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What is that group of people doing, way down the concrete slope, sitting at the edge of the water?
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What is that group of people doing, way down the concrete slope, sitting at the edge of the water?
( Read more... )
Speckled sharpshooter Paraulacizes irrorata
Sharpshooters are a subset of the insects called leafhoppers (distinct from planthoppers and treehoppers). This group is distinguished by a relatively streamlined body shape, a tympanum, and the habit of laying eggs in the tissues of plants. The tympanum is a sound-making organ, famously deafening in cicadas--a cousin of the -hoppers--the songs of leafhoppers are inaudible to humans without amplification. Some sharpshooters are agricultural pests, notably the glassy-winged sharpshooter. Long time readers will remember my friend
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rockbalancer; for a time she worked with parasitic wasps which were cultivated to prey on the glassy-wing.I can't improve on this explanation: "The name 'sharpshooters' refers to their habit of forcing excess water droplets out of the tip of the abdomen with an audible popping noise." - http://bugguide.net/node/view/52731
Hey if you like this blog (and I guess you probably do) you might like to look at these:
Skinny in a Land of Plenty is a blog by a Boston resident named Ajay who has come along on some Urban Nature Walks, and gone on some of his own. Great photography.
LA's Urban Nature is the blog from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. My old palrockbalancer writes many of the posts.
Hit Me With Your Nature Stick is a nature blog by a married couple of my acquaintance, nay friendship, who indulge themselves in nature walks specifically to find reptiles and amphibians. They use foul language and get themselves bit alarmingly often.
Enjoy.
Skinny in a Land of Plenty is a blog by a Boston resident named Ajay who has come along on some Urban Nature Walks, and gone on some of his own. Great photography.
LA's Urban Nature is the blog from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. My old pal
rockbalancer writes many of the posts.Hit Me With Your Nature Stick is a nature blog by a married couple of my acquaintance, nay friendship, who indulge themselves in nature walks specifically to find reptiles and amphibians. They use foul language and get themselves bit alarmingly often.
Enjoy.
What's the name of that movie where the museum exhibits come to life at night? Is it Jurassic Park? Here's a feathery little t-rex--the museum's approximation of a seven year old animal.
( more more NHM )
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Here is my wonderful entomologist friend
rockbalancer taking us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Natural History Museum. She's holding an insect with astounding cryptic shape and color making it look like a damaged leaf. These are in the same group as walking sticks--us bug nerds call them all "phasmids."( more NHM )
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My two favorite photos from my vacation
Mar. 4th, 2013 05:27 pmI have one more day's worth of photos to share, but there's a lot of them and I don't want these two to get buried:
Here's my palrockbalancer taking a picture of a very active scolopendra. This genus of centipedes is large, fast, and bears a venomous sting in its front legs that reportedly hurts like a bastard. I'm not allowed to have one as a pet.
This little wolf spider is packed with personality! She's only about an inch and a half in scrunched-up diameter.
Here's my pal
rockbalancer taking a picture of a very active scolopendra. This genus of centipedes is large, fast, and bears a venomous sting in its front legs that reportedly hurts like a bastard. I'm not allowed to have one as a pet.This little wolf spider is packed with personality! She's only about an inch and a half in scrunched-up diameter.
LA trip winding down intensely
Feb. 28th, 2013 06:15 pmWell after posting on the second day of my vacation I've utterly failed to keep up with it. Hopefully when I get back I won't be so totally overwhelmed that I get completely behind on it. We went to one of the Channel Islands (Atacapa--not Jersey this time) and the Zoo, so I've taken a few million photos.
I've been playing message tag with my new friend who is a secret lurker here on my journal, and she has been exceptionally giving and generous. It will be a real treat to meet her in person tonight, as we will see her singing with a group at a show we're going to.
It's a tremendous relief to be on the other side of the cold I've had for the past week. I still cough up minor demons a couple times a day, but the fever and fatigue are gone. Those symptoms were helping to make me a very unpleasant travelling companion, as my sense of humor and patience had been reduced to nothing at at all. My poor brother and father, trying to placate me while being their goofy jovial selves.
Then tomorrow First Friday at the Natural History Museum--I miss my friend Lila so much! We became very close over a very short time in 2006, and my heart aches to know that she is nearby but I can't see her. It will be a miracle if I don't burst into tears when we finally hug.
And as great as it is to get away, it will be so much greater to fall into the arms of Alexis again. The weather and landscape are beautiful here, but I yearn to be back at Contentment Cottage with my Beloved Wife. Only a matter of hours now.
I've been playing message tag with my new friend who is a secret lurker here on my journal, and she has been exceptionally giving and generous. It will be a real treat to meet her in person tonight, as we will see her singing with a group at a show we're going to.
It's a tremendous relief to be on the other side of the cold I've had for the past week. I still cough up minor demons a couple times a day, but the fever and fatigue are gone. Those symptoms were helping to make me a very unpleasant travelling companion, as my sense of humor and patience had been reduced to nothing at at all. My poor brother and father, trying to placate me while being their goofy jovial selves.
Then tomorrow First Friday at the Natural History Museum--I miss my friend Lila so much! We became very close over a very short time in 2006, and my heart aches to know that she is nearby but I can't see her. It will be a miracle if I don't burst into tears when we finally hug.
And as great as it is to get away, it will be so much greater to fall into the arms of Alexis again. The weather and landscape are beautiful here, but I yearn to be back at Contentment Cottage with my Beloved Wife. Only a matter of hours now.
We just tried to meet up with my friend Lila (rockbalancer) and were thwarted by other peoples' tragedy.
We were trying to meet her at a beachside place on the Pacific Coast Highway when we encountered not one but two major accidents. We waited at the site of the first one for about twenty five minutes, watching emergency vehicles and police officers and such do their important work, when a helicopter landed on the road to take away the least fortunate person involved. Once the helicopter left we drove past and saw the ruined motorcycle being cleaned up.
About a half mile down the road we were stopped by flashing lights again. We couldn't see what was going on, and probably that's just as well. A police officer was talking to the driver of the car ahead of us, so I rolled down my window and listened. I heard him say "Oh this won't be opened up again for hours" before that car did a u turn and left. We did the same and I contacted Lila to let her know we were very sad that we were going to miss her, but still pretty lucky.
rockbalancer) and were thwarted by other peoples' tragedy.We were trying to meet her at a beachside place on the Pacific Coast Highway when we encountered not one but two major accidents. We waited at the site of the first one for about twenty five minutes, watching emergency vehicles and police officers and such do their important work, when a helicopter landed on the road to take away the least fortunate person involved. Once the helicopter left we drove past and saw the ruined motorcycle being cleaned up.
About a half mile down the road we were stopped by flashing lights again. We couldn't see what was going on, and probably that's just as well. A police officer was talking to the driver of the car ahead of us, so I rolled down my window and listened. I heard him say "Oh this won't be opened up again for hours" before that car did a u turn and left. We did the same and I contacted Lila to let her know we were very sad that we were going to miss her, but still pretty lucky.
Spam alert
Feb. 21st, 2013 09:38 amI'm home sick from work today, some evil spirit crawled into my lungs quite suddenly yesterday and gave me a fever and an inability to draw a full breath. As I am to get on an airplane in three days and spend a week traveling, this is bad timing. I drank some generic NyQuil yesterday, apparently to give me some perspective on what it is to really feel bad. Today I'm sticking to ibuprofen, soup, and ginger ale, as well as lots of cuddling with dogs and the internet.
So this is the perfect opportunity to catch up on my photo posts! Perhaps this is a treat for you, perhaps a drag. I guess it's not really any of my business.
I'm looking forward to meeting at least one person on my vacation that I only know through an email correspondence, and catching back up withrockbalancer. I'm strangely excited to use my "rockbalancer" tag, as well as my "california" tag.
Right now I'm listening to archives of the Hadron Gospel Hour, which is broadcast live Sunday nights at nine o'clock (right when I'm crawling into bed). I'm loving this stuff--mostly psychedelic with a lot of strange tangents. Listen to or download the archives here. It looks like you can watch the radio shows on YouTube, too, if you like to see my friend Rich in a little studio lit by a sickly green light.
So this is the perfect opportunity to catch up on my photo posts! Perhaps this is a treat for you, perhaps a drag. I guess it's not really any of my business.
I'm looking forward to meeting at least one person on my vacation that I only know through an email correspondence, and catching back up with
rockbalancer. I'm strangely excited to use my "rockbalancer" tag, as well as my "california" tag. Right now I'm listening to archives of the Hadron Gospel Hour, which is broadcast live Sunday nights at nine o'clock (right when I'm crawling into bed). I'm loving this stuff--mostly psychedelic with a lot of strange tangents. Listen to or download the archives here. It looks like you can watch the radio shows on YouTube, too, if you like to see my friend Rich in a little studio lit by a sickly green light.
3:00 snapshot #1017
Jul. 5th, 2012 07:19 pm
4th of July cookout at friends house in Jamaica Plain!
The traditional American dish of steak and tofu with avocado sauce, mushrooms, and fruit salad.
Five years ago today:
My dear friend
rockbalancer at Drumlin Farm is happy to take over ownership of my cockroaches as I depart to work at the zoo. These days she blogs about urban nature in Los Angeles!Five years ago today
Feb. 4th, 2012 07:01 pmFive years ago today I posted a bunch of beautiful pictures of snowy Drumlin Farm, while back in the city it was ugly and slushy. I should go back and ogle this sexy tree:
Speaking of those who I miss and am fond of (awkward!) I really miss my friendrockbalancer, and here she is with the dogs.
Speaking of those who I miss and am fond of (awkward!) I really miss my friend
rockbalancer, and here she is with the dogs.Year in review; What's next?
Dec. 31st, 2007 06:20 pm2007 was an eventful year for me, with a major change of job as its centerpiece.( Read more... )
On this day in 365 Urban Species: Human, the weirdest species ever to evolve.
On this day in 365 Urban Species: Human, the weirdest species ever to evolve.
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3:00 snapshot, #196.
Sep. 22nd, 2007 07:24 pm
I taught a mushroom class at Drumlin Farm today.
rockbalancer attended and assisted.On this day in 365 Urban Species: White snakeroot.
3:00 snapshot, #187.
Aug. 26th, 2007 08:06 pm
We attended the first official Rockbalancing Excursion today.( several more pictures, including a panorama )
On this day in 365 Urban Species: copperleaf, a weed so common and boring, no one commented about it.
Birthday Pics
Aug. 3rd, 2007 06:03 pmBehind the cut are the pictures taken with my camera the night of my birthday, mainly for the benefit of those who were there. (But hey, if you weren't there, and want to take a look, go right ahead :) )
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3:00 snapshot, #170.
Jul. 23rd, 2007 03:55 pm
Passengers.
Disgusting substance of the day: TB test. AAAUGH! Bubble under my skin!
On this day in 365 urban species: Blue dasher, a member of
rockbalancer's (pictured above) favorite group of insects!
3:00 snapshot, #163.
Jul. 15th, 2007 08:35 pm
Brunch at Flann's.
Best part of the day: standing in Ward's pond in the warm sunshine and cool moistness of Olmsted Woods.
On this day in 365 urban species: Cabbage white. Recently I learned that this European butterfly, which appears early in the spring before most other butterfly species--at the time of the year when butter is first made--is the reason that these insects are called "butterflies" in English.
