Category: Natural History
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Stately Garden Visitor
This weekend, while I was picking beans in the garden, I felt I was being watched. I looked around, and, sure enough, had a visitor. It was a beautiful Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina. This one was particularly striking, with a bright, bold pattern on both its shell and head. I suspected it was a… Read more…
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Baby Rattle
…a wonderful creature, when we consider his form, nature and disposition…he is never known to strike until he is first assaulted or fears himself in danger, and even then always gives the earliest warning by the rattles at the extremity of his tail. ~William Bartram, 1791 I made some time last week to do a… Read more…
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Glory in the Morning, Quiet at Night
Morning Glory is the best name, it always refreshes me to see it. ~Henry David Thoreau Some parts of the garden are starting to wind down now, but the wilder side is still full of life and beauty. The cooler nights and recent rains have perked things up a bit, the scattered wildflowers are in… Read more…
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To the Sea
Salmon abound in great quantities at certain seasons of the year, when the water in every direction seems to be filled with them… ~James Alden, U.S. Coast Survey, 1853, describing the waters around San Juan Island After camping and hiking in Olympic National Park, the next leg of the journey was by ferry, to San… Read more…
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Baby Cat
It’s always remarkable how much we each see when we slow down, cast our gaze narrowly but intently, and just watch. ~Zoe Weil I was out walking a country gravel road the other day, hoping to find some caterpillars. I did see some signs of Luna Moth larval feeding on the ubiquitous Sweet Gums, but… Read more…
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A Wasp at My Window?
Some of these resemblances are perfectly staggering – to me they are a source of constant wonder and thrilling delight. Henry Walter Bates, in letter to Charles Darwin, 1861 In one of my nightly checks of the visitors at my screens, a small wasp-like creature caught my eye. But a closer look revealed some interesting… Read more…
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Patterns on the Pages
In Nature’s infinite book of secrecy A little I can read. ~William Shakespeare I can read only a little, especially in the chapter on a new found interest, moths. They keep showing up (of course, I keep looking). I now have a routine of checking the screens before retiring for the night to see what… Read more…
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Tattered Wings
The wings came down as the only evidence that such a creature had soared. ~Henry David Thoreau, commenting on a pair of Luna Moth wings that floated down onto the ground after the moth was eaten by a bird Walking back from the garden yesterday, I spotted some evidence of a passing…the passing of one… Read more…
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Moth Majesty
There are two worlds; the world of sunshine, and the world of the dark. There are whole armies of living things , which, when we go to sleep, begin to awaken; and when we awaken, go to sleep. ~W.J. Holland It happened again the other night. When I started to close the inside door for… Read more…
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A Beautiful Bug with a Not-so-beautiful Namesake
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. ~William Shakespeare I remember finding this beautiful little moth many years ago when I worked as a naturalist in state parks. When I looked it up in my field guide, I quickly discovered it was a type… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 