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Our newest yard bird (#133) was a very sleepy Northern Saw-whet Owl, roosting in one of our cedar trees, right outside our kitchen window. Although it wasn’t deeply concealed, we never would have noticed it if my husband hadn’t seen…

Real or fake? Every year, folks try to decide whether to get a live Christmas tree, or put up an artificial tree. This topic has been fairly well covered on several green blogs, so I will offer an overview and…

The overpopulation of certain species, whether native or not, can cause problems. When these species are appealing to the public, their control becomes an even bigger challenge. Previously, I discussed these issues in regards to White-tailed Deer and Mute Swans….

hymenoptera in the yard

In August, I described my summer “project,” to learn more about the flies, bees, and wasps in my yard. I posted a series of some of the photos I took of the cool Diptera (flies) I was able to identify….

dog walking and birds

Four-legged friend or foe? Dog walking displaces native birds from natural areas. P. B. Banks and J. V. Bryant. 2007. Biology Letters. Early online, DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0374. This paper has received a lot of press as it is on a perennially hot-button…

cornell strong-arm tactics?

I’ve been working on another post, but a related item has cropped up that I just can’t quite get out of my head.

lady of the flies

I’ve been sort of lazy about posting lately. For the last week, I’ve been on semi-“vacation” which means catching up on writing projects and things around the house between wrapping up my summer field work and preparing to begin fall…

Eastern cicada killers (Sphecius speciosus) are big wasps. The “dainty” males are about 3 cm long, and the females up to 4 cm. Adding to the intimidation factor is the behavior of the males, which gather in “leks” of up…

detroit’s brush park

One place I’ve been meaning to get to — not only to survey for birds but just from my interest in Detroit history — is the neighborhood in midtown called Brush Park. Brush Park was once one of Detroit’s most…

There are pros and cons to being the coordinator for a big field project. The upside is that I get to spend a lot of time in the field myself. The downside is that it is often in places that…