Category: nature
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Bat Scat
As a naturalist, I spend a lot more time poking around in other creatures’ excrement (also known as scat) than most people. I love finding clues to the animal’s identity and diet, like the fish scales and bones in an otter’s scat, or how when the pawpaws are ripe, suddenly every pile of fox poop…
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Blogtober- Foul Odor
I usually think of flowers as lovely, sweet-smelling decorations. They’re actually plants’ reproductive organs, though, and some are distinctly weird. The fragrant, colorful ones like roses and asters attract bees and butterflies for pollination. However, other kinds of flowers are downright stinky, because they evolved to attract a whole different set of insects. Rather than…
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Blogtober: transformation
So I’m a couple days late on this post. I’ve been working on a post about transformation for several days now, but the particular interpretation i chose is still too big to handle quickly. I bit off more than I can chew for a quick daily post. So I’ll try a slightly different interpretation. Never…
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Blogtober- Decay
It’s been a pretty good year for mushrooms. I’ve found bright red chanterelles, gooey inkcaps, and more. But the weirdest and maybe creepiest has been the globby fungus I found oozing dark amber liquid near the bottom of a tree. I think it’s Pseudoinonotus dryadaeus, also known as Oak Bracket. I don’t know whether the…
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Blogtober: spiders
I have a sign in my apartment that says, “Keep calm, it’s just a spider.” I was torn about whether to buy it when I saw it. Of course I think that nobody needs to get upset at the sight of a spider. I am more than happy to be the spider catch-and-releaser. But on…
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Blogtober: Owls
At my very first park job, one of the programs I most loved to lead was the Owl Prowl. That consisted of wandering down the trail, just after dark, with my participants and a red-masked flashlight (to prevent us from losing night vision) and a way to playback recordings. We usually have three main owl…
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Blogtober: Masked
It seems fitting that after writing about how maybe orange bugs seemed more prevalent just because they were easier to see amid the green leaves, today I write about masking and camouflage. I am fascinated by the different ways creatures have of disguising themselves. From cryptic patterns on their skin/exoskleleton, to even gluing pieces of…
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Blogtober: Lurking
As an introvert in a fairly extroverted job, I often struggle with how to start a conversation with park visitors. This summer, though, I hit on a technique that answers my plight nicely: the “interpreter lurk.” It’s not a formal program, but still helps me figure out which visitors are actually interested in learning more…
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Midnight
During a visit to Monhegan Island, Maine, this summer, I had the chance to try some newly purchased equipment: my mothing setup. I used the recommendations at https://calnature.org/blog/2017/9/27/diy-moth-light for what to buy, if you’re interested in trying this yourself. [Note that the web site seems to be having issues as I post this, hopefully that…
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Monsters?
For today’s prompt I immediately think of B-movie monsters. Often based on, or actually, giant bugs or spiders. But of course, to me bugs and spiders (the real thing) aren’t monsters at all. I actually love watching sci-fi shows and films to see how aliens are often depicted with patterns, body parts, coloring, etc. that…
The Contented Naturalist 