Something to Look At

Top Photo: Bumble bee takes nectar and transfers pollen in the process. Here, I have a quick list of photos of what you might see on a walk around the outdoor trails here at the museum. Last year we had at least three bald-faced hornet hives on the campus. One was in a dawn redwood tree over the boardwalk, another in a pine along one of the service roads, and the third was in a small maple hanging over EllerbeRead more

More Summer Finds

Even though summer is fading into fall, there’s still plenty of flowers blooming and insects buzzy. In fact, insects are probably more numerous at this time of year than at any other time. Here’s a sample of what you may see on a leisurely walk through Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind, or any local park, nature preserve, or in your own backyard. Blue dashers are small dragonflies found at just about any pond, lake, marsh or ditch inRead more

Bluebird Update 4.30.13

Once again it’s time for the weekly Bluebird Update. All nests are progressing as they should, or rather as I hope they would, except one curious development with the nest in the infamous Sail Boat Pond nest box (we’ll get to that later). The “Cow Pasture” bluebirds have hatched. It’s difficult to see but it appears that only four eggs out of the original five have hatched. I can see only four beaks in the photo below but it’s possibleRead more

Bluebird Update 4.23.13

Tuesdays are bluebird days. As I do every Tuesday during this time of year, I checked the nest boxes on our Bluebird Trail here at the Museum and the news is good. All seems well on the trail this week, no predation, new eggs laid and some eggs hatching. The Cow Pasture nest has shown no change, it still has five unmolested eggs. They should hatch any day now. The Chickadees in the nest next to the Bungee are now parents,Read more

Some Late July Insects

I spent part of the morning of July 22nd with the Museum’s Marsh Madness Summer Campers scooping up critters from the Wetlands. A goodly number of aquatic insects and other invertebrates were captured and studied, including a Water Scorpion, several Backswimmers, various water scavenger beetles, many dragonfly nymphs and a handful of leeches. (Leeches are always fun to catch –  everyone wants to see them but no one wants to touch them.) Two interesting creatures that actually have backbones wereRead more