Bryan's Blog
Find Bryan's latest essays at Chasing Nature »
Announcing: The Viral Spring
Your field guide to nature during the pandemic, with regular updates as we practice “distant socializing” (including in the wilds of our homes and back yards).
Orange and Metal
Orangetip and metalmark butterflies, their charisma, coronavirus, and the human condition this coming spring.
The Naked Signs of Spring
Reporting from the American South, I bring you vultures, violets and hints of springtime.
Butterflies in Tribute to Darwin and Lincoln
Butterflies in celebration of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, each born on this day 211 years ago.
Insects and Impeachment
Pygmy dragonflies, charismatic butterflies, atomic bombs and toxic politics.
Cheating Death
A moth, a carnivorous plant, a Barbara Kingsolver novel and its cover illustration launch me on a journey of natural history and mistaken identity.
Digital Cameras for Nature Photography
Freshened up and revised for 2020, here’s my overview and advice for birders, biologists, field naturalists or anyone else who might want better images from nature.
Avocets and Hockey
A field biologist (and hockey fan) reviews the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra’s performance last night.
Flowers and Light
New research on butterfly evolution helps explain the force that drove these insects from the darkness into the light.
The Monarch Monsoon
A Monarch on its way to Mexico would seem to have no legitimate business 10 miles out to sea. Try telling that to the thousands of Monarchs here in the Gulf of Maine on Monhegan Island.
Fall Migration
Here in the woods of home today, rather than watching waves of hawks and Monarchs, I’m hot on the trail of a little caterpillar on its journey of only a few feet.
Defiance and Disguise
Shock, awe and subterfuge as survival skills among moth caterpillars I encountered this week.
