History, Natural History & the Arts
Most of our northeastern snakes draw their coloring from the palette of earthly tones, coming in browns, grays, and yellows.
Some species have bright patterns that fade as the snake ages, and others have eye-catching yellow, red, or orange scales on the belly that are mostly hidden except when the snake feels threatened. [Read more…] about Smooth Green Snakes: Hidden Grassland Jewels
One predator-prey interaction always leaves me torn. Birds sparked my love for the natural world years ago, but after my interest lapsed during adolescence, bees brought me back into the fold.
So I found myself split between two allegiances the first time I watched a bird, in this case, a gray catbird, swoop into the garden and snatch a bumblebee on the wing. [Read more…] about Birds Preying on Stinging Insects: A Meal Worth the Sting?
On a recent walk through a woodland strewn with underfoot color, my rapt gaze floated, like a bumblebee queen on her first foray after winter, from trout lilies to trilliums to spring beauties, all blooming across the forest floor and exulting in the sun shining through the leafless canopy.
Standing out is hard among such a flashy crowd, especially for one particularly understated spring ephemeral: sessile-leaved bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia), known more commonly as wild oats. [Read more…] about Wild Oats: A Bashful Spring Bellwort
As the days get longer and the sun warms the forest floor, hepatica flowers start emerging. These charming early bloomers captivated the writer and naturalist John Burroughs, who extolled their “winsome grace” in his poem “Hepatica.”
Hepatica flowers close on cloudy days and when night falls to preserve their pollen for times when pollinators are most likely to be on wing. But when they’re open, the flowers are easy to spot amid the brown leaf litter of the past fall. Hepaticas vary in color from white and pale pinks to deep purples and, as Burroughs put it, “every shade of azure.” [Read more…] about Hepatica: Ephemeral or Evergreen?
It’s the season for spring ephemerals, native wildflowers like bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) that bloom on the forest floor for a short time in early spring. Like other spring ephemerals, bloodroot takes advantage of early spring sunlight, then fades by the time leaves shade the forest floor.
Bloodroot can be recognized by its single white flower with a yellow center and leaves that curl around the flower’s stalk before unfurling as the plant matures. Its name comes from the bright red liquid within its roots. Bloodroot has been used traditionally by many Native American cultures for a variety of uses, including dye and medicine. [Read more…] about Native Plant Spotlight: Bloodroot
The doodlebug waits. It is patient. It is silent. And it is hidden under a fine layer of dry, loose, sandy soil at the bottom of a small conical pit. Soon, a wandering ant will slip down the side of the pit, where the sickle-shaped mandibles of the doodlebug will rise from the bottom to grab the ant.
The doodlebug will inject paralyzing venom into its prey, followed by digestive fluids that turn the ant’s insides to liquid. Then this hungry doodlebug will slurp the juices before flicking the desiccated ant carcass out of its pit trap. Constantly hungry, the doodlebug hides again at the bottom of the pit and waits for its next meal to stumble in. [Read more…] about Doodlebug, Doodlebug, Are You at Home?
Why do ants suddenly appear every time Spring is near? Just like bees, they long to be close to you – especially if your home is made of wood. Carpenter ants (genus Camponotus) and the eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) both nest in wood and are frequent visitors to my log home. [Read more…] about The Carpenters (Ants & Bees) Have Arrived
I put the small brown ant I had mounted (but never identified) under a microscope and peered down at it. Two huge, headlight-like eyes stared back at me. That couldn’t be right; ants don’t have eyes that size and shape.
I took the specimen to my professor, who initially waved me off with, “It’s an ant.” But after looking at it under magnification he excitedly turned to a guidebook showing several unique species of jumping spider that look uncannily like ants. [Read more…] about Ant-mimic Spiders: Masters of Disguise
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