Category: Natural History
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National Moth Week Ends
I think that engaging with natural history – learning the identity and phenology of your neighbors by reading about their stories, and studying their lives alongside your own can give anyone a sense of rootedness. ~Henry Hershey One reason I like National Moth Week so much is that it reminds me to make the effort… Read more…
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Baby Bluebirds
Be like the bluebird who never is blue, for he knows from his upbringing what singing can do. ~Cole Porter I checked on the bluebird box out in the yard yesterday to see if any of the four eggs I saw about a week ago had hatched. As always, I approached noisily, then knocked on… Read more…
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Museum Moth Night
The poets say some moths will do anything out of love for a flame… ~Mohsin Hamid Last night we participated in the NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ National Moth Week live event (well, Melissa worked it and I just rambled around taking pictures through my fogged glasses). It was a great start to National Moth… Read more…
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Walking Small
Nature will bear the closest inspection; she inspires us to lay our eye level with the smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. ~Henry David Thoreau The heat of summer is not my friend. It slows me down, saps me of energy, and makes me a little complacent I’m afraid. But, there… Read more…
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Growing Up
Even though you’re growing up, you should never stop having fun. ~Nina Dobrev A quick update on the Cecropia caterpillars we are raising…you may remember an earlier post where the eggs from a Cecropia Moth began hatching. That was on June 10. We are almost a month out and they are growing and changing as… Read more…
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The Sweet Smell of Milkweed
Its flowers are very flagrant and when in season, they fill the woods with their sweet exhalations and make it agreeable to travel in them, especially in the evening. ~Peter Kalm, Swedish scientist, on Common Milkweed, 1750’s I don’t really remember how long ago it was that I spread some Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) seeds… Read more…
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Frills, No Frills
It is almost impossible to think of something no one has thought of before, but it always possible to add different frills. ~Isaac Asimov Friday morning when I went out the basement door to fill the bird feeders, a fuzzy blob on the window caught me eye. I leaned over and saw this strange-looking moth.… Read more…
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Day 1
There is beauty to be found in the changing of the Earth’s seasons, and an inner grace in honouring the cycles of life. ~Jack Cornfield A recent post discussed the eclosure of several Cecropia Moths that had spent the winter with us as cocoons. There was a mated pair when I found them that morning.… Read more…
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Eclosure
You do not just wake up and become the butterfly. Growth is a process. ~Rupi Kaur Eclosure = the emergence of an insect from the pupa case, or of a larvae from the egg… Nature is always providing examples of remarkable survival and transformation. Witnessing eclosure is one of those magical things to me (must… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 