As you might imagine, I was caught completely off-guard when, strolling through the shire one evening, a dashing young prince in the guise of a Blanchard’s cricket frog (Acris blanchardi) bounced out of the shadows and onto the path before me, demanding a kiss.
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Gazing blearily through coffee steam, a ghostly figure wafting through the early morning haze caught my neighbor's eye. “At first, it was just a ginger-orange and white shadow," she told me, "and I thought, Oh, no… another stray cat.” The...
If you’re an American Black Vulture (or ABV, aka Coragyps atratus), feasting on freshly squished squirrel is all in a day’s work and part of your duties as a sanitation worker.
The aliens are back.
Just when I thought they were through with me they reappeared, sliding silently through walls that appear solid (but the quantum physicists know better). Suddenly they are everywhere. Staring at me from the rim of a glass when I open the cupboard. Calmly observing me as I sleep from my sweetheart’s framed photo on the bedside table. These aliens aren’t otherworldly galactic hitchhikers, though. They’re Earthlings. Members of the Pentatomoidea clan (aka shield bugs).
As you might imagine, I was caught completely off-guard when, strolling through the shire one evening, a dashing young prince in the guise of a Blanchard’s cricket frog (Acris blanchardi) bounced out of the shadows and onto the path before me, demanding a kiss.
Big things come in small packages, we’re told… and if you’d like some evidence to support that theory, boy-howdy, have I got a potent little parcel for you — the Golden-Crowned Kinglet!
Wondering where all the snowbirds have gone? Look no further than your own backyard!
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Strolling through Lafayette Park early one evening, I took note of the usual suspects distributed along the edge of the centerpiece man-made lake as they waited patiently for red-and-white bobbers to disappear below the surface. The...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Great-Uncle Al was a creative man. A resourceful non-conformist. That’s a euphemistic way of saying he was a hustler. Al never let logic or credentials stand between him and the chance to earn some cash. His resumé, so to speak, read like a...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Ever wonder why hens’ teeth (and any other kind of avian teeth for that matter) are rare? It’s because teeth are heavy. That’s a problem if you live life on the wing but can’t use a knife and fork to cut your meals up into easy-to-swallow...