The Smaller Majority

They can count, too

In March of 1882 a little known journal that had been founded only two years prior was about to go under – nobody wanted to read it, and its owner was tired of putting any more money into it. But an enthusiastic entomologist named Samuel H. Scudder, who at that time, after many years of…

Say’s trig

Yesterday my wife called me – “You need to come to Mahoney’s [our local garden center], there are tree crickets on every Holly bush.” I promptly grabbed a few containers and was there in a matter of minutes. And indeed, the place was resonating with soft, bell-like calls of dozens of crickets, but I did…

Sapo

It may seem counterintuitive, but many small, cryptic animals, those that blend perfectly into their environment, are much easier to find at night than during the day. Katydids, walking sticks, snakes – these animals usually spend their days absolutely still, but at night they feed and court, making their presence known through their movement. Others,…

Scorpionflies

The Estabrook Woods near the town of Concord, MA have over the years become my favorite local place to find interesting insects and ancient plants. It is also a great location to let my dogs exercise their primeval desire to chase little furry things (always unsuccessfully) and wade in stagnant, swampy water. Recently I wrote…

My crumbling beliefs

I always assumed that there existed at least a few immutable truths about the natural world, dogmas that had no exceptions, no matter how hard you looked for them. One of them, I thought, was the rule that flies, which cartoons and children books made me believe were the favorite food of frogs, should be…

Hanging in there

Things have been keeping me away from updating the blog, but I finally found a moment to write about one cool animal that usually shows up at this time of year in Massachusetts – the scorpionfly (Panorpa). Or at least that was the original plan. Since I had, literally, only one, rather lousy shot of this…