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Dirty Insect Image No. 4: Mustard Whites
In my continuing series of Dirty Insect Images, this pair of Mustard Whites (Pieris napi) spent about 10 minutes copulating on a red maple seedling yesterday.
Rain, Leaves and Warblers
FROM THE RAINS this weekend there will be birds – lots of them. Spring is coming slowly this year. Here in my home city of Montpelier, Vermont, the Bloodroot, which is normally done blooming by now, still flashes its elegant…
Chasing Spring 2014 – Warblers and Woodpeckers
Chasing the spring in North Carolina and other points northbound.
Montpelier Wild No. 5: Snowy Owl
Updated: April 20, 2014 Okay, we might call this edition of Montpelier Wild “East Montpelier Wild” (but close enough). This Snowy Owl, which I photographed on April 19, was still around Easter Morning. Find it along Towne Hill Road in…
Montpelier Wild No. 4: April Fireworks
In Monday’s heat the butterflies awoke. During our walk around Berlin Pond, where we noted 32 bird species, Ruth and I saw the year’s first butterflies: Mourning Cloak and Eastern Comma. They were also 2013’s last butterflies. These two species…
Desperately Seeking Rusty Blackbirds
By Bryan on April 9, 2014 It is basic black with an inelegant voice. It nests in places we rarely visit. And in relative obscurity, the Rusty Blackbird has suffered one of the most dramatic population declines ever recorded among…
Montpelier Wild No. 3: Spring Birds
By Bryan on April 7, 2014 Spring migration is picking in the Capital City. On our rivers, through the woods and in our backyards, I’m encountering new arrivals nearly every day. Along our five-mile walking loop through the city on…
Subnivean Tadpole Migration
By Bryan on April 1, 2014 Ruth and I were fortunate to catch this rare and amazing tadpole migration on Mt. Hunger in Washington County, Vermont. Added on April 2, 2014: By the way, these tadpoles only move on April 1…
Montpelier Wild No. 2: The Beavers of Spring Street
A hint of spring drifted on broad wings with a bald head over Montpelier Sunday afternoon. Only days after the Vernal Equinox came our first Turkey Vulture. This vulture counts as an actual spring migrant, unlike those American Robins you’ve…
What’s This? No. 18
What’s This? No. 18 should be self-evident. The winner of this challenge, however, will name the species that left its mark on this rock (which I suspect is Shinumo quartzite). I photographed this on Phantom Creek in Grand Canyon National…
Fiction: The Breakup
Our ending had a beginning, a night fixed in my memory like every other event in our life together. On that night he didn’t reach for me, didn’t wake me with the touch that had always made me glow.
Gratitude and the Grand Canyon
While backpacking in the Grand Canyon last week I managed to win my first election. In the contest for Montpelier Parks Commission on Town Meeting Day I prevailed by a vote of 1398 to 677. And I was among the…
