News
Readers" wildlife photos
2+ hour, 17+ min ago (308+ words) Why Evolution Is True The stars of this set, improbably enough, are two flatworms. The first two pictures are of the elegant Eurylepta californica, which I think of as the "art-deco flatworm. It"s rare up here; I"ve found…...
The duck situation at Botany Pond. ..
5+ day, 39+ min ago (516+ words) Why Evolution Is True I have been keeping a careful eye on what is going on in the pond, and I'm quite worried about Vashti, whose brood is set to hatch within two weeks. Once a day I call her…...
June 2026 " Why Evolution Is True
1+ week, 1+ day ago (1751+ words) Here are a few pictures from my walks on Cape May and Sandy Hook, taken this April. Starting from the Atlantic Ocean (eastern) shore on Cape May, I met this pair of American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus). In Cape May, a…...
Reader's wildlife photo (and video)
1+ week, 2+ day ago (154+ words) Why Evolution Is True. .. also this video. This isn't the bear species on the California state flag, which is the California grizzly bear (Ursus arctos californicus); that was native to this area but was hunted to extinction in the early…...
Caturday felid trifecta: California cat fights off coyote; Dubai erects cat feeding statiions; a feral cat befriends a wild fox, and they're adopted together; and lagniappe
1+ week, 3+ day ago (716+ words) From People magazine (also at the UPI), we hear about a brave moggy whjo chased off a coyote." Click on the screenshot to read: A Pico Rivera, California, resident captured some surprising footage: a cat fighting off a coyote in…...
Readers" wildlife photographs
1+ week, 4+ day ago (136+ words) Birding in the Upper Midwest Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) on a nest: Great Horned Owlet (Bubo virginianus) in a nest: Common Loon (Gavia immer): Common, medium to small birds. Rarer small birds that were new (a. k. a. "lifers) for me. Kirtland's Warbler…...
Saturday: Hili dialogue (and discussion)
2+ week, 3+ day ago (278+ words) Welcome to Saturday, May 23, 2026. Posting will probably be limited to this very short Hili today; I am dispirited because the brood of nine mallards (plus mom) that I rescued yesterday was driven out of the pond area by aggressive mallards....
Four'count them, four'turtles
1+ mon, 4+ week ago (228+ words) It was a rough morning on Botany Pond. Two undocumented drakes invaded this morning, and I must have spent 45 minutes chasing them around with my squirt gun. They would leave (along with Armon, who always returns), but then come back…...
Australia puts fostering "indigenous knowledge systems" as its first priority in developing marine biology
1+ mon, 4+ week ago (305+ words) As always, an Aussie who wishes to remain anonymous sent me this link, and noted that New Zealand isn't the only country in the Antipodes that tries to make science (again "Western science) coequal with indigenous knowledge." Clicking on the…...
Ducks (and turtles) at Botany Pond
2+ mon, 1+ day ago (732+ words) Please allow me to show you pictures of my children, which this year comprise a pair of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) and a pair of wood ducks (Aix sponsa). The latter don't seem to be breeding here as they're on the…...