Hobbies & Leisure

All About Birds

Search, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Use our Bird Guide to identify birds, learn about the life history, listen to the sounds, and watch bird behavior on video

Canoe Country
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Canoeing, Fishing, Camping and Lodging Guide

DIY Home Improvement Information
Includes home improvement projects, home repair, kitchen remodeling, plumbing, electrical, painting, real estate, and decorating.

The Gardener’s Network
Online gardening community, how to grow information, content, resources and shopping for backyard gardening.

Hometime Home Improvement
Your best source for home improvement information on the web. We’ve got hundreds of pages of How-To Articles and a growing library of How-To Streaming Video Clips.

The Science Museum of Minnesota
The Science Museum of Minnesota is the most popular museum in the Upper Midwest. Featuring dinosaurs, Omnitheater & hands-on exhibits.

U. S. Forest Service
The national headquarters website; the home page and gateway to all Forest Service websites.

U.S. National Park Service
U.S. National Park Service – Experience Your America

The Woodworker’s Online Resource
Woodworking Tips, Techniques, Tool Reviews, Plans and Supplies for Woodworkers. All from the editors of three of the most respected woodworking magazines around: Woodsmith, ShopNotes, and Workbench.

Nature

Bird Identification
Patuxent–Tools for Learning About Birds. Includes photographs, songs and identifications tips for United States, Canadian and Central American Birds.

Dendrology at Virginia Tech
The place to find tree identification fact sheets on approximately 900 species of trees, as well as lots of other tree information.

Home & Garden Information Center
Provides research-based information on landscaping, gardening, plant health, household pests, food safety & preservation, and nutrition, physical activity & health.

National Audubon Society
The mission of the National Audubon Society is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.

University of Connecticut Plant Database
Contains photographic and textual information on 450 trees, shrubs and vines that are useful for landscaping. Includes a Plant Selector feature that enables the user to choose plants for their landscape situation based on criteria they supply.

USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the nation’s first wildlife research station through an Executive Order in 1936. Great conservation icons were instrumental in establishing Patuxent and investing in AmericaGÇÖs great conservation future e

What Tree is That? Tree Identification Guide
Official site of the Arbor Day Foundation provides information about planting and caring for trees, our Rain Forest Rescue and Tree City USA programs, and much more.

Wildlife Management
Provides more than 500 publications from more than 100 species on the biology, ecology, identification, control, and management of wildlife in North America.

Kids

ALA Great Web Sites for Kids
Featuring links to websites of interest to children 14 years of age and younger, organized into diverse subject headings, from astronomy and space to zoos and aquariums, from games and entertainment to geography and maps. Includes a section with sites of

Astronomy For Kids
Powerful and fun resource for kids, exploring astronomy and other space related topics. Play games, learn through interactive applications, and much more.

EEK! Environmental Education for Kids
EEK! is designed for children in grades 4-8 and provides accurate and current information on natural resources and career information. EEK! also offers students the opportunity to take part in activities, make seasonal observations, and share stories and

Exploratorium Online Activities
Explore exihibitions, Webcasts, activities, and other Exploratorium online resources. Read the review at FriendlyCat.com

NFL Rush
The official NFL site for kids. Your source for fun NFL online games, contests, fantasy football, youth football, and NFL Play 60.

PBS Kids
Play educational games, watch PBS KIDS shows and find activities like coloring and music. PBS KIDS Games and Shows are research based and vetted by educators.

Quiz Hub: K-12 Educational Quiz Games
A fun K-12 online interactive learning center that features educational quiz games for English language arts,

The Science Club
Offering science projects and activities for children, science fair ideas archive, science

Science News for Kids
Items of interest to kids, accompanied by suggestions for hands-on activities, books, articles, Web resources, and other useful materials.

USDA for Kids Page
Providing students, parents, and teachers with youth-geared information and resources related to agriculture.

Optics 4 Kids
Optics is the science of light. It’s the study of how light behaves and interacts with matter.

Radio & Television

A Prairie Home Companion
Everything you ever wanted to know — including some things you probably didn’t — about A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Comcast TV Listings
Watch your favorite Comcast TV shows on Fancast by viewing local television listings, schedule, and episodes for Movies, Sports, Kids and HD channels.

The Engines of Our Ingenuity
A radio program that tells the story of how our culture is formed by human creativity.

Garage Logic
Welcome to the virtual town of Garage Logic

Zap 2 it – TV Listings Guide
TV listings, Nielsen ratings, TV show guides and news about your favorite TV shows, plus movies, movie times, theaters, trailers, photos and more.

Reference

Answers.com
Wiki Q&A combined with free online dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedias. Ask questions, get answers.

Ask Dr. Universe
Got a science question? Ask Dr. Universe! A fun science website for kids from Dr. Wendy Sue Universe and her friends at Washington State University.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
A US government agency, directly responsible to Congress, and regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable.

The 50 States
State information resource links to state homepage, symbols, flags, maps, constitutions, representatives, songs, birds, flowers, trees.

How Stuff Works
Explains hundreds of subjects, from car engines to lock-picking to ESP, using clear language and tons of illustrations.

The Internet Movie Database
The biggest, best, most award-winning movie site on the planet.

IPL2
A public service organization and a learning/teaching environment. It is the result of a merger of the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians’ Internet Index (LII).

Minnesota Statutes
Minnesota Statutes, Session Laws, and Rules compiled by the Office of Revisor of Statutes.

National Atlas of the United States
The single best Federal source for national maps and geographic information on the Web. It contains an online map maker, dynamic maps, printable maps, articles, free geographic data, and additional resources for geographic information about the US.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac
Provides free long range weather forecasts, home and garden advice, astronomy and full moon information, natural cures and cooking. Has many of the same features of the print almanac.

One Look
Think of this web site as a search engine for words and phrases: If you have a word for which you’d like a definition or translation, they’ll quickly shuttle you to the web-based dictionaries that define or translate that word. If you don’t know the right

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
Over 200 links to other map collections; emphasis on 19th century America maps. Includes collection of online CIA and historical maps. Worldwide coverage, with a focus on United States and Texas maps.

The Phrase Finder
The meanings and origins of over 1,200 English sayings, phrases and idioms.

RefDesk
Refdesk is a free and family friendly web site that indexes and reviews quality, credible, and current web-based reference resources.

Robert’s Rules of Order Online
For students and teachers of parliamentary procedure and Robert’s Rules of Order, with resources for the parliamentarian, officers, board of directors, and members. Includes index and keyword search, lesson outlines and Plan for Study of Parliamentary Law

RX List
Medications and prescription drug information for consumers and medical health professionals. The most popular drugs and their side effects, interactions, and use.

Timeline of historic inventions
A chronological list of particularly important or significant technological inventions.

Truth or Fiction
Get the truth about rumors, inspirational stories, virus warnings, hoaxes, scams, humorous tales, pleas for help, urban legends, prayer requests, calls to action, and other forwarded emails.

The U.S. Government’s Official Web Portal
The official web portal for all government transactions, services, and information. It provides direct online access to federal, state, local, and tribal governments.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.

Space & Science

A Periodic Table of the Elements
The Chemistry Division’s Periodic Table describes the history, properties, resources, uses, isotopes, forms, costs, and other information for each element.

DinoDictionary
Your resource for hunting dinosaurs. With profiles of over 300 known dinosaurs, immerse yourself in a wealth of knowledge about the giants that roamed the earth so long ago!

EarthSky
A clear voice for science. The world’s top scientists heard 15 million times a day.

The History of Astronomy.
Gene Smith’s astronomy tutorial – A brief history of astronomy.

HubbleSite
News center, gallery, discoveries, sci-tech, fun and games, and reference desk.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The lead U.S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system, and conducts major programs in space-based

Molecule of the Month
The links will take you to a page at one of the Web sites at a University Chemistry Department or commercial site in the UK, the US, or anywhere in the world, where useful (and hopefully entertaining!), information can be found about a particularly intere

Moon Phase
Find out information about the moon including the current phase. You can now add the Moon Phase gadget to either your own web page or Google’s personalized home page.

NASA Kennedy Space Center
Get the latest updates on NASA missions, subscribe to blogs, RSS feeds and podcasts, watch NASA TV live, or simply read about our mission to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.

Spacetech’s Orrery
Learn about the solar system – and beyond! The amazing planets, their moons, asteroids, comets and the sun – our star.

Sky & Telescope
Sky & Telescope, the Essential Magazine of Astronomy. News, observing tips, how-to advice, and more!

Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
SOHO, the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory, is a project of international collaboration between ESA and NASA to study the Sun from its deep core to the outer corona and the solar wind.

Space.com
Space.com provides information on everything Space – satellites, stars, astronomy, the Sun, planets, NASA and more.

Aurora Page
This is the Aurora Page from Michigan Tech featuring Aurora images and links to other Aurora Resources.

Dino Database
Detailed information on hundreds of dinosaurs and dinosaur related topics. Beginners and experts alike will love the detail contained within.

The Electronic Sky
Here you’ll find a whole range of articles covering cosmic phenomena of all kinds, ranging from minor craters on the Moon to entire galaxies.

National Science Foundation
NSF’s mission is to advance the progress of science, a mission accomplished by funding proposals for research and education made by scientists, engineers, and educators from across the country.

NASA
NASA’s mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.

Windows to the Universe
Learn about Earth and space science, related arts, humanities for students, teachers, and other learners – activities, games, images, in English and Spanish.

The Nine Planets
An overview of the history, mythology, and current scientific knowledge of the planets, moons and other objects in our solar system.

The Constellations
Information about the constellations including pictures with and without labels. Also has links to a variety of related photographs of stars and other bodies.

Astronomy Myths, Legends & Lore
Frosty Drew Observatory provides a list of planets and constellations and their related myths, legends and lore.

Exploratorium Online
Explore exihibitions, Webcasts, activities, and other Exploratorium online resources. Read the review at FriendlyCat.com

Dynamic Periodic Table
Interactive periodic table with dynamic layouts showing names, electrons, oxidation, trend visualization, orbitals, isotopes, and compound search. Full descriptions from write-up sources.