×

Outdoors Today

Otter Creek Marsh habitat chores never end

OTTER CREEK MARSH is a river bottom wetland complex totaling over 3,500 acres near the Iowa River in Tama County. During normal times, that is during years when ‘normal’ rainfall events happen throughout the year, water levels in the various pools at the marsh can be controlled via gate ...

A slow flow in the Iowa River

The Iowa River is an excellent example we humans can observe to help us grasp the intensity of drought-like conditions. The river’s water level is low and its flow rate is very slow, so at this point in an Iowa summer, that is not really unexpected or unusual in and of itself. Obviously ...

Wild turkeys: Secrets of staying hidden

Wild turkeys made my day recently. I wasn’t particularly looking for these majestic large game birds. However, along a recently mowed fire lane at the Iowa River Wildlife Area, out stepped two tom turkeys right in front of me. They did not know I was close. I did not know they were close. ...

Local deer found to have CWD, Chronic Wasting Disease

CWD, the acronym used to talk about chronic wasting disease, belongs to a family of prion diseases that are relatively new to science. Long-term consequences are not well understood. However, researchers in many Midwest and mountain states have learned a great deal in over 50 years of noting ...

Picture perfect prairie partners

Swallowtail butterflies are named by scientists to help identify and classify these special insect critters into certain similar characteristic groupings. One such family to which swallowtails belong is called Papilionidae. There are more than 600 species worldwide. In North America, the ...

Bison calf added to Green Castle herd

Bison, scientifically named Bison bison, are big animals. They are a representative today of a vast history of almost innumerable numbers of these shaggy haired plains bovines that once roamed the native grasslands of the Americas. Their heritage includes a long list of ice age bison types, ...