Good news! Regional groundhogs predict an early spring!
You've probably heard of Pennsylvania's famous Punxsutawney Phil, but you may not have realized that Ohio has its very own springtime prognosticator. His name is Buckeye Chuck. Buckeye Chuck lives in Marion, Ohio, and he has been foretelling spring since the 1970s. Despite the frigid weather, hundreds gathered in Marion this morning to learn whether Buckeye Chuck could see his shadow. It turns out that he could NOT, I repeat, NOT Read more ➜ Happy Groundhog Day!
Good news! Regional groundhogs predict an early spring!
You've probably heard of Pennsylvania's famous Punxsutawney Phil, but you may not have realized that Ohio has its very own springtime prognosticator. His name is Buckeye Chuck. Buckeye Chuck lives in Marion, Ohio, and he has been foretelling spring since the 1970s. Despite the frigid weather, hundreds gathered in Marion this morning to learn whether Buckeye Chuck could see his shadow. It turns out that he could NOT, I repeat, NOT Read more ➜ 
I met Sam while participating in the Hocking Hills Annual Winter Hike. A naturalist with the state of Ohio was holding him on his arm as the crowd walked past. I took several photos of Sam while he was turning his head every which way as he looked over the crowd. I decided to combine these images into one animated image that shows off his amazing head-turning skills. Check out the image below.
In case you are curious, the four images below were combined with the owl head at the top 
The Petroglyphs
The Leo Petroglyph State Memorial is a site with about 37 petroglyphs (line drawings carved in stone). The petroglyphs were made on an outcropping of bedrock consisting of Black Hand sandstone. Based on the weathering of the exposed sandstone, it is believed that the carvings are about 700 years old. That age would make them the handiwork of the Fort Ancient Indians, a late prehistoric culture that was active in Ohio from about 1000 A.D. to 1650 A.D.
I wasn't sure exactly what 
You may not have heard of it, but there really is a Squirrel Appreciation Day. Although not officially sanctioned by any government (that I know of), Squirrel Appreciation Day was founded by wildlife rehabilitator Christy Hargrove in 2001, and it falls on January 21st of each year. He believes that a good way to commemorate this winter holiday would be by putting out some extra food for the squirrels in your yard. In the slideshow below, you can see an Eastern gray squirrel helping himself to food 
When looking at the prehistoric artefacts and earthen structures in Ohio, I'm always wondering what meanings these things held for the people who created them. I end up reading whatever explanatory sign is posted nearby, but while I'm doing so I'm also wondering how anthropologists know any of this stuff. Since prehistoric societies don't leave any texts explaining themselves or their culture, anthropologists have to be making a lot of inferences.
However when I was at Serpent Mound 
There are a number of places where the terrain itself is interesting, but during the summer the foliage may partially obstruct your view. One of those places is Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve. We visited there mid-November, but given our recent melt, it would look similar now.
And here are some views of the Little Miami River downstream. They also show more of the river due to the lack of foliage.
During our November visit we hiked to the eastern-most 
This fall Bob and I visited Rising Park in Lancaster, Ohio. The big attraction there is the view from the top of Mount Pleasant. Both of us wanted to see what the view would look like when blanketed in snow, so we went back to take some more photos a week or so ago.
If you look at the top photo you'll see that I was standing behind a safety rail. It was disheartening to see that there were tracks in the snow up to the edge of the cliff. Especially considering 
Bird watching is just one of the attractions of Blendon Woods Metro Park. The park features two observation shelters near Thoreau Lake. In addition the rear of the Nature Center has windows that look out on a number of bird feeders.
A wheelchair accessible trail (Pond Trail) extends from the parking lot near the Nature Center to Thoreau Lake. It's only 0.3 miles long. You are very likely to hear and see woodpeckers on your way there.
In the photo below I'm looking at a bird 
This past September we visited Lake Vesuvius in Wayne National Forest. We followed the Lakeshore Trail counter-clockwise around the lake. This trail is supposed to be 8 miles long. The first mile had us traveling past a number of cliffs and outcroppings; if you were to just go a mile and then turn around, you'd have a very scenic hike of moderate difficulty. You'd even get to see the cliff and watery slump block pictured above.
The Lakeshore Trail
Once you go up the steps that lie 
Earlier we posted an Ohio Christmas Events Calendar, and last night Bob and I chose to go to one of the events being held in central Ohio: the Wildlights exhibit at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. A lot of zoos are now doing an annual holiday lights display, and if you can make it to one of these, they are a lot of fun for the whole family. Here's what the display looks like in Columbus.
The Galapagos turtle display is in the most special