Bill Danielson

Father's Day just happened to coincide with the first day of summer this year, and the morning of Sunday, June 21, was just about as perfect as one could want. Cool air and bright sun produced a morning of utter splendor, which was then improved in its quality by a chanced to sit on the back deck and sip coffee with love ones. Then, if you can imagine, it was improved further still by the appearance of fledgling birds following their parents around in a state of unbridled excitement. The world is now overflowing with baby birds.

Baby birds are everywhere this summer. Learn how to identify fledglings, understand their behavior and spot young red-bellied woodpeckers as families gather at backyard feeders.

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Well, the readers have spoken! I received so many emails requesting one final column on house wrens that I simply couldn't ignore them. I did try to stagger the wren columns with something else in between stories, but there is simply no way that I would disappoint so many people who were so emphatic that one more column on these tiny birds would be a good idea. So this one is for all who love wrens!

Well, the readers have spoken! I received so many emails requesting one final column on house wrens that I simply couldn’t ignore them. I did try to stagger the wren columns with something else in between stories, but there is simply no way that I would disappoint so many people who were so emphatic that […]

There is something magical about fireflies. On warm and humid summer evenings, the flashing lights in fields, meadows and even some backyards are a quintessential component of early summer. Fireflies appear in all sorts of movies and stories, including a book that I just read over the weekend celebrating the fourth. I suppose it is possible that there are people who have never seen the light display on summer nights, but I am quite sure that there are many people who have never actually seen the insect responsible for the enchanting shows. Looking through my records, I am absolutely astounded that I haven't done a column on fireflies before, so here we go.

There is something magical about fireflies. On warm and humid summer evenings, the flashing lights in fields, meadows and even some backyards are a quintessential component of early summer. Fireflies appear in all sorts of movies and stories, including a book that I just read over the weekend celebrating the fourth. I suppose it is […]

Fireflies are more than glowing summer icons. Discover how Pennsylvania fireflies live, hunt, communicate through bioluminescence and why habitat loss, pesticides and light pollution threaten their future.

And now for something completely different. It was a beautiful Friday morning and my beautiful wife Susan was cleaning off our deck chairs in preparation for a morning of reading and coffee under our beloved cottonwood tree. Susan came into the house and said, “You've got to see this! Bring your camera.” This rarely happens, so I took her quite seriously.

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