Invertebrates–animals without backbones. That covers a lot of species from butterflies to spiders to slugs and earthworms. I could have divided this category into more specific categories like spiders, insects or mollusks, but often I don’t even know where to start looking when trying to identify an invertebrate. Did you know ticks are arachnids not insects?
Stopping to smell a wildflower–particularly a yellow or white one–may bring you eye-to-eye with a crab spider. Perched motionless with legs outstretched like a miniature…
From the moment they pupate into an adult until they die, honeybees are constantly working. Truthfully, it is the females who work constantly. Three types…
Mosquito eaters, skeeter eaters and mosquito hawks are a few names for the gangly crane fly that looks like an over-sized mosquito. However, these names…
Without a single lesson, a young spider can build its own web. As the spider grows, so does the size of the web. While every…
Not a single fly buzzes through the house all winter and on a sunny spring day they all seem to come out of the woodwork–quite…
Wandering through the woods, I found a tree with claw marks scratched in the bark at eye-level and black hair stuck to once oozing sap.…
As the yellow leaves of autumn drop from trees, they often reveal hidden treasures such as bird nests and less desirable wasp nests. The gray,…
I catch a slight movement out of the corner of my eye and stop to scan the brushy slope. After a few seconds I spy…
Insects range from beautiful butterflies to everyday ants to creepy spiders and everything in between. Praying mantises are in between with their strange looks and…
Lying under the window at night I can hear the constant buzz of mosquitos swarming on the other side of the window screen. Almost asleep…
I have never given much thought to worms besides wanting some in my garden and when they are scattered across roads on rainy days. I’ve…
Of all places, I did not expect to see dozens of ladybugs milling around on bare rocks amidst the snow on a ridge above Trout…