Category Archives: Photography

Two-Marked Treehoppers: It’s Complex

There is a curious thing going on in our backyard. Well, okay, there are many curious things in that yard, truth be told, but this one came to my attention relatively recently. It didn’t jump out and grab hold of … Continue reading

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Rerun: Men of Rice

Feeling nostalgic tonight, looking over our almost frozen backyard, so I decided to rerun this old post from 2012.  That trip was one of the formative experiences of my life. Men of Rice

Posted in Hiking, Musings, Photography | 1 Comment

Backyard Gooseberries are Saucy Little Things

The gooseberries in our backyard try to get our attention with their tart little green offerings every year in the mid- to waning days of spring, but mostly they end up being overlooked as contributors to our partly wild larder.  … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking, Edible Native Plants, Foraging, Native Plants, Photography, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Long Travelers: Leaf-cutter Bees, Part II

Life travels, and a lot of it has made the journey to our backyard.  That includes Nadia and me–a few hundred miles from my point of origin for me and considerably more for Nadia.  Some of this life travels north … Continue reading

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Cutting-up in Columbia: Leaf-cutter Bees in the Yard

One of the joys of yard-watching in our urban wilderness is that you never know what you might find and where curiosity might take you.  One fine summer day as I patrolled our domain, camera in hand, I came across … Continue reading

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More Caterpillar Creepies

Our backyard has many amazing things, but this one had me puzzled for quite awhile.  However, I think I may have found the answer to what exactly this is: Until I sat down and really looked at this carefully, I … Continue reading

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Death on a Milkweed

Walking out of our yard today to walk Bonita the Beagle, I glanced quickly over a few young milkweeds growing on our curb next to the street.  Something under one of the leaves caught my eye.  This, to be exact: … Continue reading

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Columbine Time (Aquilegia canadensis)

When the spring columbines began popping up and blossoming in our backyard, we know it’s time to keep our eyes open for the arrival of the hummingbirds.  Sure enough, after several days of gorgeous blooms, we have now spotted at … Continue reading

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The Ballad of Quercus flatus: A Tale of Spring

The sap is rising in our backyard.  Spring has finally sprung (we think), after a couple of false alarms, and signs of life abound.  Our redbud is budding red, our wahoo is leafing out and preparing to flower (Wahooooooo!!), our … Continue reading

Posted in Insects, Musings, Natural Areas, Photography, Seasons, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Pawpaws, Mastodons and Zebras

Snowed in today and dreaming of warmer times.  A good time, it seems to me, to play more catch-up on the backlog of articles on the native plants we have in our yard.  This time it’s  Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)!  What … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking, Edible Native Plants, Foraging, Fruit, Gardening, Landscaping, Photography, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments