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Bryan's Posts About Science
An Overdue Tribute to Sally Laughlin
Nearly 30 years ago, soon after moving to Vermont, I made the pilgrimage of any self-respecting birder and field naturalist. I visited Sally Laughlin in Woodstock. Tall, elegant, brilliant, imposing, and driven, Sally welcomed me into an office of paperwork…
![](https://bryanpfeiffer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/schinia-florida-860x800-550x380.jpg)
“Settled in Quivering Contentment”
Like most of you, I spend my summer leisure time contemplating the proboscis of the Primrose Moth, which is about half the length of its body.
![](https://bryanpfeiffer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/red-winged-blackbird-450x321.jpg)
Avian Infidelities
Blackbirds do it. Chickadees do it. Even educated emus do it. Some birds are cheaters. Their trysts, dalliances, one-morning stands, and other infidelities would constitute a racy script for a wildlife soap opera.
![](https://bryanpfeiffer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/bbwhistlingduck-730x522-550x380.jpg)
Twisted Duck Sex
The screwy truth — and kinky experiment — about how female ducks have evolved a strategy for sexual assault.
![](https://bryanpfeiffer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/turkey-vulture-860x260-550x260.jpg)
Migration’s Misfits
Pick your favorite sign of spring: squirrels mating, mud oozing, maples flowering. Mine is a vulture soaring. Change in the air is a naked, ruddy head gliding in on big wings. But more than being a vernal messenger, the Turkey Vulture is an avian iconoclast. It topples simplistic notions of migration.
![](https://bryanpfeiffer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Pantala-flavescens-860x590-550x380.jpg)
Dragonfly Swarms
Those mobs of airborne dragonflies you’re seeing are either on the hunt or in migration. Here’s the scoop on dragonfly swarms.