Groundhogs, also known as woodchucks or whistle pigs, are a species of marmot that belongs to the ground squirrel family, along with chipmunks and prairie dogs. The species that we’re familiar with, Marmota monax, lives throughout the Midwest, from northern Georgia to northern Canada. The Algonquin (or possibly Narraganset) native tribes called them...

In the world of insects, few are more charismatic than the little beetles we know as lightning bugs. The most common species in our area is Photinus pyralis, the common Eastern firefly. On warm July evenings at dusk...