The day started early in Culver, Oregon, smack in the path of totality for the solar eclipse. As if he knew what was coming, a nearby coyote greeted the dawn with a yip-yip-yip-howl serenade. The rosy sky silhouetted the junipers that dot the rocky high desert landscape. I set up my Canon 70d with a […]
Anthony Westkamper
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Easy Pickings
My light trap isn’t very sophisticated — just a white bed sheet stretched tentlike over a rope with three black light CFLs and an LED white light. It’s powered by an extension cord or a small lawnmower battery and an inverter it can be set up anywhere. During the warmer months of the year, it […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Moth Madness
A Moth of Another Color When I think the word “moth” I think of something gray. There are brightly colored day fliers but the nocturnal majority are gray or brown, patterned to blend in with tree bark where they rest during the day. One of the things that makes moth identification challenging is that there are […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Critters in the Water
The river is low enough now to wade upstream for miles without getting in over my knees. You have to be careful because the rocks are slippery with algae. The annual blue-green algae warnings are in effect and it is suggested you keep pets from drinking the water. A small camp towel is handy to […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Mythic Moths
Sunday night around 11:30 when I checked the light trap in my back yard, I was amazed to find a moth with a body as large as the first two sections of my finger and narrow wings like a hummingbird. I recognized it immediately as one of the Sphinx moths, although I didn’t recognize the […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: A Moth of Another Color
When I think the word “moth” I think of something gray. To be sure there are brightly colored day fliers, but the nocturnal majority are gray or brown, patterned to blend in with tree bark where they rest during the day. One of the things that makes moth identification challenging is that there are often […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Ow! The Lady Stings
I usually discourage folks from bringing me insects since I do not actively collect, but when my son told me he had what he thought was a very fuzzy, wingless wasp, I was delighted. While it might not be politically correct to stereotype red heads as fiery, you might want to give this ginger girl […]
Posted inArts + Scene
HumBug: Ancient Fliers
Three hundred million years ago, when the world was a hot swamp and the air carried twice as much oxygen as it does today, it is very likely a Griffinfly landed on a horsetail (the plant that was around back then, not the equine anatomy which was not). At the time they were the dominant […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: The Butterfly House
Scoping the North Coast Journal’s calendar, I noticed a post about the Butterfly House at the Humboldt Botanical Gardens. Of course I had to check that out. Just north of the College of the Redwoods campus, the botanical gardens are a nice place to while away a few hours among tidy, well-maintained flower beds. The butterfly […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Butterfly vs. Spider
Some time ago, I mentioned in passing that butterflies and moths are covered with scales and fine hairs. They are easily dislodged and I theorized that these easily discarded structures might serve them as a release mechanism from sticky traps like a spider’s web. Last night I noticed a small cross orbweaver (Araneus diadematus) in […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Getting Butterflies
Hurray! The recent warm days have brought out the butterflies. One of my favorite butterflies is the red admiral (Vanessa atalanta). It was pictured on the cover of my first little bug book the, Golden Guide of Insects. That was before the advent of bar codes and ISBN numbers. Unfortunately, it was not common in my […]