The Weekly Dig article

http://www.weeklydig.com/news_opinions/articles/wild_bostonia/

I really couldn't be happier. It's honest, she didn't misquote me, and she got my livejournal url right!

Bike and drum -- followup

Back in June I posted a video of a guy playing a drum while riding a bike. (here's two)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHeU2vBaiso
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5ccAcYR9qs
While I originally posted them in a friends-protected post, they are public on youtube.
Today I received a response from the bikedrummer himself!
( Read more... )

365 Urban species. #282: Camel cricket

Photo by urbpan. I found this camel cricket (and many others) under a makeshift bed, used by homeless people in a wooded section of Olmsted Park, in Boston.

Urban species #282: Camel cricket Ceuthophilus spp.

Camel crickets are also sometimes called "cave crickets," and while there are some specialized species that inhabit only caves, most of these insects have more general habits. They are nocturnal and are found gathering in cool dark places, sometimes in surprising numbers. Apparently they are occasionally mistaken for spiders, with their long slender appendages and lack of wings. Their shiny, humped bodies and long antennae should put that misidentification to rest, if you haven't already flattened them. Like many other insects called crickets (though, evolutionarily they are more closely related to katydids) camel crickets are omnivorous, feeding on the carcasses of other insects and decaying plant matter. They are sometimes considered pests, mainly because they will enter homes and basements for shelter, but they are not destructive animals. They are not especially well-studied creatures, and identification to species is difficult and rare, with most authorities either leaving the designation blank, or arbitrarily settling on C. maculatus (an apparently common and cosmopolitan species.)


Long hind legs can be a liability, but camel crickets can make do with just one, if a predator takes the other.