mthew
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Bloomflies
An Edgeworthia something or other, with very small flies. These wee gnats or midges have come out in force on warmish days all month, and even back in February. Something Berberis — a mahonia. This was very active with various flies in the park last week. There was one bee-mimic, one honeybee, and a mess…
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Violets
1. 2. 3. Three varieties or species of Viola here, in flower-size order, smallest to largest.
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On A Tree
A small spider on a dawn redwood cone. The animal’s web was stretched across to another branch. And trapped in the web was a winged-form aphid. This was a week ago, only a few buds had emerged from the tree. E.O. Wilson says somewhere you can spend an entire lifetime voyaging around a single big…
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Spring Tanka
The rosebud cherries Are suddenly emphatic And suddenly gone In nature’s indifference I still keep watch on the blooms.
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Tuliptree
The way a tuliptree bud unfurls with exploratory leaf at the ready…. A big question around here in the epicenter is how long the virus lasts. The report that it was found on one of the plague ships over two weeks later is misleading. That was just particles, not active virus. Bits of RNA or…
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I self-isolated the political commentary for a week
but now I’m erupting: I’ve been calling the GOP a death cult for a while now, and lately they’ve only been too happy to show the label isn’t hyperbole. Trump’s fools are swallowing fish-tank cleaners because of his criminal rambling on the TV about chloroquine: a sixty-year-old Phoenix man is now dead and his wife…
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Raptor Wednesday
Through the new year, sightings of Merlins, or at least a Merlin, were pretty regular here from the #ViewFromTheMoraine. Then, after a single sighting in January, nothing until last Saturday in Green-Wood. It could be that I just haven’t spotted any. More likely is that more of them are on the move now and passing…
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Timber! It’s Timberdoodle Season
Saw six on my last excursion out three days ago. As is typical, they saw me first and bolted. Social distance geniuses! Here’s another. A crappy photo, but giving some suggestion of the gorgeous russet belly.
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The View From Here
I hope everybody staying inside as much as possible has something to look at outside. If I may say so, the view from here is one of the best damn ones in the city, especially considering its price. I recently wrote about hawk-watching from the living room for the Clapper Rail. But there are also…
Backyard and Beyond 