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A serpent comes into focus
Yesterday was a great day, with lots of field time. It all started with "Bobolinks at Byer's Woods" in Ashland County. This event is organized by Greater Mohican Audubon Society, and has been running...
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Bobolinks at Byers Woods
Your narrator (R) and Mr. Big Year, Greg Miller, flank Marcia Rubin in front of the sign that informs readers about the Bobolink Mecca in the backdrop. I was in Ashland County last Saturday to...
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Biden's Grass-Veneer: a life moth, and a mystery
This book could be the death of me, I'll tell you. Now, finally, we've got a great guide to the moths (or many of them), featuring excellent full color photos. It's fun (for me) to page through looking...
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Carolina Wren, in geraniums
For the first time in a long time, I ran a Breeding Bird Survey route. BBS birding is intense. The surveyor must begin at sunrise (my starting time was 5:32 am), and drive a 25 mile route, stopping for...
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Rare plants of Cedar Bog
This is the scene shortly after entering Cedar Bog via its fabled boardwalk. Most of the plant species in this shot are, if not downright rare, uncommon at best. Cedar Bog is a treasure trove of...
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A homicidal "bumblebee"
If you are smaller than, say, a hummingbird, you don't want to get locked in the sights of this beast. In fact, this is the LAST thing you'd want to find staring at you, hungrily.I visited some...
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Delta Flower Scarab Beetle
 Photo: John HowardWhat I wouldn't give to see one of these, especially if my camera was in tow! John Howard, whose work I have featured here many times and who is always finding COOL STUFF, found this...
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Round-leaved Orchid
Photo: Marcia RubinI like orchids as much as the next botanist. So, following a fab time at the annual Bobolinks at Byers Woods festival back on June 22, I made plans to visit nearby Mohican State...
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Bug-eating Plants Twist Normal Order of Life
Pitcher-plant, Sarracenia purpureaThe Columbus DispatchJuly 7, 2013NATUREJim McCormacAnimals are supposed to eat plants, not the other way around. Carnivorous plants turn conventional plant-animal...
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A smattering of summer woodland wildflowers
Traipsing through the woodlands in the heat of summer lacks a bit of the charm of a cool spring hike. I've been deep into Hocking County twice in the past two weeks, and on both days the temps hit the...
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Hummingbird Clearwing moth
Write, write, write... I do a lot of it. But no complaints - I enjoy trying to grab up big bunches of words, and make something coherent emerge from the pile. And good writing takes practice. I'm not...
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American Goldfinch
It's high time that I had a bird on here - after all, birds are in the title of this blog! So here's some ornithological eye candy, the American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis. This stunning male was...
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Gnat-ogre
If you've got wings, and would fit between the one and two millimeter marks on a ruler, I'd advise staying out of the sights of the creature above. This is the tiny but deadly Gnat-ogre, Holcocephala...
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Epic battle between kingsnake and copperhead!
A while back, I wrote about Black Kingsnakes, Lampropeltis getula, and shared some images of one of these fabulous beasts. You can see that post RIGHT HERE. Kingsnakes are not a widespread animal in...
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Macro work - photographing the little stuff
There's lots of types of photography, and my bag, obviously, is natural history subjects. Even within that sphere, there is quite a range of topics: birds, bugs, plants, landscapes, etc. To cover the...
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An ivory woodpecker
Photo: Irene KohneSuch a woodpecker as this would be sure to cause one to take a second glance, and a third glance, and run fast for the camera. Fortunately, Irene Kohne did just that, and was able to...
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The Cleveland "Crib Cam"
This strange-looking structure is the main water intake for the City of Cleveland, and it lies about three miles out in Lake Erie (although it's labeled "Five Mile Crib), offshore from downtown. I made...
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A rare plant and Google Earth
An aerial view, courtesy Google Earth, of the intersection of U.S. Route 33 and Clear Creek Road in Hocking County, Ohio. I recently met someone here for a field trip, and suggested the gas station on...
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The Pinching Beetle, a rather brutish looking bug
The world is awash in beetles, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Few of them can match the intimidation factor of a Pinching Beetle, Lucanus capreolus, though. Those formidable looking mandibles...
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Jumping Spider!
Not long ago, I came back to my car, and this little guy darted out from between two body panels. Yes! A jumping spider (species unknown)! He ran over to look at me, and I stared back just as intently....
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