Category Archives: Outdoor/Nature

Barred Owl. Photo: MDC

Note: This story is a follow-up to Environmental Echo’s Feb.15 story on owls and how reports of owl attacks seem to be on the increase. Experts say ill-effects from owl attacks on humans are rare – and they may be increasing because humans are in closer proximity to owls due to habitat encroachment.

by Don Corrigan

Owls sport reputations for being shy, wise and old. However, social media accounts and tabloid TV stories are now portraying these feathered fellows as dangerous. Are wise, old owls in attack mode?

Dr. John Galgani used to laugh about stories of owl attacks. No more! He has a bike helmet and an umbrella ready for any rambunctious barred owls that might go after him this spring.

“We live on Gray Avenue in Webster Groves and we’ve known owls live in our neighborhood,” said Galgani. “I didn’t give it much thought to it until last April. Apparently, April is nesting season and that’s when they can get real aggressive.”

The Webster Groves pediatrician goes to work around 5:30 a.m. When he was first hit on a Friday morning last April. It was dark and he thought he might have just closed the car door on himself.

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Pictured: Don Corrigan with his book “Nuts About Squirrels”

This topic never gets old! Squirrels!

Enjoy this re-posted Christmas squirrel special! (from 2020)

That holiday favorite about “acorns roasting on an open fire” brings to mind Top 10 Christmas Squirrels & why we love them!

By Don Corrigan

It’s impossible to enjoy the outdoors anywhere in North America without a squirrel scolding you from a tree limb, or a squirrel scampering across your path, or a squirrel playing “chicken” with you on the roadway when you’re driving. Squirrels are not just confined to the outdoors. They are in all the mass media that we consume and enjoy in the indoors. With that in mind, Environmental Echo offers a Top Ten of mass-mediated squirrels that we encounter in print and on our electronic devices. We humans must love them. We have made them the top virtual critters in our popular culture.

1.)  Christmas Vacation Squirrel

Remember Chevy Chase’s movie when Aunt Bethany asks: “What’s that sound? You hear it? It’s a funny squeaky sound.” Uncle Lewis then responds: “You couldn’t hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant.” The squeak was worse than a noisy dump truck. It was from the Christmas Vacation Squirrel. The production originally had a trained squirrel ready to wreak havoc on the Griswold holiday home, but it died the day before the scene was to be shot. An untrained squirrel was brought in to be chased by Uncle Eddy’s dog, Snot, which caused unanticipated mayhem. Today several online sites sell a “Christmas Vacation Attacking Squirrel” with motion sensor and sound!

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Domien and Eileen Meert at their Christmas tree farm near Festus, Mo. Domien holds the first tree dibble he ever used when he started his tree farm.

A living Christmas tree can be wonderful holiday gift for your home.  It’s also the perfect gift for nature long after the holidays are over, according to Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) Community Forester, Mark Grueber.

Living Christmas trees bring a feel to the holidays that no artificial tree can duplicate.  The natural scent of fir or pine can set the Christmas mood as sure as colorful lights or a favorite Christmas carol.  Live trees are also a renewable resource, unlike artificial ones which are made of non-recyclable metal and petroleum-based products.

For those still in the market for a Christmas tree, now is still a good time to pick one up.  Buyers have two choices.  The first is selecting a cut tree, available in many locally owned tree lots in the area.

Grueber offered advice on checking the freshness of a cut tree.  “You want to make sure the needles are fairly tight.  The best thing is to just take it and bang it up and down on a nice, solid piece of ground and check to see how many needles are coming off,” he said.  “And you can kind of tell by touch.  Brush your hand along some of the needles, and if quite a few are dropping off, that’s probably a tree you want to avoid.”

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by Don Corrigan

Sometimes they’re called “feral.” Sometimes they’re called “wild.” Tom Noonan likes them because they’re “free.” Tom Noonan recently took a trip to Ozark country in search of some equine ecstasy and he found it.

The former Kirkwood Councilman captured the horses on film and video near Echo Bluff State Park. Normally, the small herds of horses that run free are miles to the south deep in the Ozarks around the Jacks Fork River watershed near Eminence.

“I was so surprised that I could drive less than two hours from Kirkwood and find these amazing animals roaming freely – no fences, no tags, no nothin,’” said Noonan. “They seem to have no boundaries.

“People fly thousands of miles to see something like this,” added Noonan. “They go to Chincoteague, Virginia to see the horses from tourist boats. Or, to the Southwest to watch them from helicopters. We get to see them just a short drive to Echo Bluff State Park area.”

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