Finally, it seems spring has sprung and from the pale rattlesnake grass (Briza maxima) to the deep Crayola blue-green of the firs, the old logging road was lined with a thousand shades of green. My eye caught movement at the edge of a little clearing so I followed it. At first I thought it might […]
Science
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Glowworms and Fireflies
This time of year, if you’re out and about in the late afternoon and a small black beetle trimmed in orange, sporting an ostentatious set of ferny antennae lands on your arm, don’t be alarmed. It’s only a male Douglas fir glowworm (Pterotus obscuripinnes) looking for love. They land and fan the air with that […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Getting the Jump on Pests
Saturday was sunny, windy and cold. I was feeling a little under the weather, so I bundled up and went outside, camera in hand. Even on a gray day my spirits are lifted when I am greeted by my favgorite species of spider: the red backed jumping spider, Phidippus johnsoni. I’ve written about them before […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Darth Omus
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, […]
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 inNews
Science!
Local scientists, students of all ages and other advocates for science-based decision making joined more than 600 other March for Science events in cities around the U.S. to both celebrate Earth Day on Saturday and protest the Trump administration’s policies and positions with regard to climate change and other issue. The largely non-partisan Humboldt March […]
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 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 […]