corvid comparison
Tag: nature journaling
vaccinium corymbosum
This variety of blueberry is meant to grow in our climate, but ours just … don’t, really.
Toxostoma redivivum
I don’t often see a California thrasher around here, so I’m always happy when I do. One has been hanging about the bird bath and bushes close to the house the past few days. Sweet!
lithobiidae
I asked Trisha if we could examine a centipede some time, and even though they are not insects, she kindly collected one in her yard and put it under the microscope for us to sketch.
There are about 1000 species and subspecies in the family Lithobiidae, mainly distributed in the northern hemisphere. (The house centipede I posted last week is in a different family.)
Fun fact: centipedes have one pair of legs per body segment. Millipedes have two.
chrysalis vs cocoon
I am not sure how I got to be middle-aged before learning that butterfly caterpillars don’t spin cocoons. Moths do that. A butterfly’s chrysalis forms INSIDE its caterpillar-y skin. It sheds that skin and voila, it’s now a pupa. 🤯 Learn something new!!
Plecoptera
If you see stoneflies by a creek, you can be happy that the water’s clean and well-oxygenated.
scutigera coleoptrata
House centipedes (Scutigera coleoptrata) sometimes fall in the sink and can’t get out without assistance. Knowing what they eat, I’m always happy to see (and help) them.
agaricus californicus
pseudomethoca simillima
Justin Orvel Schmidt is an American entomologist, author of The Sting of the Wild, and creator of the Schmidt sting pain index. According to him, the sting of a velvet ant is a 3 out of 4, equivalent to having boiling oil poured all over your hand.
Just another fun fact shared by the irrepressible Trisha Nicols on Insectopia.
gynaikothrips uzeli
The closer you look, the more you see.
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