"Mom,” a red-tailed hawk and Philadelphia’s most-watched bird, napped in a small London plane tree next to Sister Cities Park on a gray winter morning. On the sidewalk below, I joined Christian Hunold, associate professor of political science at Drexel University and a nature photographer. We suspected Mom had already filled her crop with rat
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Check any biology textbook for an example of evolution through natural selection, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to read about the finches of the Galapagos Islands. Some have smaller beaks ideal for eating insects. Others have sturdier beaks that crack seeds. As Charles Darwin realized when he visited the Galapagos, all are descended from colonists
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Walk out of your rowhouse and there they are, incessantly cheeping from the eaves. Outside your office they’ll peck crumbs off the sidewalk or catch a quick bath in a street puddle before the next tire rolls through. Eat lunch on a park bench, and they will watch with their little heads cocked to the
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It started with a blank wall that needed a pigeon… or a rubber duck. Tattoo artist and muralist Evan Lovett could see the wall from the window of the Philadelphia Tattoo Collective where he worked in Kensington, just below the Berks El stop.“I got really sick of staring at it, since every time I see
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It sure seems generous and altruistic to take care of a stray cat. It is, on the face of it, a noble activity. Confronting the consequences, however, isn’t easy.Birds, small mammals, butterflies—all can end up in the jaws of a domestic cat. Even well-fed domestic cats keep killing smaller creatures for fun, as cat owners
Moreby Bernard Brown
I waded in from a rocky bank in the mountains of Schuylkill County and quickly forgot what I was looking for. My plan on that hot afternoon had been to snorkel for turtles, a pursuit that involves actively investigating underwater boulders and snags. Instead, I watched the fish and rocks on the bottom
Gardeners, meet your new best friend: the brown snake
Don’t freak out—it’s just a snake. It’s a really tiny snake, totally harmless. The worst it can do is poop on you.
Sure, you weren’t expecting to find a real live snake in West Philly (or North Philly, or Northwest Philly), roaming the soul patch of green that passes for
I should start this piece by disclosing some bias: I have Fu-Wah’s number saved in my cell phone. I use it for ordering takeout tofu hoagies—the timing is perfect if I dial right as I’m leaving my apartment. I have eaten at least a hundred from the beloved corner market in West Philly, and loved
MoreClimate Cover-Up:The Crusade to Deny Global Warming by James Hoggan with Richard Littlemore, Greystone Books, $15It is no accident that about 41 percent of our fellow Americans believe that the seriousness of global warming is being exaggerated. It’s hard to believe that there’s any doubt anymore—it’s like believing that smoking doesn’t cause health problems.
MoreThe Sibley Guide to Treeswritten and illustrated by David Allen SibleyKnopf, $39.95
Sure, you’re a tree hugger, but do you know who you’re hugging?