Making sense of raven talk
Be careful what you say, ravens. Doug Wacker is listening.Wacker studies animal behavior at the University of Washington Bothell. Since August 2022, he has...
Butterflies and ravens as poetic inspiration
Stories about ravens and chickadees and wolves result in more responses in my inbox than others. The past few weeks — after one story...
Birds in Alaska, 70 million years ago
Lonely northern cliffs from which scientists have pulled the bones of Alaska dinosaurs also hold the fossilized remains of birds.Lauren Keller is studying the...
The demise of Scotch Cap lighthouse
In spring of 1946, five men stationed at the Scotch Cap lighthouse had reasons to be happy. World War II was over. They had...
Stranger in a rich land of winter life
Things an Alaskan notices while standing on a road in Costa Rica:Trees are shaped like mint-green umbrellas rather than charcoal-green rocket ships.Flesh-colored flowers smell...
Dozens descend upon Alaska to measure snow
CREAMER’S FIELD STATE MIGRATORY WATERFOWL REFUGE — Five scientists have padded their way on snowshoes into the middle of this frozen swamp in Fairbanks....
The porcupine’s winter in slow motion
While running through Bicentennial Park in Anchorage, biologist Jessy Coltrane spotted a porcupine in a birch tree. On her runs on days following, she...
Raven roosts shrouded in mystery
Last week, while getting ready to climb into my bunk, I heard the yell of a raven outside. And then another, and a few...
1,000 miles of Iditarod trail by bike
Two staff members of the University of Alaska Fairbanks recently rode 1,000 miles across Alaska on bikes with tires fat as a loaf of...
Identifying polar bears by their footprints
Scientists in northern Alaska are learning about polar bears by scraping snow samples from the tracks they leave behind.That snow contains tiny flecks of...
