Ecology Blueprints

A winter field may look silent, but just beneath the snow lies the bustling subnivean world—a hidden network of tunnels where voles and mice stay warm, and where owls use extraordinary hearing and silent flight to hunt prey they can’t even see.

From pumpkin pie to mashed potatoes, Thanksgiving dinner starts in fields and barns that owls quietly patrol at night. Explore how classic American Thanksgiving recipes connect to owl habitats, how farm chemicals can affect them, and how to turn your holiday feast into a powerful nature and food-web lesson for students.

A playful, myth-busting look at what a black bear’s real “Thanksgiving feast” looks like, and why fall is the most critical season for survival in the wild.

An inside look at the black bear’s most critical season, when survival depends on nonstop feeding, expanding territories, and a delicate balance between forest ecosystems and human behavior.

Barn Owls offer their own silent version of Thanksgiving, gliding over harvested fields and keeping ecosystems in balance. This lesson in gratitude invites students to explore how every creature — seen and unseen — plays a vital role in the food web.

Discover how owl pellets reveal the hidden stories of ecosystems, connecting wildlife, farming, and science through nature’s own data.

Barn owl pellets are not waste — they're carefully packed bundles of fur, bones, and insect exoskeletons, the parts of their prey that cannot be digested.

Barn owls as natural pest control and prairie protectorsSilent wings, sharp eyes, and a knack for solving mysteries — barn owls like me, Lady Eleanor Bones, are nature’s pest control team.

Have you heard of the Cape Fox? These are foxes that are actually the smallest canid in South Africa. They are about 3 feet long and weigh about 5 pounds.

Have you heard of Least Terns? These birds are part of the same family as gulls and they’re actually the smallest member. They stand about 8-9 inches tall and weigh just under 2 ounces.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are also known as Archilochus colubris. They are only about 3 inches tall, weigh less than 0.

Whale Sharks are the largest fish in the world.  They are 40 feet long and have white spots.