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Michigan mammals
The month past has been a whirlwind of travel; even more so than a "normal" May. I've been on the road for the majority of the past few weeks, including the last eleven days in northern Michigan. It's...
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Flight of the (tricolored) bumblebee
A typical beach scene at Wilderness State Park at the extreme northwestern tip of Michigan's lower peninsula. The mighty Mackinac Bridge, which crosses over the Straits of Mackinac into the upper...
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Oriole, eating tent caterpillars!
About a month ago, immediately following the Ohio Ornithological Society's annual conference at Shawnee State Park, I got to spend some field time with two of Ohio's very best bird photographers. That...
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Caterpillar program, next Sunday in Cleveland
A flurry of moths congregates under a night light. Prominent among their ranks is a large showy Luna, Actias luna, one of the world's best known moth species. The vast majority of Ohio's 3,000 or so...
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Kingbird casts pellet
 An Eastern Kingbird sits on his fence, exuding a regal and stately air befitting its name. I photographed this flycatcher up in Presque Isle County, Michigan, one of numerous kingbirds that I saw...
View ArticleA brief cinema of Snow Buntings
The blizzards, cold temperatures, and heavy snow cover that defined last winter in Ohio are but a distant memory. Today's temperatures hit the mid 80's, and spring migration has subsided. The shift to...
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Katsaridaphobics beware!
A rather large wood roach of the genus Parcoblatta (I presume) investigates the surface of a leaf. John Howard and I were out late into the night last Saturday in Adams County, searching for nocturnal...
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Mysterious affliction killing beech trees
I recently received a rather disheartening note from John Pogacnik, biologist with Lake County Metroparks. The park district is in the extreme northeastern corner of the state and hard on the shores of...
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Sapsucker nests and Fomes fungi
A beautiful northern Michigan forest, filled with aspen, cherry, and other trees, and underlain with a dense growth of bracken fern. The forests here are typically mixed, with conifers: white spruce,...
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Triangle Lake Bog and its pitcher-plants
Photo taken with the iPhone 5S (the rest were shot with the Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 100 mm L-series macro lens)Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve on a rainy day. I traveled to northeast Ohio...
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British Soldier lichens
This is jack pine country. The Grayling sands of Michigan's northern lower peninsula harbor large stands of the gnarly black-trunked pine, and at this locale there are hundreds and hundreds of acres of...
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Bugs in the Bog
Yesterday dawned clear and crisp; a picture-perfect early summer day. A good day indeed to head to one of my favorite natural areas, the legendary Cedar Bog near Urbana, Ohio. I was there to give a...
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A "life" snake!!! And more snakes!
I've got a lot of friends who are really good amateur herpetologists, and they're a lot of fun to get afield with. This is one of them - Josh Dyer, who works for the Crawford County Park District. As...
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A wild iris
Iris, Most Beautiful Flower Iris, most beautiful flower,Symbol of life, love, and light;Found by the brook, and the meadow,Or lofty, on arable height.You come in such glorious colors,In hues, the...
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Cope's Gray Treefrog
A duo of male Cope's gray treefrogs, Hyla chrysoscelis, sit in a rain barrel. They were doing far more than sitting, actually - they were making a heckuva racket.I spent much of the weekend in and...
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EPN Breakfast/talk/walk - July 8!
The Environmental Professionals Network (EPN) was launched only a year or so ago, but it has already morphed into a large network of like-minded people who either work in various environmental fields,...
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Mothapalooza begins!
A banded tussock moth, Halysidota tessellaris, sips nectar from a common milkweed plant. I made this image late last night; it was one of a blizzard of moths that we saw.I've been down in southern Ohio...
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Mothapalooza invades Burr Oak!
Last weekend saw the massive moth conference, Mothapalooza II, invade Burr Oak State Park in picturesque southeastern Ohio. Possibly somewhat strangely to the lodge's staff, a Bigfoot conference took...
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Butterfly Workshop - last call!
A little wood satyr, Megisto cymela, perches in the gloom of a grassy woodland verge.This species is a shade lover; most butterflies are sun worshippers.On Saturday, July 12, the Midwest Native Plant...
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Exquisite moths
I've been on a bit of a moth jag, I know, but it's hard not to be after Mothapalooza. When I mention moths and the Mothapalooza conference (150 attendees!) to some acquaintances, I think they're...
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