Wildlife Research, Monitoring & Mentoring
To be successful at hunting or fishing, the saying goes, you need to learn to think like your prey. The same is true of insect study: by learning to imagine the world from an insect's perspective, you greatly increase your chances of finding something interesting to...
Flies - the order Diptera - are an incredibly diverse group, and they've evolved an astonishing array of bizarre life histories. I recently encountered an example of one of the stranger things the world of Diptera has to offer: the bot fly Cephenemyia phobifer. A...
Birds do not perceive glass the same way that humans do. At a young age, we develop visual cues from repeated interactions with the clear surface, this helps us to detect the glass and avoid bumping into it, well, most of the time. To birds, glass is not detectable...
Friday, May 20, is both Endangered Species Day and World Bee Day. What could be a more appropriate topic for that dual celebration than an endangered bee? Walsh's Anthophora (Anthophora walshii), a rare species throughout the Northeast, is listed as "Endangered"...
Spring is a time of year when many of us focus on clearing out the old to prepare for the new. If you've watched or read anything by Marie Kondo, you've probably learned some pointers on clearing clutter and simplifying your life to cultivate more satisfaction and...
The range of Bird's Foot violet, Viola pedata, extends across most of the eastern United States. But wherever it occurs, this distinctive spring-flowering perennial lives on sandy soil. So it's no surprise that it flourishes on the lean, gritty soils of the Martha's...
While spring is still just getting started, the first of the Vineyard's native bees are already on the wing. Queen bumblebees, having overwintered under the leaf litter, are starting to rouse themselves to found new colonies. And solitary bees, many of them...
What is your response when you notice rodent activity on your property? Do you go set some snap traps or do you deploy bait boxes with rodenticide? It's reasonable to want to address a rodent issue as quickly as possible before populations get out of hand. But...
Promoting natural habitat is the best way to provide nesting opportunities for birds. Dead trees are an excellent source for nesting cavities. These snags also offer insects shelter where they complete their life cycle; many species are integral to decomposition and...
Bat Week is an annual, international celebration of the role of bats in nature. October is also a month where we see lots of bats around - but mostly the decorative kind associated with Halloween. Why don’t we see a lot of bats flying through the sky this time of...
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