Odonate mini-gem
July 31, 2017 - We're finally at the end of July... and smack dab in the middle of Amberwing season. These little gems, which are said t...
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Magical mimic
July 30, 2017 - A week ago, I highlighted one of my favorite moths, a Hummingbird Clearwing, that I found working my daughter's Goosenec...
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Zipping along
July 29, 2017 - There was scant time today for hiking because the Main Event was a party at my daughter Kirsten's house to celebrate my...
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Unwelcoming committee
July 28, 2017 - It's hard to believe that something so intriguing and beautiful could be so destructive, but anyone who has watched a To...
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Pure gold
July 27, 2017 - If you're patient and persistent, nature often reveals small miracles. I've been seeing a number of these "golden" bees...
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Snake siesta interrupted
July 26, 2017 - With my granddaughter up at "aunties," I had a chance to do some serious wood-splitting, but at one point, after I'd mov...
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Mega-sphinx
July 25, 2017 - In the latest round of "musical grand-daughters," I had to drop off Stasia today at my daughter's house where she was go...
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Nature's buttons
July 24, 2017 - It was a gray, cool day, and by the time I'd finished my writing and house tasks, a steady rain—a blessing, to be sure—h...
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Mini-hummer
July 23, 2017 - I love my hummingbirds, but I may love Hummingbird Moths just about as much. These pint-sized members of the Sphinx Moth...
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Katy doing
July 22, 2017 - I had a brief hole in what have become almost non-stop busy days and nights, and I quickly took advantage of the happy s...
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Growing
July 21, 2017 - My granddaughter Stasia and I had time for a quick, late afternoon trip to Amos Lake, our go-to favorite swimming hole,...
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Dog walk benefit
July 20, 2017 - I don't have a dog, but periodically, my neighbors go on vacation and I get to take care of their wonderful pooch, Freda...
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Cactus legs
July 19, 2017 - I spotted this tiny, spiny bug on the petal of a Black-eyed Susan that was growing on the roadside near the house, and,...
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Mountain goat
July 18, 2017 - After a wonderful week at nature camp, my granddaughter Stasia decided that, yes, hiking in the woods was back to being...
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Show time, native lily edition
July 17, 2017 - Praise be: on yet another glorious day, I actually had about an hour to do some hiking, and since I knew this gift was s...
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The graduate
July 16, 2017 - Sigh... on a gorgeous, sunny, dry, and not-too-warm day, I spent far too much of it indoors trying to finish yet another...
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Manual labor
July 15, 2017 - A few years ago, my ancient Snapper gas-powered push mower finally bit the dust (it was at least three decades old at th...
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Delicious harvest
July 14, 2017 - After almost 40 years in the journalism business, I have to admit that I still love being a writer and photographer... I...
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For the love of... bee flies
July 13, 2017 - I've become, this year in particular, a big fan of a group of Diptera that belong to the fly family Syrphidae, a.k.a., t...
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A Thoreauvian birthday gift
July 12, 2017 - Henry David Thoreau, the naturalist's naturalist to whom everyone in this business owes a debt of gratitude, would have...
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Caterpillar stylin'
July 11, 2017 - Here's another episode in the "joys of sticking close to home" series, the one mandated by work and family situations. I...
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Self-destructing fungi
July 10, 2017 - Given that we're getting very close to Henry David Thoreau's 200th birthday, I've been very much in HDT mode, which is t...
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Another milkweeder
July 09, 2017 - Like a lot of things this year, the Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies were exceptionally late in emerging and reclai...
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Wintergreen, spotted
July 08, 2017 - It's been a fine flowering season for Spotted Wintergreen, one of the prettiest—and, from the viewpoint of its common mo...
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Summer visitor
July 07, 2017 - One of the real joys of getting out on the trail is a chance to see the new and the unexpected. (To be sure, seeing the...
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Butterfly favorite
July 06, 2017 - There is one thing to be said for getting old: you wind up visiting an increasing number of doctors. Now, this doesn't s...
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Looper revealed
July 05, 2017 - Most of today was spent trying frantically to finish up writing projects, so the trekking notebook was essentially a bla...
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The other light show
July 04, 2017 - I promised myself that, despite my increasing terror over the future of this country—and our democratic "experiment"—I w...
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Rhode show
July 03, 2017 - My monitoring wild Rhododendron tree up the road has begun to bloom, so that meant a trek to the Rhododendron maximum fo...
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Landscape ode
July 02, 2017 - Years of tracking dragonflies have taught me, within fairly broad limits, when to expect certain signature species to sh...
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Summer jewels
July 01, 2017 - Jewelweed is one of the first wildflowers I learned way-back-when... when I started to become a naturalist. The reason,...
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