mthew
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The Social Wasps
Chris Alice Kratzer’s guide to The Social Wasps of North America is out and about. If you’re interested in the social wasps, and I know you are, you should really look this one up. Kratzer uses an interesting digital graphic style of illustration: it’s generic, or should I say platonic, packing a lot of information…
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Sun Dog
Have you been following the travails of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, TX? They launched a lawsuit against the Trump-wreckers ripping through their land to build the environmentally devastating border wall, and have since born the brunt of the crazies of the Republican Coup Party’s terrorist wing. They’ve lately shut down indefinitely because of…
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Raptor Wednesday
On Sunday morning, this bird flew up from the fire-escape to attempt to grab a Mourning Dove that had just landed on the roof parapet. The dove had no difficulty getting away. The hawk then flew into the park, landing in a linden with at least two Grey Squirrels in it. There was some scurrying…
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Oriole Again
Taxus baccata is native to northern Europe. You may therefore not be surprised to discover that some birds there can and will eat the seeds.
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Cuckoo, Cuckoo!
Sumer is icumen in,/ Lhude sing cucu, begins one of the oldest songs in English. The distinctive call of the male Common Cuckoo, just returned from winter in sub-Saharan Africa, has long marked the return of spring to Europe. People used to write to the Times to report the date they first heard it for…
Backyard and Beyond 