Natural Connections

Natural Connections is a weekly newspaper column created by Emily Stone, the Naturalist/Education Director at the Cable Natural History Museum in Cable, Wisconsin. In each episode, Emily reads her fun and informative weekly column about Northwoods Nature.

401 - Southward Migration 11/20/2025

401 - Southward Migration The shallow water in Northwoods marshes and bays began to crackle with a skim of ice recently, gently reminding everyone that winter is on the way. Ice-up is a firm deadline for many beings who migrate to travel at least a little bit farther south. I got caught up in the flurry of activity and soon found myself in the Mississippi River Flyway swooping around the hills and corners of the Great River Road with other Northerners heading south. Check out Emily's third book, hot off the press! Natural Connections 3: A Web Endlessly Woven, is available at several local bookstores, at the Cable Natural History Museum, or at cablemuseum.org/connect! /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/39081275

400 - Dowsing for Witch-hazel 11/13/2025

400 - Dowsing for Witch-hazel Beside the trail stood a spreading shrub with a few rays of sunlight illuminating tiny yellow flowers that looked just like sunbursts themselves. Witch-hazel! The flower-dappled shrub twinkled like a reminder of spring. While they do bloom near Halloween, witch-hazel’s name is probably a misspelling of old English words wicke or wych that meant “lively” and “to bend.” They refer to the use of a forked branch of witch-hazel as a dowsing rod, which purportedly would bend downward to point out a good location to dig a well. In a bit of reverse-dowsing, rain showers helped me see the leaf, and sun rays helped me see the witch-hazel. On that fall day, I found a deep well of beauty. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38950660

399 - Watching Cranes at Crex Meadows 11/06/2025

399 - Watching Cranes at Crex Meadows “Turn here, they’re heading north!” I directed my fiancé as we navigated the gravel roads of Crex Meadows Wildlife Area near Grantsburg, WI. We’d spotted a line of sandhill cranes flying through the sunset sky, and were following them toward what we hoped would be a spectacular evening of birdwatching. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38873640

398 - Fantastic Fungi 10/30/2025

398 - Fantastic Fungi The air shimmered as I walked through the forest, the heavy mists encompassing me in a damp blanket. As my shoes trod on soggy leaves, I took in the quiet serenity of the forest. Many of the trees had begun their annual changing of the colors, painting the canopy in shades of yellow, orange, red and green. Their discarded leaves were already beginning to dot the forest floor in late September. But fallen leaves weren’t the only contributors of color on the ground–the fall mushrooms were popping in the Northwoods. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38630930

397 - Butterfly Breezes of Fall 10/23/2025

397 - Butterfly Breezes of Fall At first, a flutter at the edge of my vision made me think that an autumn leaf had somehow managed to fall half a mile to the middle of the lake. A closer look revealed the dark purple wings of a mourning cloak butterfly. In late September? Weeks later, a flutter at the edge of my vision caught my attention just in time to watch an autumn leaf come to rest on the ground. Small quaking aspen leaves carpeted the trail in a mosaic of yellow and green. They were evidence of yet another way that a Lepidopteran (butterflies and moths) survives the winter. Colorful leaves and colorful wings flutter on fall breezes, all getting ready for winter. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38624600

396 - Flying Kittens 10/16/2025

396 - Flying Kittens “Just hold her like this,” Kurt told me. So I carefully nestled my first two fingers into the soft, warm feathers around the neck of this tiny northern saw-whet owl, cradled her soft, warm torso in the palm of my hand, and secured her brown and white wings with my thumb and other fingers. My heart stopped for a moment, but under those soft, warm feathers I could feel her smaller heart racing. Learn more about the volunteer opportunities with Mike and Kurt's saw-whet owl nest box and MOTUS tower research on the Museum's iVolunteer page: https://cablenhm.ivolunteer.com/saw-whet-owl-research /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38549010

395 - Green Frogs Prepare for Winter 10/09/2025

395 - Green Frogs Prepare for Winter Finally, within sight of the next lake, movement near the toe of my boot startled me almost to the point of disaster. Big black eyes with golden rims stared up at me from the slope of a rock. Crooked toes gripped the rough surface, and long hind legs braced for a quick escape. The green frog who had jumped out from underneath my boot perched motionless, as if that made them invisible. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38466535

394 - The Mystery of Mast Years 10/02/2025

394 - The Mystery of Mast Years Last week I wrote about acorns clattering across my roof. As it turns out, nuts are raining down on many of your roofs, too! Commiserating over the loud, foot-rolling acorns makes me feel like part of an extended community. Are the oaks part of a similar community? And why are they suddenly attacking us with acorns! Oaks are mast species, which means that all the trees in an area will produce a bumper crop of acorns at the same time, but only every two to five years. From mice to owls to chatting neighbors, oaks, and the mystery of their mast years, are at the center of our Northwoods community. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38292265

393 - A Summer of Loon Discovery 09/25/2025

393 - A Summer of Loon Discovery The pontoon bobbed in the water as I stepped onto the deck, clutching binoculars and trying to contain my excitement. Since moving to the Northwoods in the middle of winter, I had been waiting for the chance to see a loon, and my chance finally arrived in late May. The sunlight danced across the water as our boat left the dock, and we began our search. It wasn't long before we spotted the silhouette of a loon off in the distance, and headed for a closer look. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38339080

392 - Attack of the Acorns 09/18/2025

392 - Attack of the Acorns Crack! Rumble, rumble, rumble. Crack! The sound of hard objects pelting my metal roof shot through my open bedroom window, rousing me from the last wisps of sleep. Then silence. I braced myself as a soft hush of wind drew closer. Crack! The wind triggered a new spatter of noises. The house was under attack—by acorns. Two large red oak trees reach the edges of their canopies out over the roof of my house. Each fall, they create a racket as acorns drop on the metal roof, tumble down the steep slope, and launch out over the driveway. Some years are worse than others, since oaks are mast trees who will produce a bumper crop in one year, then spend subsequent years rebuilding their stores of nutrients and not producing as many acorns. This is clearly a mast year. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38203535

391 - Shades of Rot and Life 09/11/2025

391 - Shades of Rot and Life Shades of Rot and Life (This essay is a chapter from Emily’s third book, Natural Connections3: A Web Endlessly Woven, which will arrive in November 2025!) In the dim light, under the thick, hardwood canopy of the forest, death was everywhere. Of course, life was everywhere too. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38031775

390 - Mysterious Loon Behavior 09/04/2025

390 - Mysterious Loon Behavior We’d only been watching for a few minutes when suddenly one of the loons took off running and flapping down the bay toward the main lake. Huge, webbed feet splashed at the surface. As soon as the first loon rose above the water, the remaining loon followed in a flurry of flapping wings and feet. What had just happened? The group looked around at each other in amazement, feeling lucky to have witnessed this fascinating bit of loon behavior. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/38023720

389 - A Blue -Spotted Vision 08/28/2025

389 - A Blue -Spotted Vision Although the temperature plummeted and rain ran off our jackets, our excitement and determination could not be dampened. Rubber boots tromped over soggy leaf litter, and hands grasped at every fallen log, flipping them over as we searched the forest. The Wild Wonders campers and I were on a mission, seeking out an animal who thrives in rainy conditions–the salamander. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/37961630

388 - Unexpected Hope 08/21/2025

388 - Unexpected Hope I was just about ready to round up the group and move on from the old quarry when someone exclaimed over a pretty white flower among the weeds. Five luminous petals, each with translucent lines arcing gracefully toward the nectar reservoir in the center, provided the backdrop for a ring of delicate eyelashes tipped with glossy yellow spheres. I could barely believe my eyes! I first met bog star, or marsh grass-of-Parnassus, during my summer in Alaska while assisting with a snowshoe hare study in the Brooks Range. This little beauty captured my imagination immediately. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/37838865

387 - Further Observations of Forked Fungus Beetles 08/14/2025

387 - Further Observations of Forked Fungus Beetles Guest writer Katherine Woolley is about to start her junior year as an environmental education major at Western Colorado University. This summer, as a Summer Naturalist Intern at the Museum, she taught our Junior Naturalist programs and showed a real talent for finding and appreciating the oddest parts of nature. I spotted the male first. He was sitting on the highest point of the mushroom shelf like he was the king of the hill. Then I spotted his mate, who to my surprise, looked like she was sitting up. I knelt down and cocked my head to the side to get a better look. For beetles who usually crawl on all six legs, this was an unusual position. Was she laying eggs? /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/37722750

386 - Finding Forked Fungus Beetles 08/07/2025

386 - Finding Forked Fungus Beetles Guest writer Katherine Woolley is about to start her junior year as an environmental education major at Western Colorado University. This summer, as a Summer Naturalist Intern at the Museum, she taught our Junior Naturalist programs and showed a real talent for finding and appreciating the oddest parts of nature. A walk along the Forest Lodge Nature Trail is never boring. I was reveling in this fact as I took my evening meander through the large trunks of towering trees. To my left, I spotted a shelf fungus clinging to the bark of a half-decayed paper birch stump. Creeping closer to investigate, I squealed with delight. There they were! Two forked fungus beetles were nestled in the corner of their polypore home. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/37646700

385 - Seeds on the Move 07/31/2025

385 - Seeds on the Move Guest writer Kylie Tatarka is about to start her senior year as an environmental science major at Rochester Institute of Technology. This summer, as a Summer Naturalist Intern at the Museum, she taught our Junior Naturalist programs and spearheaded the creation of the online “Becoming the Northwoods” exhibit. Seeing the aspen-covered ground reminded me of a tree that is more common in my home state of New York, the eastern cottonwood tree, which is a relative of the aspen with similar cotton-tufted seeds. I grew an affection for these trees while leading a seed dispersal hike. With the kids, we discovered examples of seeds that are dispersed by wind, water, animals, gravity, and bursting. Now I’m always on the lookout for plants with interesting methods of seed dispersal. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/37547150

384 - Boundary Waters Beauty 07/24/2025

384 - Boundary Waters Beauty The Boundary Waters is beautiful, but that’s only part of it. What really keeps people coming back, I believe, is the way this place helps us to challenge ourselves. When you cut out the excess, the superfluous, and the mess, and fit everything necessary for a week or two of life into a single, green pack, life becomes simple. There is an incredible sense of freedom in this knowledge of self-sufficiency. This freedom feels all the more sweet when it comes with manageable challenges and a means to test our mettle. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/37466965

383- Looking Into the Lives of Dragonflies 07/17/2025

383- Looking Into the Lives of Dragonflies Upon spotting the green dragonfly resting close enough for me to capture, I knew I had to try. With my kayak nestled into the grassy bank of the Namekagon River, I snapped a few photos of my target and began to reach my hand out slowly. But when my fingers gently grasped the dragonfly, I was horrified to find that it was squishy rather than the typical hard feeling of an exoskeleton. My hand shot back to my side in an instant, repulsed. My first thought was that the dragonfly was dead and waterlogged. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/37383760

382 - Treasures of the Big Bay Lagoon 07/10/2025

382 - Treasures of the Big Bay Lagoon The calm waters of Lake Superior glimmered in midday sunshine, and dozens of families enjoyed the sandy beach of Big Bay Town Park on Madeline Island. I hiked past them all, my steps echoing slightly on the boardwalk that winds through pine forest behind the beach. In the lagoon where decomposition has slowed and organic matter has accumulated over time, a floating mat of Sphagnum moss and sedges holds numerous treasures in a type of wetland called a fen. Treasures I was hunting! /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/37289265

381 - Hunting For Elk 07/03/2025

381 - Hunting For Elk If an elk calf can make it through their first year, they have a 92 percent chance of surviving each year after that. The DNR is in year two of a three-year effort to understand the survival rates and mortality factors of that first perilous year. Do the young do better where there’s been a recent timber harvest or other disturbance? How important is it for the maternity habitat to have a view? To answer these and other questions, they attempt to locate and deploy a GPS collar on 25 calves as soon as possible each spring. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/37178520

380 - Canadian Tiger Swallowtails 06/26/2025

380 - Canadian Tiger Swallowtails Something small and bright caught my eye. Stopping mid-stride and mid-conversation, I bent down to look at a small jumble of legs and exoskeletons in the tread of the Ice Age Trail. The yellow mantle behind the head of a black carrion beetle is what I’d noticed first. They are quite striking, even when rooting around in the decaying flesh of a recently dead animal, looking for a place to lay their eggs. The adults eat dead stuff, too, hence the bear hug this one was giving a shiny brown, but unmoving, carcass of a Junebug. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/37098430

379 - Junebugs and Beetles 06/19/2025

379 - Junebugs and Beetles Something small and bright caught my eye. Stopping mid-stride and mid-conversation, I bent down to look at a small jumble of legs and exoskeletons in the tread of the Ice Age Trail. The yellow mantle behind the head of a black carrion beetle is what I’d noticed first. They are quite striking, even when rooting around in the decaying flesh of a recently dead animal, looking for a place to lay their eggs. The adults eat dead stuff, too, hence the bear hug this one was giving a shiny brown, but unmoving, carcass of a Junebug. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/36965430

378 - Skydancing the Night Away 06/12/2025

378 - Skydancing the Night Away Excitement and nerves were at an all time high as my car crept down the gravel road, the sun having just slipped below the horizon. I was on the hunt, following clues to lead me to my prize. My treasure was the somewhat elusive American woodcock, and I was hoping to catch a glimpse of their infamous skydance. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/36871850

377 - Baby Food 06/05/2025

377 - Baby Food Although I often hear their rattling bugle calls echoing across the lake and through my open windows, having cranes nest where I could see them was a new treat. For a few weeks, every warm afternoon found me biking along that stretch of road with my camera at the ready. Each time, the evening sunlight spotlighted the face of a crane on the nest. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/36791445

376 - The Teachings of Ghost Pipe 05/29/2025

376 - The Teachings of Ghost Pipe Last Sunday I was asked to give the message for the Chequamegon Unitarian Universalist Flower Ceremony. Everyone brought a flower, they were admired in a bouquet, and each person left with a different flower. This symbolized the unique value of each person and the way we came together to create a beautiful bouquet. To illustrate this idea, I chose to talk about ghost pipe (previously named Indian pipe), a plant whom I’ve been puzzling over for a while. In preparing the talk, I realized that I’d learned a lot from ghost pipe. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/36694020

375 - Wilson's Warblers on Their Way 05/22/2025

375 - Wilson's Warblers on Their Way Scientist E.O. Wilson’s book Biophilia hypothesized that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. He wrote, “To an extent still undervalued in philosophy and religion, our existence depends on this propensity, our spirit is woven from it, hope rises on its currents." I watched as the Wilson’s Warbler bounced like popcorn through the narrow, willow-ish leaves of an unknown desert shrub. While this bird was named for a different Wilson, he certainly satisfied E.O. Wilson’s Biophilia. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/36597690

374 - Networking 05/15/2025

374 - Networking I apologize for the weird audio quality this week! I'm traveling -- as you'll hear -- and my audio editing program did an update that takes out breath noises, etc, automatically. But that also changes how my voice sounds and seems to reduce enunciation. If it's too annoying to listen to, you can read the article at: /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/36509075

373 - Adventures in Porcupine Wilderness 05/08/2025

373 - Adventures in Porcupine Wilderness At the trailhead, the woods were set alight by the sunshine reflecting off the melting snow. While my boots crunched down the trail, my eyes wandered to the trees where life was starting to awaken. Lichens, mosses, and mushrooms decorated the bark in a burst of bright greens, yellows and oranges–a welcome sight against the backdrop of the forest. /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/36412420

372 - Lois Nestel’s Sweet Ode to Spring 05/01/2025

372 - Lois Nestel’s Sweet Ode to Spring “What sweet ode shall we write to spring? Soft and tremulous one minute, tempestuous the next, she proffers her gifts with one fair hand and with the other snatches them away.” –Lois Nestel, Wayside Wanderings II /episode/index/show/cablenaturalhistorymuseum/id/36323265

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