Bryan's Posts About Science
Monhegan Report No. 4: Going North
Here on Monhegan Island, during supper with Jane Curtis, now about 92, we ventured no further than the frontiers of books and art and conversation about people on a tiny island.
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…
“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.
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.
Twisted Duck Sex
The screwy truth — and kinky experiment — about how female ducks have evolved a strategy for sexual assault.
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.
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.
