Behind my house is a blue spruce, at the tip top of which is the favorite perch of my local black-chinned hummingbird, Mr. Big. Mr. Big is probably more than one bird, but I call them that because the ...

It all began innocently enough. A friend photographed a small hive-like substance in our local nature preserve. The spongy mass was weird-looking and about the size of a marshmallow. He figured it ...