Our male red wolf finally came out into view long enough for me to snap a few photos. I wanted to get a couple of shots of the wolves standing side by side, for identification purposes. Unlike the last pair of red wolves, who have only been gone a little over a week, our new pair have markings that are very similar. I wasn’t able to get the shots I wanted, but for now, I’ll take what I can get.Read more
Red Wolves Have Arrived
Our new red wolves have arrived. As of this morning (11/16) only the female (#2062) was out and about in the enclosure, cautiously getting used to her new environment. She spent an hour or so familiarizing herself to the smells, sights and sounds of her new digs. The male (#1803) is still in the kennel area, apparently a bit reluctant to wander out of his travel crate. He will surely be out in the enclosure soon. Come on down andRead more
Before We Red Wolves Leave
As you may already know, the red wolves, the entire family, are scheduled to leave us for the Wolf Conservation Center in New York on 13 November. Before they leave, as does happen from time to time with animals who wander into their enclosure, they took out a raccoon. Our adult male (#1784) is shown here gnawing on the unfortunate victim. Good luck in New York, 1784 and family.Read more
Mergansers Are Back!
The first hooded merganser of the season arrived in our wetlands on Halloween. On November 1, there were four mergs. There are currently six, two males and four females, swimming and diving in the wetlands. Enjoy!Read more
Robins and Berries
You may have noticed numerous American robins about your lawn and shrubbery lately. They’re on the move. Flocks of these common birds are sweeping through our area. To most, robins are synonymous with earthworms. Who hasn’t witnessed a robin wrangling a worm out of the ground on a spring day? Truth is, besides the lowly worm robins eat plenteous fruit. If you happen to see robins swarming around a particular tree in your neighborhood, that tree may be loaded withRead more
The Fall
If you’ve been wandering around out-of-doors lately you my have noticed it’s fall, a great time to be out and about. Besides the leaves ablaze in the trees, there’s much to be seen and enjoyed on a walk along you’re favorite trail. Here are photos of some of what I saw on a trip around the outdoor loop through Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind here at the Museum of Life and Science on one fine fall day. Depending uponRead more
Taking a Bite Out of the Crawfish Population
About a month ago I decided to watch our local great blue heron more carefully. The heron can been seen daily stalking across the water, sometimes belly deep, step by calculated step. Every few minutes the heron splashes its head down into the water after some unseen (by me) prey beneath the surface. I wanted to see just what he was catching and eating out there in our little wetland. Ever since I began to see red swamp crawfish inRead more
Green Lynx
It was a loosely wrapped nest of silk on a plant in the garden above the Butterfly House. What looked at first to be seeds under a loose knit top layer of silk were actually the tiny abdomens of dozens of spiders. The seeds jumped to life when I poked at the nest with my finger. The mother of these juvenile green lynx spiders hung by her eight legs beneath the nest. Green lynx spiders don’t build webs to captureRead more
Daggers, Spiders, and A Leaf
Although it’s in the upper eighties as I write this, it’s fall, and fall things are happening. Caterpillars are crawling off to form cocoons in which to pupate over winter, orb weavers are constructing webs seemingly everywhere you turn, and leaves are morphing to shades that dazzle the eye. The last time I saw an American dagger moth caterpillar was in September of 2016 here at the Museum. I saw three daggers just this week (10/10/17). The dagger moths areRead more