Chapter 4: The secret to courage; the story of Fenton Frog Fenton Frog is a mailman – or a mail-frog I should say. His job every day is...

Dense forest thins. Views of jagged peaks become unobstructed. A glassy lake appears over a rise, reflecting each patch of snow that...

Chapter 3: The fisherman's secret; the story of Paul the mole There is a pond on the Cranberry Island. It is in a remote, quiet place...

High in the mountains, hidden in small pockets and nooks in the rocks and grass, there are puddles of water. At first glance, these...

Chapter 2: The most important thing; the story of Whisk the squirrel In the little village of Cranberry by the sparkling Cranberry bog,...

In the dark of night, in the cold of a deep pool in a rushing stream, a mayfly is hatching. This mayfly does not look like a typical fly....

Chapter 1: The Cranberry Island; the story of how things began The Cranberry Island, as it is called, is not really an island. There is...

©2025 by Daniel Venturo Iridescent green and blue. White wing patches. An extremely long tail. He flies through the grasslands, on his...

Great Sand Dunes Tiger Beetle Fascinating, strange, exotic bugs. Australian deserts are alive with them. Amazon jungles crawl with them....

Want to Listen? In the silence of the night, a lone coyote prowled. Overhead, a full moon cast its silver light. It gleamed off the quivering aspen leaves and created shifting shadows on the forest floor as it sifted through the spruce boughs. The silence was eerie, broken only by the stirrings of a mink in the leaves or the soft murmur of an owl in the trees. Quickly and quietly the coyote moved, her quavering nose close to the earth as she searched for promising smells. At

Want to Listen? He was the most unlikely individual for the mission. He was young and untrained; he had never even held a sword before. He was not strong physically, and he was so soft on the inside that even seeing a wilted flower brought tears to his eyes. He was new to the kingdom too and knew little about the land or the king or the subjects. He was naïve as well, and gullible—foolishly ignorant of the enemy and his lurking traps. Indeed, there were a thousand other perso

Want to Listen? We were hiking in Black Mesa State Park, Oklahoma. The sweat poured down our faces in the harsh sun, and waves of heat rose from the surrounding desert-lands. Then, suddenly, we spotted him. A flaming blue-orange speck moving speedily through the grass and dirt. What is he? He is a Festive Tiger Beetle. The Festive Tiger Beetle is a brightly colored beetle which lives east of the Rockies. It ranges in size from 11-14 millimeters. These beetles are diurnal and

Want to Watch? ©2025 by Jenny, Paul, Joe, Joshua, and Caleb Venturo Darting here and there, up the current, down it, between the rocks, through the water—he tries to dodge my attempts to view his bright colors. A minnow—keeping ever on the bottom—bright stripes, large fins—he is a darter. A rainbow darter—his name betrays his habits and looks. And it was in the Current River in Missouri where we found him. We just had an afternoon to wade in the river and get some fresh air b

Once upon a time, in the land of dreams, there lived two kings, King Just and King Greed. They both had beautiful land to rule, but King...

Want to Listen? It was a beautiful day on the Emerald Coast, Florida. It was a tad rough and a bit more turbid than usual, which was...

Want to Listen? There was once a country called Shadow Hills where many different people lived. Now you may think that Shadow Hills was a...

Want to Listen? America’s Florida Keys are home to a wide range of animals. The Keys are located off the Southernmost tip of Florida,...

Want to Listen? Once upon a time, there were two small hermit crabs who lived on a tropical island in the middle of the ocean. Their...

©2025 by Jenny Venturo Want to Listen? You may think that monkeys are a far away, tropical animal that you’ll never be able to see except...

Want to Listen? Long, long ago, at the very beginning of time, two people, a man and a woman, the first that God ever created, took a...

Want to Listen? Tides. They suck water out to the deep, out of sounds, and through inlets; they expose the rocks encrusted with life;...

Want to Listen? Once, there were two kings and two kingdoms. The first king was good. His kingdom was good too; his people loved him, and...

Want to Listen? While staying at Schoodic Peninsula in Acadia National Park, Maine, we saw quite a few animals. Keep reading to learn...

This is a sextant, a tool used for navigation Crash! Another monster wave loomed towering over the boat, then hurtled down and swept over...

©2025 by Joshua Venturo “There’s a Daddy-long-legs eating my pepperoni!” That’s what Caleb said as we sat by the Glen Ellis river in New...

Wolves, lions, bears, sharks—these are all ferocious predators that hunt down prey. With their strong jaws and sharp claws, they are...

Which fish has huge scales, can survive in polluted water, and eats berries? Which fish grows to 100 pounds and lives across the country?...

A small amphibian steps onto a bright green leaf. His gray body stands out against the green. A perfect target for predators. Very...

At first glance, it might look like a huge stinger that would make a big welt on your skin. But you don’t have to worry about this thing...

All night long, the storm raged. Wind howled in the treetops. It whipped over the water of the lake, ruffling it into turmoil. It ripped...

He hasn’t eaten for a while now and he’s hungry. He is lurking around in the rocks, deep down in the water, looking for prey. Suddenly, a...

He runs about on talus fields all summer with bundles of small plants in his mouth. He spreads the plants in the sun to dry and brings...

In an open sunny meadow in Colorado there was a prairie dog town. All over the grassy field were dotted little mounds of dirt, and on...

While we were fishing a lake in Colorado, we saw a large lake trout. We wanted to catch one, but we didn’t have the right gear to get...

When we were hiking high on Mt. Elbert in Colorado, we saw lots of ptarmigans. They were so white we could hardly see them against the...

Whisk is a squirrel. His house is a hollow tree in a quiet pine forest. Like most squirrels, Whisk is usually busy gathering nuts and...

Photo by Jenny Venturo In Westcliffe, Colorado, we saw a few horned lizards. They were slow and easy to catch. We looked at them closely,...

Drawing by Daniel Venturo In my last post, I told you the story of Crank-bait and Curly-tail, two chipmunk brothers who found a deadly...

While we were near Grape Creek in Colorado, we had a chance to fish for brook trout. We brought our fly rods down to the creek and cast...

Photo by Jenny Venturo All throughout the Rocky Mountains, we were looking for bighorn sheep. We saw several signs saying “ Watch for...

Photo by Jenny Venturo The Wichita Mountains were full of cracks and crannies that were perfect for collared lizards. Our mission that...

Artwork by Joshua Venturo The adult antlion looks like a damselfly, and grows to about 1 ¾ (45 mm.) inches. As an adult, it eats nectar...

Artwork by Kelly Venturo There once were two little chipmunk brothers named Crank-bait and Curly-tail. They lived in a cozy hollow log in...

Artwork by Caleb Venturo The collared peccary is a pig-like mammal that lives in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. It grows to 40 in. and...

Photo by Jenny Venturo Is there anything so brilliant as the sun? Every night, just as everything seems darkest, a hint of light begins...

Photo by Jenny Venturo Many fascinating creatures live on the rocky shores and in the mighty waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here, the...

Artwork by Kelly Venturo Deep within the foggy rainforest, underneath a mossy log, there lived a newt. He was brown on top and yellowish...

Photo by Jenny Venturo Once upon a time, there lived a marmot. A marmot is a large type of rodent that lives high up in the mountains....

Artwork by Joshua Venturo Ambystoma gracile is a species of mole salamander native to the eastern Pacific coast. It grows to 8.7 inches...

Photo by Jenny Venturo The chiton, or sea cradle, has a shell made up of 8 shell-plates, called valves. It has a soft covering for this...