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Bald eagles prove healthy environment is essential
Bald eagles build a nest in eastern Ohio. There are now more than 200 nests known in the state.Columbus DispatchFebruary 5, 2017NATUREJim McCormacOn June 20, 1782, the bald eagle was formally adopted...
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An ever-growing eagle aerie
Our national avian symbol, the Bald Eagle, sits with apparent pride atop a large aerie that it and its mate have jointly constructed. This nest is already massive, in spite of "only" being five or six...
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A visit to the orchid house
The scene within one of the glassed atria at the Franklin Park Conservatory yesterday. It wasn't a bad place to be, with temperatures in the 20's-30's F, and high winds.About mid to late winter, I...
View ArticleOhio Natural History Conference - February 25
You won't want to miss the upcoming annual Ohio Natural History Conference, organized and executed by the Ohio Biological Survey. This event attracts many naturalists, biologists, students and admirers...
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Wasp-eating moth fills rare niche
Sooty-winged Chalcoela moth/Jim McCormac/For the DispatchScroll to bottom of post for more photosColumbus DispatchFebruary 19, 2017NATUREJim McCormacOne August evening last summer, I was in Adams...
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A few images from the Okefenokee
A made a one-day whirlwind trip through the eastern side of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southern Georgia yesterday, on my way to points south. Here are a few images.Southern Cricket...
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A smattering of Florida birds
I've been roaming various biodiversity-rich southwest Florida habitats for a few days now. Some photos follow... As always, click the photo to enlarge.Painted Bunting, female, bathingGreat Egret in...
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More Florida birds
Well, back in Ohio, where the temperature will drop into the 20's F tonight, and the wind is howling. A far cry from southern Georgia and southwest Florida, where I spent the last eight days. It was...
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Male hooded merganser puts on show when courting
A male hooded merganserColumbus DispatchMarch 5, 2017NATUREJim McCormacSigns of spring start materializing come mid-February, especially in mild winters like this one. Our first "wildflower," skunk...
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Salamanders and shrimp
A male Fairy Shrimp, Eubranchipus vernalis, one of the stranger inhabitants of eastern vernal pools.Last night was reasonably warm and rainy - a perfect night to seek salamanders and other early...
View ArticleProgram next Wednesday night, March 15
I'm giving a program next Wednesday evening at the Happy Days Lodge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, for the Cuyahoga Valley Photographic Society. This is on the north side of Akron, and not too...
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Fairy shrimp wait for wet springs to hatch
A male fairy shrimpColumbus DispatchMarch 19, 2017NATUREJim McCormacOn Independence Day in 1972, Harold von Braunhut was awarded a patent for "Sea-Monkeys." They already had become the stuff of legend;...
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Spring wildflowers erupt!
I have been remiss in posting about one of the best parts of spring - the eruption of the earliest spring wildflowers. There are many signs of winter's thaw each year, but none pronounce the passing of...
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Autumn Coralroot, a most curious little orchid
As always, I have far more material than time to post it here. While curating photos today, and making sure everything is properly catalogued and safely stored, I ran across photos from a fabulous...
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Loon's eerie call brings visions of wilderness
A common loon in the process of molting into its breeding plumageColumbus DispatchApril 2, 2017NATUREJim McCormacA common loon in the water looks like a surfaced submarine. With a quick flick of its...
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Eastern Spadefoot Toad - finally!
An Eastern Spadefoot, Scaphiopus holbrookii, floats among the weeds in a recently flooded agricultural field in Athens County, last Friday evening. This small, largely smooth-skinned toad is one of...
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Lesser Celandine: A botanical disaster
Acres and acres of rich floodplain forest are blanketed with dense mats of a highly invasive Eurasian plant, the Lesser Celandine, Ficaria verna, at Whetstone Park in Columbus, Ohio.On a trip to...
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Trillium Festival! April 15!
Our official state wildflower, the Large-flowered Trillium, Trillium grandiflorum, imaged by your narrator yesterday in southernmost Ohio. This gorgeous species is just starting to erupt in flowers.By...
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Photography Talk! April 14.
A nymph assassin bug, Zelus luridus, awaits the arrival of small pollinating insects within the hub of a large-flowered trillium blossom. The fate of such pollinators will not be good. Imaged yesterday...
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Eastern Red Bat
This wonderful little woodland trail meanders along a bluff overlooking a particularly pristine southern Ohio stream. There is lots of wildflower diversity, and as is the case with sites that harbor...
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