Bryan's Posts About Science
Zebras and Us
When I saw this dragonfly, I wet my pants. Okay, I was standing in Lewis Creek, so that’s actually how I wet my pants. But this dragonfly makes me euphoric. And I’m not entirely sure why. So I’m developing a theory on wildlife and aesthetics.
Upland Sandpipers Doing It
Feel good about these Upland Sandpipers not only because this photo offers us a cheap thrill. Feel good any time this grassland species reproduces. These are birds in trouble.
Got Milkweed?
Now drifting back into northern sections of the United States, Monarchs face a perfect storm of threats. But you can plant the seeds (literally) to help America’s favorite insect.
DSA Update No. 4: Gomphicide
PICK ANY SCENE FROM THE DRAMA OF LIFE ON EARTH: birth, growth, courtship, sex, subterfuge, betrayal, murder. Find them all expressed in the lives of dragonflies. Shakespeare could write the script on these predators.
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…
Snowy Owls and Us
My essay on finding opportunity and humility in this winter’s irruption of Snowy Owls. For Aeon magazine.
Life Among the Dead
Here in one of our great museum collections, I find warmth, diversity, shock, awe and innumerable stories of life on Earth.
The Troubling Buzz on Bees
From my colleagues at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies: More than one-quarter of Vermont’s bumble bee species, which are vital crop pollinators, have either vanished or are in serious decline, according to a new investigation from the Vermont Center for…
War and Climate and Us
War and Climate and Us Required reading in The Times from Roy Scranton, a soldier, author and philosopher. In this gripping essay about war, climate and humanity is our future – a fate with scarce shelter in the Anthropocene. Scraton writes: Now, when…
The Crap Around Montpelier
Blogger’s Note: This post, first published on October 23, 2013, has been revised following the installation of some wonderful “poop stations” around Montpelier and adoption of a new Code of Conduct for dogs and people in Hubbard Park. Dear Montpelier…
Hub Vogelmann (1928-2013)
Although the word conservation suits the laws of physics and the prevention of waste, its highest calling is in the preservation of nature. Conservation is now synonymous with the protection of life outdoors. Yet a protector is now gone. Legendary…
Monhegan Report No. 5: The Fallout
From the heavens at dawn came warblers to Monhegan. Even before the sunrise would make them glow, before they found the trees and insects, we heard the yellow-rump’s thin “seep!,” the blackpoll’s high “tzzeet!” and the palm’s rich “sink!” – the flight sounds of a fallout on Monhegan Island. In the dim light of dawn, we stepped outside to sip coffee and listen to our day of birds approaching.
