Archives:

Earth Matters : Eastern screech-owls: Why there and not here?

by David Spector

Naturalists are often asked “W” questions: What is this organism? Where is it found? When am I likely to see it? And, most interesting and most difficult to answer, why? Why-questions provoke answers that address natural processes, often multiple, complicated, and incompletely understood processes. Full answers to why-questions include acknowledgment of uncertainty.