On Wednesday, I was delighted to see some of my favorite tiny moths milling around the tips of tall bushes along the road. Our local fairy moths (Adela sepentrionella) are remarkable for their extravagantly long antennae and the fact that they are the only member of their family to feed on a perennial flowering plant, […]
Outdoors
Posted inArts + Scene
Coming Up Rhodies
The sun was shining and the rhododendrons were blowing in the breeze on Saturday for the annual Rhododendron Parade through Eureka. Pageant queens waved serenely from cars crammed with blossoms, marching bands strutted down the streets and the Shriners zipped around in their tiny cars while judges handed out trophies and crowds lined the sidewalks […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Look What the Sun Brought Out
I for one have had enough rain to last me a while. Many insects don’t have very long to get down to the business of procreation and continually postponing it due to rain can be worse than deadly. In nature, insects only live for one purpose: reproduce, that’s it. So, now the weather has turned, […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Mystery Markings
I can’t say how long it’s been since I first noticed many of the honeybees in my backyard appeared to have been marked. Their thoraxes looked white and dusty on top. At first I thought they might have been branded by the owner of their hive. A tiny brush near the entrance to the hive […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Cannifest Destiny
Attending Cannifest at Redwood Acres was clearly a high point of the weekend for a large crowd in attendance on Saturday. The “sustainable agriculture” event, billed as “Humboldt’s manifest cannabis festival and trade gathering,” was quite a contrast from the recent Logging Conference also held at Redwood Acres. It was a look into the rapidly […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: Dragons and Fairies
On a recent dry day, I took my camera out to the garden and got what may be technically the best dragonfly photograph I have gotten. A member of the mosaic darner group, named for the mosaic pattern on their abdomens, the California darner (Rhionaeschna californica) is one of the first dragonflies to be seen […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: The Birth of a Giant
Today, near the end of my walk along the Van Duzen River, a little tangle near the tip of a naked willow sprig caught my eye. At first I thought it was a bit of storm deposited flotsam tangled on the end of the branch, but there was a “legginess” to it. Experience told me […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: Hitching a Ride
Hoping to attract one of the huge and impressive Ceanothus or Polyphemus moths that live hereabouts, I’ve been running a light trap when it isn’t raining too hard — so far without luck. You never really know what might show up and last night was no exception. Among the expected looper moths, crane flies and […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: Come Closer, Said the Fly to the Fly
Recently, scientists have calculated that spiders devour between 400 and 800 million tons of insects annually. Right now in my yard, though, on the fence where the white clematis chokes out everything else, there is a massacre going on and spiders are not the center stage players. Golden haired dung flies are chasing and eating flower […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Logging On
Redwood Acres Fairgrounds transformed into the 79th annual Redwood Region Logging Conference in Eureka this weekend. The sounds of saw mills and chainsaw carvers at work and the whistle of a vintage steam railroad engine keep a large crowd moving among the massive equipment and logging displays. Also available were historic displays, a wildlife show, […]
