Grass is under our feet and in our cupboards

What do barley, corn and fescue all have in common? They are all grasses. From the green grass in yards to fields of oats to meadows of pine grass, grasses comprise one of the most important families of plants both economically and ecologically. 

Corn, wheat and rice are three important cereal crops that are grasses. Cattle graze on grasses along with large herbivorous mammals such as deer and elk. Grass is important to waterfowl for food, birds to seek shelter within, and an important source of food for many other animals. 

Deer are one of many herbivorous animals that forage on grass

Over 9,000 species of grasses exist on Earth and they all have similar characteristics that identify them as grasses. All grasses have narrow leaves with parallel veins, inconspicuous flowers and nodes where the leaves join the stems. The stems are round or flattened and usually hollow. 

How do animals beat the heat?

On sweltering 90-plus degree days we can retreat to basements or air conditioned buildings but how do animals beat the heat? 

Often animals gain relief from the heat in some of the ways we do-- taking a dip in the water, finding shade and sweating.

Moose cool down while foraging for aquatic plants

A hummingbird? An insect? What is it?

What hovers like a hummingbird, flies like a hummingbird but has antennae? A hummingbird moth. Aptly named, hummingbird moths can easily be mistaken for hummingbirds but they are a sphinx moth. 

Hummingbird moths can easily be mistaken for hummingbirds when they hover at a flower

Sphinx moths are one of the few groups of insects that can hover. Since a few species resemble hummingbirds and are active during the day (unlike most moths) they are commonly referred to as hummingbird moths.

Don’t be fooled by a coot

The American coot may swim like a duck, dive like a duck, and look like a duck but it isn’t a duck. As much as coots resemble ducks they are not a duck. Instead, the gray to black birds with white bills are more closely related to the gangly sandhill crane. 

Coots often intermingle with waterfowl which lends one to think they are a duck. However, their small head, scrawny legs and lobed feet reveal they aren’t a duck. Unlike the webbed feet of ducks, coots have broad lobes of skin between their long toes that help them kick through the water and support their weight on mucky ground. 

Coots have dark bodies and white bills

Magnitude of beargrass blooms unpredictable

While on the Parker Ridge trail below Parker Peak last summer, I rounded a corner and was surprised by the hundreds of beargrass blooms filling the avalanche chute in front of me. The magnitude of blooms was the largest I had ever seen and one I won’t forget. Will the blooms be of the same magnitude this summer?

Rhizomes and seeds help create dense fields of beargrass