Month: January 2025

Books, Blogs, and Pods

It is mid-January and here at the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum, the outside temperatures are hovering around zero, making this an excellent time of the year to curl up under an afghan, with a cup of hot tea and explore natural history from the comfort of home.  Below are a few book and blog suggestions, some old and some new, but all are entertaining opportunities to learn from.

The Backyard Bird Chronicles, by Amy Tan, was just published in 2024, and it is a wonderful look into the daily lives of birds and the species they interact with.  Many of Tan’s journal pages are reproduced throughout this volume where she shares an insightful array of observations of bird behavior.  She has a drawing or two on each page to capture the central action and includes notes on what she is watching, while adding questions to her journal that can be reread to learn more.  She also includes many of her beautiful and intricate watercolor paintings of birds.

Handbook of Nature Study, written by Anna Botsford Comstock over a hundred years ago, was first published in 1911.  She writes in the style used by many teachers: stating a lesson goal, a suggested method to teach the information, and a list of well thought-out questions that help direct the student.  I found it easy to add several of my own questions and answers to the basic information presented in each lesson.  The book begins with a detailed discussion on tools and nature journals that can be used in the field.  Comstock covers a wide range of natural history topics including all of the major plant and animal groups, geology, climate, weather, and the night skies.

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, by Edith Holden, was written in 1906.  It is a delightful account of Holden’s observations of plants, animals, and general nature taken while walking or riding in the areas surrounding her home in the English countryside.  Holden’s watercolor drawings are beautiful with bright colors and exquisite details.  In the back of her journal, she lists the plants and birds from her observations, with not only the common name in use at the time, but also the genus and species.  While not a book meant for fieldwork, it provides pleasant reading for many evenings.

Books are wonderful, and I have hundreds more in our collection, but blogs and podcasts can also provide a wealth of information and learning opportunities and are quite easy to access.  There are many to choose from (and thank you to all of my readers!) –here are a few of my favorites.

Tuesdays In The Tallgrass, by Cindy Crosby, is a weekly trip through the prairies and meadows of northern Illinois.  Crosby stewards several prairies including the Schulenberg Prairie, Nachusa Grasslands, and her own backyard.  She takes the reader along on her travels in these sites and many more natural areas through her photos.  Relating her observations of the weekly changes, her blog provides a wonderful chronicle of what is happening over time in an area encompassing both wild and urban communities.   https://tuesdaysinthetallgrass.wordpress.com/

The podcast, A Way To Garden, by organic gardener Margaret Roach, presents information on how to care for and enjoy a garden, learning about its inhabitants and other parts of nature that a garden provides habitat for.   Each podcast is an interview with an expert on a chosen topic.  Some of her past podcasts include handling invasives with Daniel Weitoish of Cornell Botanic Gardens, birds in winter with David Sibley, and journaling bird observations with Joan E. Strassmann.  The podcast can be read or listened to, taking a look at nature through the perspective of a gardener, with lively and entertaining discussions.  https://awaytogarden.com/

A Botanist’s Field Notes, by Andrew Hipp, takes us along on his periodic walks through some of the natural areas in northern Illinois.  His experience and knowledge of the plants in this region is profound, and it shows in the depth and detail of each entry.  Hipp includes his observations of the flora and fauna encountered during every season of the year, and he provides a wonderful insight into the ecology encompassed by each short walk.  https://botanistsfieldnotes.com/

The blogs I have shared are all quite entertaining, easy to learn from, packed with detail, and short enough to comfortably browse in a limited amount of time or spend an entire evening by reading/listening to additional topics.  The books I highlighted are some of my favorites, easy to read as a whole story or to pick individual entries from and enjoy a free hour.  While the weather here in northern Illinois is keeping most of us indoors at times, we can find some fun ways to learn.

Bear Bones

Grizzly Bear Ursus arctos, by Don Arnold, JSNM 2025

As in many other natural history museums, the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum displays mounts of animals or their parts including bones, skulls, teeth, pelts, claws, and feathers.  Osteology is the study of bones in order to understand their structure and function, and how they relate to an animal’s lifestyle.  At our museum we have several species of bears on display, plus bear skulls, bones, and claws for additional study. 

Black Bear Ursus americanus, skull and dentition by Don Arnold, JSNM 2025

Looking at a bear’s skull, we can see that they have up to twelve front teeth used for nipping and cutting.  Their four long, sharp canine teeth are used to grab and hold their prey, and to tear apart the meat.  There is a space between the front teeth and the flat molars in the back of the mouth, often found on herbivores, animals that eat vegetation.  Bears are omnivores, including both meat/protein and vegetation in their diet, eating any small mammal up to the size of a deer fawn in addition to plants, seeds, and berries of all kinds.

Kodiak Bear Ursus arctos middendorffi, long & large nose by Don Arnold, JSNM 2025
Polar Bear Ursus maritimus, skull and nasal opening by Don Arnold, JSNM 2025

The long and large nose is another prominent part of a bear’s skull.  A large nasal opening contains a complex system of bony plates intricately woven together.  The plates create a much larger surface area than only the inside walls of the nasal opening, and are all covered with membranes capable of detecting scent.  Bears have an excellent sense of smell, about seven times better than a bloodhound and more than 2,000 times better than a human.  They can distinguish one or more scents from among dozens, detectable from as far away as two miles.  Bears use their sense of smell to find food, mates, and family, and to identify potential threats.

Grizzly Bear Ursus arctos, small eyes & ears by Don Arnold, JSNM 2025
Polar Bear Ursus maritimus, nose, ears, eyes by Don Arnold, JSNM 2025

The ocular (eye) openings indicate that a bear’s eyes are located on either side of its nose, and face forward.  This provides bears with binocular vision allowing them to see three-dimensional images and judge depth-of-field, the distance between a near object and a farther away object.  Knowing how far away and how big another animal is compared to itself enhances its abilities to find and capture prey as well as avoid potential predators.  Ear openings, at the lower back of the skull are difficult to find.  The openings are tiny, and the auditory bone inside is small and flat.  Bears have small eyes, with average eyesight, and small ears with slightly less than average hearing capabilities.

Polar Bear Ursus maritimus, sharp
claws by Don Arnold, JSNM 2025
Grizzly Bear Ursus arctos, claws for digging by Don Arnold, JSNM 2025
Black Bear Ursus americanus, grasping claws by Don Arnold, JSNM 2025

Their claws, another important part of a bear’s body, serve many functions to help them to survive in their environment.  A polar bear’s claws are about five inches in length, thick, sharp, and slightly curved.  They are used to gain traction on the ice when running or pulling themselves out of the water and onto an ice floe.  A grizzly bear’s claws are about the same size, but stouter and not as sharp.  They are used for pulling logs apart, digging dens, and scratching roots and invertebrates out of the ground.  Black bears have the shortest and straightest claws, about two inches in length.  They are sturdy claws, not as good for hunting and digging, but are excellent for climbing trees, an activity used by smaller bears that can pull their own weight upwards. 

Black Bear Ursus americanus, tree climbing by Don Arnold, JSNM 2025

Many other facts can be learned about the lifestyles of bears from around the world by studying bones, skulls, skeletons, paws, and whole specimens.  Consider visiting us at the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum to learn more by making a reservation at: JSNM Reservations (http) (enter hotlink)