Bryan's Posts About Dragonflies
Into the Wild (and Away from the Screen)
I now get to go outside and play — er, I mean work. My field season, as a consulting biologist and educator, launches like migrating warblers this week, which means you’ll find me less often here on the blog.
“Mexicans” Across the Border
Here along the Rio Grande, wildlife knows no international borders. Here’s a damselfly, a butterfly and a bird with Mexican roots (and namesakes).
The Year in Flight
2015 is so almost over. It’s nearly history. So rather than offering you the predictable year-in-review, here’s 2016 in Preview — some of the life in flight that I expect to see in the new year. You might see it as well if you join me outside for a field trip or a seminar.
A Thousand-Year-Old Dragonfly
Here in the Chihuahuan Desert, where water is scarce and sacred, I encounter an ancient dragonfly. But what dragonfly species is it? Is it even a dragonfly? I report; you decide.
Freshly Published: The Dragonflies of Vermont
Long after we’re gone, when insects rule the world, dragonflies will rule all insects. In the meantime, here’s your new manual to dragonflies of Vermont. I’m coauthor with my pal and colleague Dr. Mike Blust.
Life in Flight at Maine’s Eagle Hill Institute
From a classic field station and center for learning Down East in Maine, here’s a report on butterflies, moths, dragonflies, damselflies, orchids, lichens and some of the people who love them.
In the Rainforest: Pleasure and Peril Among the Unknown
Spend a lifetime in the rainforest and you will learn but a fraction of its secrets. In Costa Rica, the drama of life on Earth plays out on a thousand stages in every direction. So here’s a report on the beauty of the tropics, its poisons and pleasures, and the pitfalls of knowledge. Oh, there’s also a slide show.
Going Outside for ‘Flight Season’
Now begins my grand season of flight. I’m pulling the plug and going outside to chase birds and insects as much as possible until September. Maybe I’ll see you out there.
Discover Dragonflies During My Summer Seminar
Pick any scene from the drama of life on Earth: birth, growth, beauty, courtship, reproduction, betrayal, murder. Find them all expressed in the lives of dragonflies. Shakespeare could have written the script for these insects. And now you can join the drama with my summer dragonfly and damselfly seminar near the Maine coast.
What’s This? No. 21
My next What’s This? nature challenge was along the Gila River in southwestern New Mexico last week. I won’t reveal whether this is animal, vegetable, mineral or other
The Last Dragonfly
Even after our first hard frost and our last soft serve, after you’ve raked your leaves and mounted your snow tires, after the warblers have abandoned us for the tropics and you yourself have abandoned notions of warmth, and even after this cold political season – even then a dragonfly of summer remains.
A Halloween Dragon
Nothing scary here – unless you’re a mosquito or some other small flying insect. Halloween Pennants (Celithemis eponina), which hunt and eat insects, range across the eastern US. They perch at the tips of low vegetation and twirl in the…
