2014 In Photos
This is a chronological romp through some of my favorite photos from the year with a little bit of narration as to what I’ve been up to. If you like what you see follow me on this blog or on twitter...
View ArticleSpines, Photosynthetic Tricks, and Other Marvels of Cacti Evolution
Cacti (family Cactaceae) are the strange and beautiful plants best known for inhabiting deserts and being a pain in your butt, hand, leg, or whatever body part that happens to brush up against them....
View ArticleBeautiful Buds!
Winter is kind of sad, all my favorite photography subjects are either dead or dormant. But today it warmed up a bit and there was blue sky out so I found some beautiful subjects that are at their best...
View ArticleSuperstition Mountains
My brother and I bounced along rugged roads, agaves reached into the skies. We found a creepy old abandoned mine shaft. We foolishly entered and were greeted by a small mammalian craft. The moist...
View ArticleSigns of Spring
I went for a walk in the woods at Lake Lansing Park North Life is just starting to return from the long winter The salamanders are not around yet but I reckon they will be soon Fungi are always there,...
View ArticleWeekend Arachnids
I found some nifty arachnids this weekend in East Lansing. First are a couple of fishing spiders: These are two different individuals, not sure if they are the same species. Now an adorable jumping...
View ArticleSpring Is a Time of Firsts
The first unwavering stare from a reptile The first butterfly The first disappearing act The first leaves reaching for the sun And the first flowers calling out Species: Common garter snake (Thamnophis...
View ArticleSpanish Moss – Delightful Dangling Denizens of the South
Expansive live oaks dripping with spanish moss–a quintessential scene of the southeastern United States. Contrary to the common name they are not actually a moss, rather a flowering plants in the...
View ArticleLife and Death
I found abundant signs of life and death in a recent walk through the woods Jumping spider eating a midge Assassin bugs stalking Carpenter ants dragging a still living fly back to their colony Blow fly...
View ArticleShield Bug Babies!
I found some insect eggs on a basswood (Tilia sp.) tree. I brought them home and when they hatched I learned they were shield bugs (Pentatomoidea). The photos below span over 3 days. TwitterGoogle+
View ArticleThree Jumping Spider Shots
Here are three looks at a stunning jumping spider I found on a tall reed near the Savannah River in South Carolina. First with a white background showing the huge fuzzy forelegs and red-spotted...
View ArticleMarvelous Milkweed Herbivores
All plants are involved in an evolutionary battle with herbivores, where plants evolve various traits that deter herbivores and then herbivores evolve the ability to eat them again. This evolutionary...
View ArticlePhenomenal Fen
Recently Chad Zirbel posted a photo of a stunning orange lily that I just had to see for myself. He directed me to a nearby high-quality prairie fen. This habitat is flooded with calcium-rich...
View ArticleColorful Symbioses
Lichen are a classic example of symbiosis. A fungus teams up with an algae or a cyanobacteria, the fungus use their digestive powers to extract nutrients from just about anything while also creating a...
View ArticleSumac Gall Aphids – Master Tricksters
I was walking around in a cemetery with a friend who spotted these strange balls on staghorn sumac leaves: I figured they were a galls, which are swellings in plants caused by parasitic fungi,...
View ArticleClose Encounters with Toxic Grasshoppers
Eastern lubber grasshoppers (Romalea microptera) are ridiculously photogenic. A combination of huge size, bright colors, and calm behavior makes them easy to find and photograph. The common name lubber...
View ArticleIceland
Here are all my favorite photos and videos from my recent trip to Iceland along with some ominous music I made:
View ArticleNature At Your Door
Shamrock and I are staying at some friends’ house in Orlando and this evening I saw Shamrock swatting at a long-winged insect fluttering outside the glass door. It erratically drifted up and down the...
View ArticleBackyard Biocontrol
I’ve been noticing that one of the plants in my backyard here in Orlando is getting totally mauled by insects. I didn’t know what this vine with heart-shaped leaves was, but I thought it looked like a...
View ArticleExplaining Anomalies and Training Your Inner Naturalist
Patches of Earth with no plants are eye-catching. They stand out because the default, lucky for us, is that plants are everywhere, and if they’re absent it’s typically because of something obvious and...
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