New Book September 2018: Rust Belt Arcana
Tarot and Natural History in the Exurban Wilds By Matt Stansberry with Illustrations by David Wilson People have used Tarot [...]
Overwhelmed by the Swarm: Brood V Periodical Cicadas
The cicadas have been winding down. Chitinous, black bodies crunch underfoot on my driveway every time I step out the front door.
A Maddening Quest For Calm And Spring Wildflowers
I became obsessed with wildflowers last spring. One April morning I had been slumped on my couch with my laptop, and suddenly panicked as if I was on a plane falling out of the sky.
Spring Salamander Gauntlet: Avoiding Raccoons, Sexual Parasitism, and Suburban Sprawl
It was the kind of morning I would never spend outside: 46-degrees Fahrenheit, rain running down the bare trees and pooling up on the muddy ground. Nothing looked alive.
Out All Night With Lake Erie’s Burbot Whisperer
In an undisclosed parking lot somewhere on the southern shore of Lake Erie, the weak December sun fizzled out like a match dropped in the snow.
Confessions Of A Reluctant Deer Hunter
Off in the far northwestern corner of Ohio near the town of Hicksville, I sat on an aluminum ladder lashed to a tree in the predawn gloom freezing my ass off.
Who Gives A Hoot? Searching For Owls By Moonlight On The Lake Erie Islands
Our pilgrimage began on a freakishly warm day in early November. A south wind calmed the lake as David Wilson and I crossed the four-mile stretch from the Marblehead Peninsula to Kelleys Island.
Fireflies: Glowing, Snail-sucking, Poisonous Hedonists
Thunderheads had been building, scudding across the northern plains for weeks, dumping rain into basements, swelling the rivers. Over eight and a half inches of rain fell in the month of June, the third wettest in Cleveland’s history.
Flipping Tin: Searching for Ohio’s Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes
On a hot, wet morning in May, I jumped into a pickup truck with Brett Rodstrom, VP of Eastern Field Operations for the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, and headed out to look for Eastern Massasauga rattlesnakes.
A Tree Hugger’s Guide To The Forest Dynamics of Northeast Ohio
About twenty miles east of downtown Cleveland, there is a stand of forest with trees older than the U.S. government.
The Season of Reanimation, Cannibalism, and Profligate Orgies: Consider the Wood Frog
On a cold wet night, practically still winter, wood frogs are improbably crawling out onto the dark road. These frogs are about two-inches long with tan bodies and dark robber’s masks.
The Rise and Mysterious Fall of the Prehistoric King of Cleveland
Lurking in the dark corners of Cleveland history: the Dunkleosteus. (From 2015).