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New Bug Greeting Cards
My summer is packed with events and activities that all have to do with the insects that finally get plentiful when the monsoon arrives. If you go to the 'Events' page on the top menu you'll see how...
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Moth Tables: Arctiinae
August and July, our main monsoon months provide the most interesting insects related adventures, but...I am too busy to write any meaningful blog chapter right now: within three weeks I have been...
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Where Nuns meet Witches
Mantispid Climaciella brunneaSome Batesian mimicry works well on me. Whenever I see a harmless (to me) mantispid in the exact colors of our most common paper wasp Polistes comanchus I am instictively...
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Many Ways to shoot a Rattler
There is of course the way our former neighbor chose: with his .22. When I commented: "too bad that you are so afraid of them" He replied - "Oh, I'm fine with snakes, they take care of the darn...
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Moth Night at the BTA: Two snakes that stole the show
Marceline Vandewater invited me to give a talk about insects and a black-light presentation at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum (BTA) in Superior, AZ. Macro-photographer Paul Landau opened the program with...
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Hiding behind your Worst Enemy
Many species that are pursued by predators pretend to be what they are not to protect themselves. They may mimic toxic, dangerous or noxious tasting models or they may just become invisible sporting...
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Real time protocol of a scorpion sting
Today's not my day. Among the things that went wrong were the broken dog fence (Randy's problem but I feel for him), a Prairie Falcon that sent me racing for binoculars and then took off just as I got...
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Insects of the Button Bush
Two weeks ago my friend Ned Harris alerted me that the Button Bushes in Sabino Canyon were blooming. That meant photo opportunities par excellence for all kinds of nectaring insects. Button Bush,...
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Two rare Enoclerus species from Arizona
Clerids in the genus Enoclerus are among my favorite beetles. They are fuzzy and colorful and they move around in fast little burst of high speed, resembling very much the Velvet Ants that they...
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MABA mini Bio Blitz in Sonora Mexico
I think I have found my new little paradise. On the last weekend in September I was invited to take part in a biological survey of Rancho las Avispas and Rancho Esmeralda in northern Sonora, Mexico....
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Contributing images to a great new book on Scarabs
Today we found a very heavy package in our PO Box. It contained the Mexico, Guatemala and Belize volume of 'The Dynastine Scarab Beetles' by Ratcliffe, Cave, and Cano. It's a comprehensive treatment of...
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October Bugs on Burroweed
Bilbo, Frodo, Cody and LaikaOn October 18th, I took our dogs for a walk along Santa Cruz River Path that begins behind the library in Cortaro, Arizona. At this time in autumn now even in Arizona the...
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Seasonal changes
Morning has broken....OK, no Blackbirds speaking here in the desert, just Curved-billed Thrashers. But many of you might think that the desert is also devoid of seasonal changes. Far from that, we...
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Nature Illustrated at Tohono Chul Park
When I gave a power point presentation about pollinators at Tohono Chull Park last spring, I used several of my watercolor paintings as illustrations. Preparing the exhibit Nature Illustrated, curator...
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Winter Rain in the Desert
Margie Wrye's 'Cats'Finally rain blew in. A couple of days ago, Fb friend Margie Wrye photographed beautiful lentil shaped clouds over the Catalinas, but today the Catalinas and even the Tucson...
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Happy Thanksgiving
All through November, we still have some butterflies in our backyard in Picture Rocks, AZ
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Caracaras of the Santa Cruz Flats
Crested Caracara, Caracara cheriway Photo by Ned Harris I liked those stately birds even as a child in Germany. Our zoo in Dortmund had a few that were walking freely (though probably with wing...
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Happy Holidays and a Mystery
All through December I have been too busy to blog. The art shows were busy and more originals sold than during the whole rest of the year. On the day before we drove out to California I was still...
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My most interesting arthropod photos of the year 2013
At his Scientific American blog, Alex Wild is curating a list of everyone's best science/nature photos from the year 2013.I changed it to most interesting, making clear (to myself) that I wasn't...
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Bug Forensics
I went to Madera Canyon today. With snow on Mt Wrighston and an overcast sky, not many insects were active. I found a few Tenebrionidae under rocks and this Western Leaf-footed Bug under a loose patch...
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