Posts by Olin Lathrop
Most hummingbirds are attracted to red flowers in the wild. Therefore, a hummingbird feeder should mimic red flowers for best results. The color of the "nectar" itself doesn't matter. After all,...
Another answer talks about hardness. There is some relevance to that, but more importantly, ice is brittle, regardless of how hard it is. You don't need much of a tool to scrape or crack chunks f...
This is not a direct answer, but still relevant. Technically, "chipmunk" is the common name for a limited few specific species of ground squirrels. These usually have the stripes that run along t...
I don't have a direct answer to your question, but basic logic says that would be unusual. Think about what seasonal migration is for. It is to get access to different conditions than any one pla...
Pressure can tell you altitude (both up in mountains or down in caves). This is the basis for how many altimeters work. It helps if you know the pressure at a nearby known altitude. This helps...
The tent. Whatever you are tying the hammock to is obviously sticking up a bit. Let's assume trees. Things that stick up are more likely to be hit by lightning. Since the hammock needs to be ti...
Today GPS systems are relatively cheap and widely available. You don't even need a dedicated GPS receiver. For example, I often use a Android tablet with a built-in GPS, and software that can rec...
Seals appear at various times in various places on Cape Cod. There isn't a guaranteed time and place to see seals, but some spots are better than others. For example, this picture was taken at He...
It sounds like you are referring to a pedometer. These things basically count footsteps or strides. The purpose is usually to infer distance walked or hiked, although there is some error in going...
The vast majority of picnic sites are available on a first-come first-served basis. This is true across the many local, state, and federal agencies that provide picnic sites. These sites are for ...
I don't know how to compute the odds, but being out on a lake in a lightning storm is a really bad idea. The mountains around the lake aren't going to provide cover. There are several models about...
The robin should be quite capable of building the nest on her own. Almost anywhere there should be enough dried grass and small twigs around. It is unlikely your robin is having trouble finding b...
I picture would greatly help. However, I suspect you are looking at the lines on the part you manually rotate relative to the fixed base part. Good compasses have something you can rotate to set ...
I have a nice and small tent I really like that is around 30 years old. It is from Sierra West, but I don't remember the model name. Here is a picture so that you can see the size and general con...
This is impossible to answer unless you are willing to do an enormous amount of research. There is no single, or even just a few, databases of trails in the US. The national trail lists generally...
If hiking makes you feel anxious, then don't go hiking. If you do go hiking, as with most activities, you should pay attention to what your are doing. That includes listening to what is around yo...
Look at the surrounding terrain and think what water would do when it rains. No place is perfectly flat for very long, so suface water will flow away from some place and gather in others. Somepla...
Most trails for hiking are also good for running. In fact, I'd make the assumption that a hiking trail is a running trail without specific knowledge that makes it inappropriate. One way to get a ...
I can't answer for Ontario or that route specifically, but only give you a general idea how private property and trespassing works in the US and Canada. You are right in that we don't have Alleman...
Yes, there have been studies on how much various fabrics insulate when wet and dry. I remember Dr Murray Hamlet mentioning these statistics in one of his lectures on outdoor survival in the cold. ...
Unfortunately your picture doesn't give a good sense of scale, but my first reaction was that it looked like dog poop. Some other canid is also possible, with coyote being the most probable, then ...
No, you should definitely have stayed in your vehicle. Think about what lightning will do. It is attracted to tall conductive things, but that's not the whole story. A vehicle on a flat plane is...
This isn't a direct answer, but a relevant anecdote. Many years ago in college I went with some friends to a nearby state park with a lake. After a while, we decided to walk around the lake a bit...
I have a self-inflating mat, and I think the foam serves three purposes. In order of importance: It sets the shape of the mat when inflated. Think of the foam as limiting how far the opposite wa...
This doesn't directly answer your question and might not be to your liking, but it's what I do. Basically, I don't bother trying to keep it cold. However, I do add flavoring. I find that flavori...
