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Lytopylus wasp
Photo: Laura HughesThe more that I study Nature, the more that I am convinced that one must really look hard at the LITTLE things. At least if one wishes to really develop a deep understanding of...
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Some more (extremely cool) wasps
I'm on a bit of a wasp jag, but so be it. Wasps are awesome. Yesterday, while taking a quick stroll around the planted prairie at work (described RIGHT HERE), I stumbled into two interesting species....
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A tiny damsel, larger than life
 I took a brief stroll around the work campus this afternoon, between showers. As is almost always the case, I had my camera in tow. The lenses vary, but this time the mega-macro Canon MP-E 65 lens...
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Rough Boneset, new to Ohio
A group of botanists explores a very special wet meadow in Athens County yesterday. I met up with Brian Riley, Dan Boone, Dave Minney, Andrew Gibson, Rick Gardner, and Susan Nash for a day of...
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Sedge Wrens at historic Huffman Prairie
This innocuous looking field is the most famous place in aviation history. It was here that two famous brothers from Dayton, Orville and Wilbur Wright, learned to fly. Sure, their first powered flights...
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Red-footed Cannibal Fly!
The Slender Ladies'-tresses, Spiranthes lacera, is one of our smallest orchid species, but always a star. Yesterday, I led a group on a trip to explore some interesting natural areas in southeastern...
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Harris's Three-spot caterpillar, a weird animal indeed
An inquisitive group examines a sapling Blue Ash, Fraxinus quadrangulata, at the Fernald Preserve in Hamilton County, Ohio. A number of us were there to look for moths, singing insects, caterpillars...
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Reddish Egret in Ohio!
Major kudos to Steve Landes! He found an incredibly rare bird (for Ohio) last Wednesday, and performed in a highly efficient manner in regards to getting word out. Within a half hour or so, just about...
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The amazing Amorpha Borer strikes again!
A "weedy" unkempt bank of the mighty Ohio River, in Adams County, Ohio. That's Kentucky on the far side. I was down in the hill country for the past four days, much of which was spent attending a...
View ArticleThe lost Bird Project film, and discussion
September 1 marked the centennial of the passing of the very last Passenger Pigeon, Martha. Her death spelled the end for a species once so plentiful that no one who lived at the peak of the...
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Ground Skink, Scincella lateralis
A Ground Skink, Scincella lateralis, (sometimes called the Little Brown Skink) rests, quite appropriately, on the ground.While in Adams County two weekends ago, Mark Zloba of the Cincinnati Museum...
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Some late season bugs
My expeditions afield tend to produce far more images than I could ever share here. Normally, I have a specific subject or theme for posts, and that sometimes precludes using photos that I think are...
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Some random cool Hymenoptera (bees & wasps)
I have covered a lot of ground in recent days, from Cleveland to the Ohio River. Lots of cool stuff has come under the camera's lens, but I've had precious little time to slap any of it up here. So, to...
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Miscellanea
The beautiful flowers of Stiff Aster, Ionactis linariifolius, are sure to grab the eye. You won't see this one any old place - in Ohio, it is confined to a handful of the southernmost counties. This...
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Falcons of the New River Gorge bridge
The New River Gorge Bridge, a span of incredible dimensions. It crosses the New River at Fayetteville, West Virginia, and is perhaps best known for the annual Bridge Day festival. But the bridge is a...
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Caterpillar curios
Much cooler nights, shorter days, and foliage in a rapid state of senescence means the end of caterpillar season. It'll be a long cold winter with little or no prey for us caterpillar hunters....
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Our most bizarre(?) caterpillar gets more bizarre
Earlier this fall, I wrote (with some excitement) about finally finding one of our strangest caterpillars, the Harris's Three-spot, Harrisimemna trisignata. That post, with photos, is RIGHT HERE. It...
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Support the Big Sit!
The Big Sit! is an effort to tally as many bird species as possible within 24 hours, from the confines of an officially designated 17-foot diameter circle. The Big Sit! concept was formalized by the...
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A murderous, mobile lichen
I've written about the larvae of the Green Lacewing, Leucochrysa pavida, before, but never with (what I felt) were adequate photographs. These little creatures are very hard to image. They're small,...
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Mergansers make a comeback in the Mountain State
A rocky mountain stream is punctuated by a quiet pool near Summersville, West Virginia. My friend Rachel Davis, who lives not far from here, showed me this little park back in late September. The place...
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