THE DO IT CALENDAR

I have not begun my holiday shopping.  I’m sure some of you have – good on you (Ratfink over-achievers).  One of my favorite go-to gifts is the Missouri Department of Conservations “Natural Events Calendar”.  It has nature facts on most of the calendar days, decorated with gorgeous nature photos.  Most days, the calendar reports when different animals are reproducing.  For example, yesterday was the peak of marble salamander breeding (Woo hoo!).  This is a popular family gift and we have nicknamed it the “do it” calendar because… it tells you when animals are doing it (Did I really need to explain that? Probably not.). 

Once upon a time, I worked for the Missouri Department of Conservation and received a email from my sister.  (Historical note:  My family had already nicknamed the “do it” calendar.)  Her message was, more or less, “Dear Conservation Department, your calendar is wrong.  I saw two box turtles mating yesterday.  According to your calendar, this isn’t supposed to happen for two more weeks.  How do you explain this?”  (Obviously snarkiness runs in my family)   I responded that “while the calendar is made widely available to organisms, we cannot assure that all read it and comply.”  If you are interested in helping wildlife comply, check out https://www.mdcnatureshop.com/ They typically have the calendars available in mid October.  Enjoy!