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Rick Nirschl discovers new U.S. dragonfly
Photo: Rick NirschlRick's done it again. Mr. Nirschl, of Toledo, Ohio, made the above photograph last Tuesday, December 18th, in Mission, Texas. Rick has taken to migrating south to the Rio Grande...
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Hedgehog, cute as can be, and Billy Gibbons
A North African Hedgehog, Atelerix algirus, looking like some sort of bizarre cocoon with a face. I had the good fortune to cross paths with one of these strange beasts on a recent excursion, and just...
View ArticleLong-tailed Weasel caught on video!
David and Laura Hughes are trail cam masters, and have been getting the coolest video footage that I've ever seen by way of cams. They've got some magical spots in eastern Ohio's Monroe County that are...
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White-tailed Deer bucks
This is an oft-viewed vista at the Wilds - the landscape as seen from the birding platform at Jeffrey Point. I was exploring the 10,000 acres of this massive reclaimed strip mine area last Saturday as...
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A crab spider hug
Winter brings its charms, but as I get older I also find myself pining for spring, warmer weather, and the explosion of life, earlier each year. Here it is in late December and I'm already longing for...
View ArticleBeaver, oiling up
The following video shows something that I bet you've never seen. It waas definitely new to me. Those ultimate cam-masters, David and Laura Hughes, sent along a new crop of animal videos from one of...
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First bird of 2013 is a loud one!
(bad photo, but the best I could muster on short notice)Many birders eagerly anticipate the first bird that they see in each New Year. Some even attach various omens or tidings to their inaugural New...
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Weasel in the basement! Weasel in the basement!
Just when you think you've seen it all... A short time back, I made THIS POST about a Long-tailed Weasel, Mustela frenata, that cam-masters David and Laura Hughes had filmed in the outback of Monroe...
View ArticleOwls, and new book
I haven't had time to sit down and create anything of substance for a while, but there's stuff waiting in the wings. A new book is out and it is utterly dynamite! I'll post some info and thoughts on...
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New book! Common Spiders of North America
A beautiful lime-colored Green Lynx Spider, Peucetia viridans, keeps close watch over her spiderlings. Spiders are among our most abundant, ecologically important, and interesting groups of animals. I...
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More Short-eared Owls (because you can never have too many owls)
Photo: Dane AdamsA Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus, flops its way over a Hardin County grassland. The owl's fierce visage is somewhat neutralized by its amusing mothlike flight. At least they may be...
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Snow Fleas (you read that correctly)
Cedar Bog, snowy and dormant on a cold winter day. I had a meeting in Dayton last Sunday, and took the opportunity to make a quick stop at "the bog" (which is actually a fen) on the return trip. It's...
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Red-shouldered Hawks rebound
A stunning Red-shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus, peers curiously down at your narrator. I probably would have reacted the same, had some strange guy rolled up under my telephone pole and stuck a long...
View ArticleBit of a sissy-boy, this Bald Eagle
David and Laura Hughes have done it again. If you follow this blog much, you've probably seen some of their camera handiwork, such as HERE, and HERE. This time they've hauled the trail cam out in to...
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Some heavy raptoring approaches!
Your narrator's car perches along a long and lonely stretch of highway near the Wilds, in Muskingum County. This is Big Sky country for Ohio: thousands of acres of "reclaimed" strip mine grasslands....
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Skunk-cabbage in bloom?!?!
One of our weirdest flowers and the true harbinger-of-spring, the fleshy liver-spotted spathe of a Skunk-cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, thrusts from the mire. I was at a local patch yesterday, Kiwanis...
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Red Crossbills for the plucking
Photo: Chuck SlusarczykRed as a brick and plump as a sheep, a splendid male Red Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra, sits among the spiny orbs of Sweetgum fruit.Chuck Slusarczyk of Cleveland sent along news...
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The Wilds Winter Raptor Extravaganza
Yesterday dawned bright and unseasonably balmy for the 9th annual Wilds Winter Raptor Extravaganza, organized by the Ohio Ornithological Society. As if heralding the beautiful day to come, three...
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Mothapalooza! Registration Open!
Mark your calendars and get your registration in! Although it's about 10 degrees outside as I write this and summer seems far off, the weekend of June 14th - 16th will be on us before we know it. And...
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Lake Erie birding
An intrepid crew of birders endures temperatures in the low 20's (F) to scan for rare gulls at Cleveland's East 72nd Street park. A nearby power plant releases warm water into Lake Erie at this point,...
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