints from people who are feeling lonely this winter. For once, they aren’t feeling cooped up by icy roads and constant blizzards. Instead, we miss our feathered friends! A suite of factors, including the nice weather, means that birds are not as abundant as usual at our backyard feeders. One exception, at least at my feeders, are pine siskins. The post 310 – Friends at our Feeders first appeared on Cable Natural History Museum.

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6:30

309 – Warm Winter Worries

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/02/15

What a weird winter! In a region where people love to talk about the weather, the chatter has been constant. Skiers and snowmobilers (and the business they support) are particularly grumpy, but many people are trying to make the best of pleasant temperatures, despite the lack of snow. Humans are lucky. We have temperature-controlled homes and clothing that can be changed at the drop of a hat. But what about non-human beings? How are they faring as temperatures fluctuate from 50 degrees to the teens

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5:59

308 – Snowflake Stories

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/02/08

“Snowflakes are amazing!” I gushed to the students in a recent “Words for Winter Wonder” writing workshop hosted by the Lake Superior Writers in Duluth, Minn. Water vapor crystalizes around a piece of dust, or dirt, or even a unique bacterium. Then, as puffs and gales of wind toss the nascent snow crystal inside a cloud, they experience varied combinations of temperature and humidity. The crystal grows differently in each new habitat. “Now, we get to try to imitate that beauty that comes with

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6:26

307 – Germinating Seeds and Excitement in Hawaii

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/02/01

Wings, wind, and humans are three of the most common ways that life has arrived on Hawaii since the volcanoes rose above the ocean. But besides the obvious humpback on a whale watch, I hadn’t noticed many who had arrived on the waves. As I descended the trail back to the black sand beach, a tiny white flower caught my eye. Recognizing it as Beach Naupaka, or Naupaka kahakai from my nature guide Wind, Wings, and Waves by Rick Sohren, I stopped to take photos. The post 307 – Germinating Seeds and

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6:52

306 – Nenes and Blueberries in Hawaii

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/01/25

Just like the ?Apapane and ?I?iwi I wrote about last week, the ancestors of nene geese were blown off course to the Hawaiian Islands and then stayed there, although the geese only arrived about half a million years ago, vs. five million for the honeycreepers. Besides being handsome, with buff-and black diagonally striped necks and black faces, n?n? are the state bird of Hawaii, and one of the most endangered waterfowl in the world. The post 306 – Nenes and Blueberries in Hawaii first appeared on

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6:49

305 – Hawaiian Honeycreepers

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/01/18

A bright red bird with black wings hopped among the flowers, probing for the '?hi'a’s prolific nectar with a sharp black beak. While the bird looked a lot like the scarlet tanagers who nest in the Northwoods, I knew it was not. ?Apapanes’ scarlet feathers match the red of the blossoms they rely on. A little farther down the trail, we spotted more movement in the trees. Another red bird masqueraded as a flower, but while the red body and black wings looked just like an ?Apapane to me, the beak was

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6:38

304 – Lava in Hawaii and at Home

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/01/11

Whenever I visit the smooth, gray rocks on the North Shore of Lake Superior, I find myself crouching low to examine the colorful patchwork of lichens who have made their home in such a seemingly perilous place. I never expected to do the same thing on Hawaii! The post 304 – Lava in Hawaii and at Home first appeared on Cable Natural History Museum.

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6:55

303 – Riding Wings to Hawaii

Cable Natural History Museum ·

2024/01/02

Wings are one of the main ways that life gets to Hawaii. From huge frigatebirds, to champion marathoners like Pacific Golden Plovers, and elegant additions like Hawaiian Stilts, they all have a unique story. The post 303 – Riding Wings to Hawaii first appeared on Cable Natural History Museum.

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