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...

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....

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...

Want to Watch? ©2025 by Jenny, Paul, Joe, Joshua, and Caleb Venturo Darting here and there, up the current, down it, between the rocks,...

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...

Photo by Jenny Venturo All night long, the storm raged. Wind howled in the treetops. It whipped over the water of the lake, ruffling it...

Photo by Paul Venturo He hasn’t eaten for a while now and he’s hungry. He is lurking around in the rocks, deep down in the water,...

Artwork by Joshua Venturo He runs about on talus fields all summer with bundles of small plants in his mouth. He spreads the plants in...

Artwork by Kelly and Daniel Venturo In an open sunny meadow in Colorado there was a prairie dog town. All over the grassy field were...

Artwork by Joshua Venturo While we were fishing a lake in Colorado, we saw a large lake trout. We wanted to catch one, but we didn’t have...

Photo by Jenny Venturo When we were hiking high on Mt. Elbert in Colorado, we saw lots of ptarmigans. They were so white we could hardly...

Artwork by Kelly Venturo Whisk is a squirrel. His house is a hollow tree in a quiet pine forest. Like most squirrels, Whisk is usually...

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...

Artwork by Caleb Venturo The sea lion is a medium-sized mammal that lives in subarctic and tropical waters in all oceans except the North...

Artwork by Caleb Venturo The sea otter is a large member of the weasel family. The average sea otter weighs about 22-99 lbs., but the...

Artwork by Caleb Venturo The pink salmon is a medium-sized salmon that lives in the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The average pink salmon...

Photo by Jenny Venturo The sea cucumber is an echinoderm that lives on the ocean floor around the world. Its size ranges from 3 mm. to 10...