I believe it is a chicken bone!

Nature

The Amazing American Eel

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine American eels. Photo © Michael Wood/Dreamstime.com. Far away in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is a sea called the Sargasso Sea. It is a gigantic clockwork of currents called a gyre, where millions of American and...

Covers, February 2023

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Ice bells. Photo © Kevin Shank. Male Northern Cardinal. Photo © Cheryl Shank.

Thump, Chirp, Thump—Gobble

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Ocellated Turkey. Photo CC-BY-SA-4.0. Several high-pitched chirps with accompanying low “thumps” split the gray light of the early Mexican morning. They soon blended into a series of pulsations reminiscent of those of a...

Wondernose: What bird helps fishermen find their fish?

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Northern Gannet carrying seaweed. Photo © Rinus Baak/Dreamstime.com. Our mystery bird is big, white, and goose-like. It’s a strong flyer and will fly in flocks high above coastal waters. With its keen eyes, it can detect...

Let’s Take a Hike: Sun Pillar

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine The day after Christmas, John Friesen captured this photo of a sun pillar nine minutes before sunrise. Photo © John Friesen.

Stargazing Chills

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Bubble Nebula and open star cluster M52. Photo © Shaphan Shank. Oh, no, I thought as I stepped out the door. Supper was over and darkness was falling. An hour or two earlier it had been snowing quite hard, but now the sky...

Creation Close-ups, February 2023: Ice Formations

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Pictures & Poems, February 2023

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Favorite Focus, February 2023

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From the Editor’s Quill, February 2023: Night Vision Optics

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Mailbox, February 2023: Poetry Contest

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Study Guide Puzzles, February 2023

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Frosty Bubbles

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Frozen soap bubble. Photo © Don Komarechka. The clear globe with frost patterns caught my eye. I had to do a double-take. Just what was I seeing? Patterns of frost were wrapping a clear ball that was perched on top of...

You Can Draw a Pileated Woodpecker Submissions

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Our Hoary Redpoll Pursuits

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Hoary Redpoll. Photo © Simonas Minkevius/Dreamstime.com. Two years ago, the winter brought some unusual birds to us from the North country. One of these was a Hoary Redpoll. It was coming to another birdwatcher’s front...

A Squirrelly Visitor

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Red squirrel. Photo © Dreamstime.com. It was a balmy Wednesday afternoon when I dressed in hunting garb, took my crossbow, and started through the back field to the tree stand.Once there, I climbed up, cocked my bow, and...

You Can Draw an American Goldfinch

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Christmas Bells

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Ice bells on Muddy Creek, VA. Photo © Cheryl Shank. ‘Twas the night before Christmas, along Muddy Creek,Where the water was dashing, the weather was bleak,Cold winds were howling, and mercury plunged low—Something was...

End of the Trail, February 2023: White-tailed Deer

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Two white-tailed deer pose for Mary Moore, as she captured their portraits in a winter woods. Photo © Mary Moore.

Winter Birds Word Search

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Favorite Focus, February 2023

Feb 1, 2023

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Let’s Take a Hike: Sun Pillar

Feb 1, 2023

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine The day after Christmas, John Friesen captured this photo of a sun pillar nine minutes before sunrise. Photo © John Friesen.

From the Editor’s Quill, February 2023: Night Vision Optics

Feb 1, 2023

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Birds

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You Can Draw an American Goldfinch

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Thump, Chirp, Thump—Gobble

Winter Birds Word Search

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Study Guide Puzzles, February 2023

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This Morning was the “Tomorrow”

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Study Guide MacGillivray's Warbler. Photo © Kevin Shank. You may remember “The Photo Focus” in January ended with the sentence, “Plus, there is tomorrow.” Well, that was today. When I wrote that, I just thought it was the thing to...

Favorite Focus, February 2023

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Covers, February 2023

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Ice bells. Photo © Kevin Shank. Male Northern Cardinal. Photo © Cheryl Shank.

Our Hoary Redpoll Pursuits

Pictures & Poems, February 2023

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Wondernose: What bird helps fishermen find their fish?

Mailbox, February 2023: Poetry Contest

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You Can Draw a Pileated Woodpecker Submissions

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Focus Illustrated, January 2023

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Covers, January 2023

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Let’s Take a Hike: Tufted Titmouse

View the January Nature Friend Magazine Tufted Titmouse alighting on a Norway Spruce. Photo © Steven Smith.

Winter Warbler Wonder

View the January Nature Friend Magazine MacGillivray's Warbler. Photo © Cheryl Shank. I reread the checklist comments: “Potential MacGillivray’s or COWA/MOWA…Found and photographed better the next day. Confirmed MacGillivray’s.” The words sparkled with excitement....

Pictures & Poems, January 2023

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Turkina

View the January Nature Friend Magazine Wild Turkey hen. Photo © Linda Lombardo/Dreamstime.com. My nephew and I were in the field behind our old house, when suddenly he pointed up the field and asked, “What’s that?”I looked in the direction he was pointing and saw...

What Bird am I?

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Chickens in the Garden

View the January Nature Friend Study Guide Photo © Natalie Board/Dreamstime.com. In previous articles, we have looked at the importance of underground livestock such as earthworms, nematodes, protozoa, and countless species of bacteria. Also, above ground there are...

Favorite Focus, February 2023

Feb 1, 2023

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Insects & Arachnids

You Can Draw a Katydid Submissions

Jan 1, 2023

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Water Life

You Can Draw a Portuguese Man-o’-war Submissions

Sep 1, 2022

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Plants & Fungi

Other Garden-Friendly Livestock

Feb 1, 2023

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Study Guide While the chickens we wrote about last month are by far the most common, they are not the only garden-friendly animals available for our use. This...

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Reptiles & Amphibians

You Can Draw a Green Sea Turtle

Jan 1, 2023

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Astronomy

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Mailbox, February 2023: Poetry Contest

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Stargazing Chills

Taurus

View the February 2023 Nature Friend Study Guide The Pleiades. Photo © Shaphan Shank. Taurus, the Bull, is a distinctive constellation that lies just northwest of Orion, high in the evening sky in late winter. A V-shaped group of stars forms the bull’s head, and two...

In Our Skies, January 2023: Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

View the January Nature Friend Magazine Comet Neowise 2020. Photo © Cheryl Shank. If you look over a list of the year’s best meteor showers, the Quadrantid meteor shower will likely catch your attention. First, the Quadrantid shower sits at the top of virtually every...

The Rosette Nebula

View the January Nature Friend Magazine Rosette Nebula. Photo © Morris Yoder. For most observers in the United States at this time of the year, the Rosette Nebula rises in the east at sunset and crosses high in the southern sky, then sets in the west at sunrise. It’s...

Triangulum and Aries

View the January Nature Friend Study Guide Triangulum and Aries are a pair of small constellations that lie south of Andromeda, between the Great Square of Pegasus and the Pleiades. Triangulum, the Triangle, is the more northerly of the pair, lying just south of the...

Backyard Stargazing

View the January Nature Friend Magazine Andromeda Galaxy. Photo © Shaphan Shank. “Good night, Dad and Mom,” I said as I strode to the door, clad in a winter coat, hat, and boots.“Good night,” they replied—Mom with a sigh, glad she wasn’t so consumed with a desire to...

Mailbox, January 2023: Astronomy Question

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Favorite Focus, December 2022

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On a Starry Night in December

View the December 2022 Nature Friend Magazine “Papa! May Joshua, Michaela, and I sleep outside on Tuesday night to watch the Geminid meteor shower?” I questioned eagerly, looking up from the November issue of Nature Friend where I had just learned of the exceptional...

Many, Many Meteors

View the December 2022 Nature Friend Magazine My brother and I stepped excitedly out of the darkened house into the exhilarating night air. The sky showed no sign of dawn, but in the west an impending cloud threatened to destroy our chance to see the swiftly flying...

Cetus

View the December Nature Friend Study Guide NGC 253. Photo © CC by 3.0. The southern sky is nearly devoid of bright stars on evenings in late autumn and early winter. Cetus, the Whale, is a relatively large constellation that lies in the middle of this star-poor...

Covers, November 2022

View the November 2022 Nature Friend Magazine Tarantula Nebula. Photo by James Webb Space Telescope and the NIRCam instrument.

Let’s Take a Hike: Cartwheel Galaxy

View the November 2022 Nature Friend Magazine Cartwheel Galaxy. Photo by James Webb Space Telescope and the NIRCam instrument.

From the Editor’s Quill and Scavenger Hunt, November 2022

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457 Falling Stars

View the November 2022 Nature Friend Magazine Geminid meteor shower. Photo © Dreamstime.com. The December night was clear and bitterly cold. The freezing winter air burned my lungs as I stepped outside shortly after 10:00 p.m. Expectantly, I turned my face to the sky...

A Webb of Discovery

View the November 2022 Nature Friend Magazine Outer space features. Photo © James Webb Space Telescope and the NIRCam instrument. Engineers have built telescopes that can see far across the universe. Each time a bigger and better telescope was built, astronomers were...

In Our Skies

View the November 2022 Nature Friend Magazine The second total lunar eclipse of 2022 will take place on the night of November 7–8. The eclipse will be most visible from eastern Asia, Oceania, and western and central North America. The eclipse will also be mostly...

End of the Trail, November 2022: Space Photos

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Pegasus

View the November 2022 Nature Friend Study Guide M15. Photo © Hubble and NASA. Pegasus is one of the most familiar autumn constellations. The most prominent part of the constellation is a large square of stars (~15° across) known as the Great Square of Pegasus. Many...

Wondernose: What animal can kill and eat porcupines, remaining unharmed even if it swallows the quills?

Jan 1, 2023

View the January Nature Friend Magazine Fisher. Photo © Mikael Males/Dreamstime.com. You seem quite surprised, Wondernose. Apparently you didn’t know there’s an animal that isn’t deterred by a...

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Exploring Nature

Exploring Nature, April 2022

Apr 5, 2022

In April and May, wildebeest herds move northwest to central Serengeti. They follow the new grass growth.April and May are times to hunt morel mushrooms in the mid-South and Midwest.Check vernal...

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