-
Animal Sex
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: It turns out that one of the best ways to tell species apart is to examine their genitals. There’s an incredible variety of forms of male and female sex organs, even within the species gathered together in a genus, and so for years biologists have been separating, for example,…
-
Migrating Gliders
You may wait a long time before one of these gliders comes to a stop. Both the Spot-winged (Pantala hymenaea) and Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens) dragonflies seem to spend their whole working day in the air. These are the constantly moving yellow to golden dragonflies that are now being seen above our meadows and grassy…
-
-
Something to Wash Out The Hate
If you’re still recovering from the shameless exhibition of fear and loathing that was the finale of washed-out TV personality Donald Trump’s grotesque career — that tirade in search of a balcony, that harangue for a meaner, nastier America — then this one’s for you. Two species of bees, two species of wasps, one skipper……
-
Stump
When I spotted Brian Nash Gill’s Woodcut recently, I was intrigued. A few days later I came across this character-laden stump in Green-Wood. Of course, this isn’t a print, it’s just a picture with the “Noir” filter on my iPhone camera.
-
The Dragons Are Hunting
The shed exuvia of an Odonata. Dragon- and damselflies spend their larval stage underwater. These voraciously predatory nymphs climb up on reeds and other vertical structures, anchor themselves, and begin to break out and unfurl their wings, harden off, and then take to the air, leaving these ghostly husks behind.A male Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera), our…
-
Bull
…Frog (Lithobates catesbeianus). And bull! too, to the repulsive display of nativism, racism, ignorance, and unparalleled mendacity at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
-
Freshwater
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: I was enjoying the life above the Duckweed (Lemnaceae) recently, marveling that I’ve never seen so many Eastern Amberwings (Perithemis tenera).There were also a few Blue Dashers (Pachydiplax longipennis), making more Blue Dashers.A damselfly of unknown provenance was depositing eggs. And then, along the edge of the lake, some…
-
Milestone Shell
A milestone: after six and one half years of blogging, I have reached WordPress’s 3GB maximum of free image storage. This is at least one picture a day, probably more on average, for some 2375 days. Wow! Feel free to wander about in the voluminous archives, loosely cataloged by subject… But now I have to…
-
Pokemon Go This
If I understand it correctly, the children (of all ages, horrifyingly enough) playing this game are “capturing” virtual cartoons in “real life.” I can’t say I see the appeal. There is entirely too much life to explore in this life, on this world, in this neighborhood. You can’t see the detail in the picture here,…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Backyard and Beyond 