Jim Karpen Tips

Excellent Nature Site

May 2001

A year ago we covered eNature.com, which at the time was largely limited to some field guides. I visited there recently and was delighted to see how much more has been added. If you enjoy nature--even just in your backyard--this site will enhance your enjoyment.

As mentioned before, the site offers a complete guide to over 4,800 North American plants and animals, with detailed descriptions and photographs. What I'm most thrilled about are two new features: the local guide and the addition of bird songs.

What I struggled with before was finding those species relevant to where I live. Their "Zip Local Guide" lets you type in your Zip Code and then offers you a selection appropriate for your area. It not only takes into account your location, but also the time of year, which is especially important in regard to migrating birds.

Once you've typed in your Zip, you can choose from among four categories: birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. Since there are few of the latter two in Iowa, the results of my Zip Code search combined amphibians and reptiles into one page.

The site offered up 63 bird species I could expect to see in spring in the "greater Iowa area, including Jefferson County." I was also thrilled that you can now click on a link to hear the bird's song. Doing so opens a popup window with a larger picture of the bird and plays the song in your choice of format: RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, or QuickTime. RealPlayer seemed to work the best for me. I especially enjoyed listening to the cardinal because the recording included the several variations of the cardinal's song.

I was hoping that the site would also offer the sounds made by mammals, because I wanted to confirm the notion that I often hear Coyotes in the evening. But there were no mammal sounds--only birds. However, the site's details helped me confirm that I had in fact seen a coyote before dawn one morning when I was jogging, as well as coyote scat on the sidewalk behind the building where I live. (From what I can tell, the coyotes come through at night and feast on the multitude of rabbits.)

The eNature site is filled with additional features. You can now send an ecard that includes an image of your favorite species and brief description. Like other ecard sites, you can add a personal message.

There are forums and an "Ask an Expert" feature. Other areas include a park finder, birding basics, life lists, habitat guides, and sky guides. I was pleased to find that the bright planet I was seeing on my morning jog was Venus.