Updating the Species Scape

This post was written by Clint Penick & Magdalena Sorger As the world’s entomologists gather in Orlando this week for the International Conference of Entomology [...]

By |2016-11-22T13:46:43-05:00September 25th, 2016|

Invasion of the House Finch

Once upon a time, House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) only lived west of the Rocky Mountains. Then, in 1940, a group of captive birds flew to [...]

By |2016-11-22T13:46:44-05:00April 22nd, 2015|

Gnarly Trees

Branches of the live oak (Quercus virginiana) loop and twist their way toward openings in the forest canopy. Many branches sag down to the ground [...]

By |2015-03-30T14:16:32-04:00March 30th, 2015|

Cold Feet, Warm Heart

Raleigh has had a fit of cold, snowy (and icy) weather this week. So while I watched this snow-covered Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) swim around [...]

By |2015-02-27T15:49:16-05:00February 27th, 2015|

Look but don’t touch

Watching Out for Nesting Birds Look but don’t touch. This was a lesson I learned early on as a young boy, staring intently along with [...]

By |2016-11-22T13:46:45-05:00February 23rd, 2015|

The Fashionable and Practical Turkey Vulture

Turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) remind me of 16th century European royalty (you know those “ruffs” they wore around their necks?). That regal appearance results from [...]

By |2016-11-22T13:46:46-05:00January 22nd, 2015|

Who’s in My House?

Tiny rustling noises arise from our kitchen garbage can. I tip-toe up to it and out pops a little fuzzy face with a twitching nose. [...]

By |2016-11-22T13:46:52-05:00January 13th, 2015|

Navel-gazing Newsflash

A few quick updates on Belly Button Biodiversity and related projects: Azeen Ghorayhshi recently wrote a short bit for Wired Magazine UK recently about Belly [...]

By |2016-11-22T13:46:53-05:00November 17th, 2014|

A Study in Scarlet

No doubt you’ve been wowed this autumn by the crimson colors of the red maple (Acer rubrum)! This tree, native to eastern North America, has [...]

By |2016-11-22T13:46:53-05:00November 10th, 2014|

Spooky Spider

I love Halloween. It’s the time of year when I can leave all the spider webs up around the front stoop and call them decorations. [...]

By |2014-10-30T18:09:43-04:00October 30th, 2014|

A Tale of Two Hemlocks

I have never poisoned anyone. I recently learned that if I were to try, I would be very bad at it. The hemlock I thought [...]

By |2014-10-22T10:36:04-04:00October 21st, 2014|

Warts & All!

Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble. Shakespeare’s witches open Macbeth by tossing a toad into their cauldron, along with parts of [...]

By |2014-10-08T11:16:19-04:00October 8th, 2014|
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