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Under A Big Big Sky
Petrified Forest National Park.Amid the lithified remains of an ancient forest, where the pebbles themselves were essentially petrified mulch, a moving white fluff on the ground was identified as a Thistledown Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla gloriosa), which is actually a wasp. The female is wingless and furry white, like the seedpod of a creosote bush or…
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Birds I: Some Old Friends and Variations
I joined Wings Birding Tours for their tour of Arizona and Utah, Fall Migration in the Canyonlands. The tour superbly combined birdwatching with some of the most spectacular landscapes in the Southwest. I recommend it.On our first day on the road, we visited Boyce Thompson Arboretum, east of that sun-baked madness known as Phoenix, and…
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Spider
We interrupt this progression of posts on the faraway sublime to bring you a bit of sublime closer at home. I was breaking down a head of broccoli and had gotten to the best part, the stem, which unfortunately was hollowed out by rot, when this one scootled across the chopping block for the cover…
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Ol’ Number (3)54
The Navajo Bridge crosses the Colorado River at the narrow, northeastern start of Grand Canyon National Park, under the escarpment of the Vermillion Cliffs. Those are rafts down below in the not so muy colorado water. Next to the road bridge runs a pedestrian bridge, from where these shots were taken. I didn’t make it…
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Some Southwestern Insects
Milbert’s Tortoiseshell (Aglais milberti). I’ve only identified a couple of the following, so holler if you know any of them. Mexican Amberwing (Perithemis intensa). Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor).This katydid was dropped in front of me by a surprised Western Tanager. I think the katydid was surprised too, if not in shock.Like the chimney-shaped ant colony…
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Astonishing
Bear with me. I’ve returned from a dozen days in Arizona and Utah, birding and ogling the utterly spectacular scenery. I have over a thousand pictures to sort through. Here are a few to whet your appetite and set the stage for future posts (and be sure to open them up and let them bloom…
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Petition to Restore Science at the BBG
A petition has been launched by Chris Kruessling, the Flatbush Gardener, addressing the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in an effort to restore the science and research mission at that institution. If you care about science, botany, Brooklyn, transparency, and a venerable institution gone astray, please sign. Background: Chris has been reporting…
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Tender Buttons
These smooth, hard clay nodules are from Croton Point Park, formerly the location of a brick factory. They were sticking out of a large pile of less-clayey material, as if the surrounding had been eroded away by… river, rain, wind, all of the previous? The largest is the diameter of a quarter.This is what the…
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Cast Bees
Bees for Sunset Park, by Christopher Russell, fabricated at the Modern Art Foundry. Two formal, that is, unused, gates at the 9th Avenue D station.
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Backyard and Beyond 