August 2012
-
Molts
You should be seeing the shed exoskeleton’s of Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs on our beaches now. Note how they are hollow right down to the smallest joint. As arthropods, Horseshoes must molt to grow larger: they do it about half a dozen times during their first year and then some 18 more times after that before…
-
Corner Pocket
A fairly representative New York City tree pit. “Pit” is definitely the word here. The hard-pan — calling this sterile-looking misery “soil” would be an insult — looks like something you’d find in a draught-ravaged desert. And you can imagine the gallons of poisonous dog piss that have been poured in over the years. It’s…
-
Blue Wings To Die For
The Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus) is a katydid and grasshopper hunter. As with the spider hunters and others I’ve been detailing this summer, the prey provisions the nests of their young. In between wrestling paralyzed katydids to the nest, these wasps sup on nectar. Like most solitary wasps, this generation never see their progeny…
-
Sturgeon Moon and Time Enough
Tonight’s full moon is the Sturgeon Moon. August will also have a Blue Moon, or second full moon within the month, on the 31st. Those were the days, when sturgeon were once so common on the East Coast and Great Lakes that Native Americans set their lunar calendar to them. Now these ancient fish are…
Backyard and Beyond 