Astoria

February 16, 2026

Scrolling the NY Times Headlines feed, I came across a bird who has captured the attention of New Yorkers. The bird arrived in Manhattan’s Battery Park and eventually settled in the area near the Sea Glass Carousel, just north of the Staten Island Ferry terminal. Three human women have become her self-appointed caretakers and visit her daily. New Yorker’s regularly fall in love with celebrity wildlife, including unusual ducks, a pair of coyotes, and Flaco the escaped owl in Central Park. Sunny Corrao, the deputy director of the city parks department’s wildlife unit, said, “She’s the only known turkey in Manhattan, “but this is not unusual.” A turkey was known to hang out in Inwood Hill Park in Upper Manhattan in the past and there are large flocks in the Bronx and on Staten Island. Smaller groups come and go to Queens and Brooklyn. Astoria got her name because she was first spotted in Astoria, Queens, before making her way to Roosevelt Island and, finally, Manhattan.

When I went online, I found Astoria is a descendant of the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) first domesticated in Pre-Columbian Mexico. The Classical Nahuatl word for the turkey (huehxōlō-tl) and the Spanish guajolote are still used in modern Mexico. Mayan aristocrats and priests had a special connection to turkeys, with ideograms of the birds appearing in Mayan manuscripts. Spanish chroniclers Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Father Bernardino de Sahagún describe the multitude of food (both raw fruits and vegetables and prepared dishes) offered in the vast markets (tianguis) of Tenochtitlán, noting there were tamales made of turkeys, iguanas, chocolate, vegetables, and fruits. Turkeys were first exported to Europe via Spain around 1519 and gained immediate popularity among the aristocratic classes. English settlers brought turkeys to North America during the 17th century. There were an estimated 10 million turkeys in the US during the 17th century, but by the 1930’s only 30,000 remained. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, biologists started trapping wild turkeys and re-introducing them into other states.

The three self-appointed caretakers of Astoria coordinate their schedules in group chats and text messages, sharing photos and updates on Astoria’s location and condition. Keiko Komiya visits the turkey in the morning, and Stella Hamilton and Anke Frohlich are generally there in the afternoon, and for bedtime. Astoria spends her days strutting around on the ground, then every evening (at 20 minutes after sunset) she flies up into a tree to spend the night. Hamilton is a retired nurse and birder who was previously a big fan of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl set free from Central Park Zoo. Komiya is an English student and avid birder whose first New York City celebrity bird was the mandarin duck she photographed daily in 2018. Frohlich started photographing birds during the covid-19 pandemic and runs an alternative healing practice in Greenwich Village which allows her to give the birds priority. The women do not worry about Astoria, but everything and everyone else. Young kids chase her, dogs scare her, and people press on her for selfies. Astoria also crosses State Street to bask in the warmth emanating from the Starbucks on the corner and the friends fear she will be hit by a vehicle. Their fears are not unfounded.

THOUGHTS: While Astoria has grown a devoted fan club, she is not the only wild Turkey residing in New York. “New York City is actually great habitat for a wild turkey,” Jessica Wilson, the executive director of NYC Bird Alliance, said. She noted that the birds are native to the area, have plenty to eat here and do not necessarily need turkey friends. “They often join flocks, but they also are fine on their own — and in general, we try not to interfere with their social life.” Perhaps we should treat people with the same respect. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

DET

February 14, 2026

I found it appropriate that in the middle of the Great Backyard Bird Count 2026 (February 13 to 16, 2026) that my Sunday paper (delivered on Saturday) would have a USA Today article on an annual lottery for the bald eagle tour in Monroe, Michigan. There were approximately 1,200 entries for this year’s 30 lottery winners and their guests. “It’s the largest number since the event began in 2008. It shattered our previous record,” said Maddie Drury, park ranger with the US Fish & Wildlife Service who sponsors the tour. Winners were driven out to the wooded area on the south end of the power plant, where Plum Creek and the power plant’s warm water discharge meets Lake Erie. In winter the warm water draws fish, and the fish draw predators. Amanda Schaub, communications strategist for the plant said, “Consistent with our Michigan Public Service Commission approved plan, the plant is scheduled to retire in 2032.” DET Energy is committed to working closely with the community as they plan for the site’s future.

When I went online, I found several endangered or rare species have a home at the Detroit Edison (DTE) power plant facility. Since the mid-1990’s, DTE Energy has supported peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) reintroduction and breeding programs in southeastern Michigan and near their power plants. Employees assist with banding, tracking and rescuing at-risk chicks. Peregrines have been recorded nesting on the Monroe Power Plant grounds since 1994. Over 100 adult and juvenile bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) have been counted near the shoreline at the Monroe Power Plant and nest regularly at the Fermi 2 Power Plant. Apprentice linemen install utility poles in various bird projects, such as eagle habitat at the Lake Erie Metropark and Humbug Island within the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, as well as a great blue heron rookery at Lyon Oaks County Park. These projects foster the bird population while giving apprentice linemen experience in installing tall poles without energized lines or power transmission equipment.

The DET Monroe Power Plant is home to other endangered species. The American lotus (Nelumbo lutea) is listed as a threatened species in Michigan. The plant naturally cleans the water in which it lives, which is important for the native fish and wildlife. In partnership with the Lotus Garden Club of Monroe, DTE Energy opens the Monroe Power Plant property for guided tours of the flowerbeds. Lake Sturgeon (Huso fulvescens) are the longest-living fish species in Michigan, with a lifespan of up to 100 years. They can be over eight feet (2.5 m) in length and weigh 800 pounds (363 kg). Sturgeons are listed as threatened or endangered by 19 of the 20 states within their original range in the US. DTE deposited 765 tons (694 mt) of coal cinders (a byproduct of coal combustion), cobble and broken limestone in the Detroit River off Belle Isle to create spawning beds. Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) once numbered in the thousands along the Detroit River but now only 250 breeding pairs can be found there. DTE Energy partnered with others to create an artificial nesting island and nesting habitat.

THOUGHTS: Drury, who is based at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge in Trenton, calls bald eagles the “most successful conservation story of the US”. For decades the insecticide DDT was widely used to kill insects. Fish ate treated vegetation, birds ate the fish, and affected bald eagles laid fewer viable eggs. In 1963, the continental US had just 417 mating pairs of bald eagles. DDT was banned in 1972, and the eagles have bounced back. In 2007, the US had 9,700 bald eagle mating pairs, and the bald eagle was removed from the endangered list. By 2020, there were 71,000 breeding pairs. The lottery for the DET Monroe Power Plant eagle tour typically opens right after Thanksgiving. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Birds 2025

January 31, 2026

Today’s local newspaper (“Sunday”) ran a front-page story on how the cold weather is prime birding season around back yards and feeders. This reminded me that I am even later this year in reporting my annual birding totals. Once again, I saw several red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) on the power lines going to and from town but was unable to get a picture, so they were not added to my count. While I was able to take my usual trip to the wildlife area this year and did record five different species (long range). However, the lighting was so bad I was unable to identify any but the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) flock I noticed while trying to capture several deer (again long range) in a filed. Another miss. The end-of-year presence on my feeders was good as the cold weather brought the sparrows (genus, Passer), along with house (Haemorhous mexicanus) and purple (Haemorhous purpureus) finches. The northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) did come back in mass but I saw only one or two blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata). I have yet to clean out the bluebird (Sialia sialis) house but have seen the sparrows nosing around the entrance so I will need to get rid of the old debris for this year’s nesting.

All that said leads to my “great reveal” concerning my birder totals for 2025. The number of feeders has fluctuated throughout the year as I began with 12 feeders offering different types of food. The squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) and grackles (Quiscalas quiscula) managed to take out my camera feeder, and the finches have all but abandoned the thistle seed feeder for some reason. I also switched to safflower kernels rather than black oil sunflower in my two window feeders hoping to discourage the squirrels (it sort of works). That leaves me with 9 active seed feeders to go along with the 9 hummingbird feeders. Now, on to the results. You may recall I recorded 26 species in my first year (2020), ended with a high of 52 species in 2021, dropped to 44 species in 2022, a low of 30 species in 2023, and then rebounded to 39 species in 2024. During 2025 I was able to rise a little higher and recorded 44 different species. My European sightings happened again as we took two trips, one to the Greek Isles (9 birds) and another up the Danube River (8 birds). The bus ride to the Neuschwanstein Castle (Disney’s type site for his princess castles) also yielded 4 different species of raptors, but I was unable to document them.

Most of my sightings have been limited to the immediate area, but we are planning to expand that during 2026. We are taking the RV along the interior to the Atlantic side of Florida and then back along the Gulf of Mexico as our return. This will hopefully produce some new shore bird sightings. We are then driving across Oklahoma to Arizona with a return through Utah. This should record a few species of desert birds. Then we are scheduled for an Alaskan cruise in June which should score some Pacific birds. I am hoping between our trips I can raise my totals (and overall species count) to new levels this year. We will see.

THOUGHTS: I am looking forward to participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count 2026 again this year. The 2025 count had hundreds or thousands of people from all over the world and found 8,078 species of the world’s known species, or 158 more than in 2024. Be sure to mark your calendars for the Great Backyard Bird Count 2026 (February 13 to February 16, 2026). You can sign up and find how to participate at https://www.birdcount.org/participate. Once again, birds are the (literal) canary in the mine shaft (earth) when it comes to gauging the health of our ecosystems. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Ash Borer

January 12, 2026

Yesterday’s local newspaper carried a USA Today article on a project designed to restore native ash populations to the state of New York. The ash saplings planted at Cornell Botanic Gardens as part of the Nature Conservancy’s Trees in Peril project are part of an effort to restore the disappearing species. Ash has long been valued for its lumber and is used in baseball bats, tool handles, flooring, and fireplaces. The invasive species attacking the trees was first discovered by entomologist Mike Griggs on Cornell University’s campus, as tree canopy dieback, yellowing and browning of leaves. The condition had spread farther west in the state in 2009, and quarantine zones were established in 2015 to block the spread. According to the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, the emerald ash borer has killed millions of trees across the US, caused billions of dollars in damage and loss, and overtaken virtually all of New York state.

When I went online, I found the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), or EAB, is a green jewel beetle (buprestid) native to north-eastern Asia that feeds on ash species (Fraxinus spp.). Adult beetles are typically bright metallic green and about 0.33 inches (8.5 mm) long and 0.063 inches (1.6 mm) wide. Emerald ash borer is the only North American species of Agrilus with a bright red upper abdomen when its wings are spread. The species has a small spine at the tip of the abdomen, and saw-like (serrate) antennae that begins at the fourth antennal segment. Females lay eggs in bark crevices on ash trees and the larvae feed underneath the bark to emerge as adults in one to two years. The ash borer is typically found at low densities in its native range and does not cause significant damage to trees but is a highly destructive invasive species to the ash trees of Europe and North America. Adults prefer to lay eggs in stressed ash but readily lay eggs in healthy trees among other tree species. Little was known of the ash borer before it was found in North America.

Local governments are attempting to control the ash borer by monitoring its spread, diversifying tree species, and using insecticides and biological control. A significant discovery was made by the US Forest Service when they found relatively healthy trees amidst a forest of dead trees. The surviving trees, called lingering ash, could serve as a catalyst for repopulating ash populations across the US. The ash borer larvae tunnel through the living tissue and with 100’s of 1000’s of insects in each tree can essential girdle the tree making it impossible to transport resources between the canopy and roots. Researchers found some lingering ash can “wall off” the larvae and prevent the insects from girdling the tree. A second possible defense is related to the organic compounds emitted by ash trees during photosynthesis and used by the ash borer to detect the trees. If an individual tree does not produce those chemicals or does so at low levels, the tree becomes “invisible” to the insects. The goal of the project is to propagate 50 to 60 genotypes of trees of each of the three ash species (white, green, and black). In 5 to 6 years cuttings (scions) will be collected and the process repeated. The lingering ash will then be planted among susceptible trees to restore ash to the forest environment.

THOUGHTS: The Emerald Ash Borer likely arrived in North America from Asia in the 1990’s hidden in solid wood packing materials (crates and pallets) used in cargo ships. Detection in the US was in Michigan in 2002. This accidental introduction allowed the invasive beetle to spread rapidly, killing millions of ash trees. Movement of infested firewood by humans accelerated its spread across the continent. The predators and diseases that naturally keep the ash borer in check do not exist in North America. Developing the lingering ash would be a significant check on yet another invasive species. Otherwise, Major League Baseball will be forced to use aluminum bats. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Snake-tail

December 30, 2025

It seems fitting that just before New Years I come across an article on ending relationships. Female praying mantises are notorious for eating their mates during or after sex. According to Christopher Oufiero, head of the Towson University Mantis Lab, mantis has some of the most diverse camouflage strategies in the animal kingdom and much of mantis behavior, especially mating, remains a mystery. “Mantises are good at not being found. It’s kind of what they do,” says Lohitashwa Garikipati, a doctoral student at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. However, Oufiero and Garikipati were part of a study that found a dwarf mantis species in which males avoid this fate with an elaborate dance where it moves its abdomen. Sometimes this is sinuously like the coils of a serpent and sometimes jerkily like the tail of a rattlesnake. Their behavior inspires its name, the snake-tail mantis.

When I went online, I found the snake-tail mantises (Ameles serpentiscauda) are in an order of insects (Mantodea) that contain over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The discovery of the snake-tail mantis began with a chance encounter in the summer of 2024 when on a remote beach in Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. Battiston’s colleague Oscar Maioglio spotted some dwarf mantises on shrubs along the shoreline he thought resembled a known species of dwarf mantis (Ameles andreae), except that their wings were smaller than expected. He collected a few individuals to rear back in his lab. When he and Maioglio saw the specimens mating they knew these mantises did not belong to any other known species. The small wings and serpentine courtship dance of the collected specimens strongly suggested they belonged to a unique, never-before-documented species, and genetic analyses confirmed it.

One major open question is the function of these courtship displays. Whatever the deeper meaning, scientists theorize that performing a courtship dance reduces the male’s risk of the female eating him after mating. It seems to succeed as the researchers observed no sexual cannibalism among the lab-reared snake-tail mantises. “Why or how selection for this mating display may have occurred remains to be seen,” says Garikipati. “But I think it is an interesting clue that tells us that these little animals are probably a lot more complicated than we give them credit for.” There is some urgency behind Battiston’s eagerness to learn more about the snake-tail mantis. As far as he and his colleagues can tell, the new species is only found in a restricted area of a few hundred yards along the Sardinian coastline. While most of this habitat lies inside a protected area, increasing tourism and overgrazing by sheep and goats could threaten the entire species’ existence. To ensure the future of the snake-tail mantis, Battiston and his colleagues have proposed that the IUCN categorize it as Critically Endangered and recommended stricter measures to preserve its habitat.

THOUGHTS: While the male snake-tail mantis avoids the female abruptly ending the relationship, many human pairings end around Christmas and New Year’s. Psychology Today says the holidays highlight how reality may not match one’s ideal. The gift-giving, travel and parties also increase stress around money, a top area of conflict. Meeting parents or navigating whose family to visit creates further tension and pressure, along with a perceived pressure to “define” the relationship. The New Year acts as a natural reset point for evaluating life choices and can lead to a post-holiday breakup surge, causing January to become “breakup month”. While breaking up may seem like getting your head bitten off, at least you are not a (male) mantis. Relationships require work. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Lady Beetle

November 20, 2025

Last week Melissa and I were in a wooded area along the Arkansas River when we were inundated by flying insects. Many species overwinter as adults sheltering in culverts, under bridges, or cavities in trees. In the spring they will wake up and get along with starting the next generation. Other than the short cold snap last week, we have been having nice weather this fall so these fliers may not have even begun the process. Hibernating adults are also known to come out on unseasonably warm days. The temperature was uncommonly warm (high 70’sF/25+C) so it would not have surprised me to find some insects buzzing around, these were literally everywhere. I do not believe I have ever seen so many Asian lady beetle in one place.

When I went online, I found a lady beetle or ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) is a species commonly known as the harlequin, Asian, or multicolored Asian lady beetle. This is one of the most variable lady beetle species in the world with a wide range of color forms. The species is native to eastern Asia and has been artificially introduced to North America and Europe to control aphids (family Aphididae) and scale insects (Superfamily, Coccoidea). It is now common and spreading in those regions and has also been established in Africa and across South America. Individuals are beetles in shape and structure, being domed and having a “smooth” transition between their wing coverings (elytra), thorax (pronotum), and head. It ranges from 0.22 to 0.34 inches (5.5 to 8.5 mm) in size. The common color form is orange or red with 0 to 22 black spots of variable size. The bright color makes the species conspicuous in North America and may be known locally as the Halloween beetle as they often invade homes during October to overwinter.

The Asian lady beetle is considered one of the world’s most invasive insects, due in part to their tendency to overwinter indoors. They have an unpleasant odor and stain left by their bodily fluids when frightened or crushed, along with a tendency to bite humans. In Europe they are increasing to the detriment of indigenous species as its voracious appetite enables it to outcompete (and consume) other ladybugs. The Asian is highly resistant to diseases and carries a microsporidian parasite (it is immune) that can kill other lady beetle species. Native ladybug species often experience dramatic declines from the invaders. They were declared the fastest-invading species in the UK in 2015, spreading throughout the country after the first confirmed sighting in 2004. The Asian lady beetle has been reported to be a minor agricultural pest that has been inadvertently harvested with crops in Iowa, Ohio, New York State, and Ontario. This causes a detectable and distinctly unpleasant taste known as “lady beetle taint”. The contamination of grapes by the beetle has also been found to alter the taste of wine.

THOUGHTS: Various methods of control have been tried where the Asian lady beetle has been introduced, causing a threat to native species, biodiversity, and to the grape industry. These include insecticides, trapping, removal of beetles, and mechanically preventing entry to buildings. The best methods for dealing with the Asian lady beetle in private homes involve sealing openings they enter and sweeping or vacuuming if they are inside. Placing a nylon stocking inside the vacuum cleaner’s hose and securing it with a rubber band keeps the beetles from collecting (and being crushed) inside the machine. Despite the dozens of beetles that landed on Melissa and me we were not bitten. I have been bitten before and it was a sharp (but not lasting) pain. Once again importing a species to get rid of another caused more problems than it solved. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Iguana

November 11, 2025

Credit…Daniel Mulcahy

The Morning Read of the NY Times feed included an article on a possible reprieve for a previously invasive reptile species. Biologists say DNA evidence proves the lizard landed on Clarion Island nearly half a million years ago, long before any humans might have transported them from the mainland. Researchers reported the discovery last month in the journal Ecology and Evolution, and the finding means that the animals should be able to continue living on Clarion Island, a remote, mostly uninhabited Mexican archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. There are around 100 iguanas there, and scientists and locals alike assumed that they had been introduced by humans in the late 20th century because they had gone unmentioned in prior accounts of the island’s fauna. “It was all speculative that they were introduced — no one ever tested it,” said Daniel Mulcahy, an evolutionary biologist at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin who is an author of the new study. The government was planning to exterminate the invaders to protect island’s delicate ecosystem. Mulcahy and his colleagues compared mitochondrial DNA, passed down maternally, from the Clarion iguanas and the mainland spiny-tailed iguanas and found a 1.5 % difference in their DNA. That meant these spiny-tailed iguana are genetically distinct and could not be recent invaders.

When I went online, I found the spiny-tailed iguana (Ctenosaura pectinata) is a species of is a species of iguanid lizard found in eastern Mexico and extreme western Guatemala. This iguana has distinctive keeled scales on its long tail, to which its common name refers. It is one of the larger members of the genus Ctenosaura, capable of growing to 4.3 feet (1.3 m) in total length (including tail), with females being slightly smaller than males at 3.3 feet (1.0 m). It usually has a brown or grey-brown colored back (dorsally), with a yellowish underbelly (ventral surface). It has a crest of long spines which extend down the center of its back. Mating generally occurs in spring with the male showing dominance and interest by head bobbing before chasing the female until he can catch her and subdue her. Within eight to ten weeks, the female will dig a nest and lay clutches of up to 24 eggs which hatch in 90 days with the babies digging their way out of the sand. Hatchlings are often bright green with no body pattern and juveniles are typically green with brown markings, although all-brown hatchlings have been recorded.

Some wonder how a 4-foot (1.2 m) black-and-yellow lizard went unnoticed on Clarion Island for decades. Clarion’s landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. The island was covered in prickly pear cactus (genus, Opuntiathat) that made exploration difficult, but was consumed by sheep (Ovis aries) and pigs (Sus domesticus) introduced by thew Mexican Navy in the 1970’s. Those animals are gone and a shrubland community (chaparral) remains. The iguanas are wary of humans and hide when approached. The destruction by sheep and pigs underscores the damage invasive animals can cause. Island ecosystems are particularly vulnerable. Rayna Bell, an evolutionary biologist at the California Academy of Sciences said, “This type of work is fundamental to conserving some of the world’s most unique and imperiled diversity.” Mulcahy’s colleagues are working to spread the news to government officials in Mexico to stop the eradication program.

THOUGHTS: The spiny-tail iguana is a traditional food in Mexico, listed as “Least Concern” by the IUCN Redlist, but the species is listed on the Mexican Red List as threatened and it is illegal to hunt them. Their presence on Clarion suggests a 700-mile trip on a floating mat of vegetation. It would be the second-longest known iguana aquatic journey, topped by another species of iguanas traveling 5,000 miles from North America to Fiji. Humans thought the 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition was amazing. We are always outdone by nature. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Woolly Bear

October 22, 2025

Even though the cooler temps have slowed the grass in my yards the weeds in the flower beds seem to be doing fine. Yesterday I got out and performed (I hope) my last weeding before fall. I usually just throw the weeds into the lawn and run my mower over them to mulch them into the sod. I had just mowed last week, and it really did not need to be mown again. I just raked the weeds up and threw them away. It seems I can never do just one part of yard work and doing one thing always seems to bring on other tasks. Mowing, weed eating, weeding the beds, and blowing off the sidewalks have become interchangeable. While I may put one or the other off for a day or two, once I start, I know I am committed to the long haul. I also have the wood pile stacked at the edge of the drive from the tree I had cut down. I had it stacked for firewood, but I know I still need to split and season the wood for a minimum of six months or preferably a year. While cleaning up around the pile I moved several pieces of cardboard and we greated by two guests who had taken up residence, a 12-inch (30.5 cm) Texas brown snake (Storeria dekayi texana) and a banded woolly bear caterpillar.

When I went online, I found the Isabella tiger moth (Pyrrharctia Isabella), whose larval form is called the banded woolly bear, woolly bear, or woolly worm, occurs throughout the US and Canada. It was first formally named by James Edward Smith in 1797. The thirteen-segment larvae are usually covered with brown hair (setae) in their mid-regions and black hair in their front (anterior) and back (posterior) areas. In direct sunlight, the brown hair looks bright reddish brown. Adult moths are generally dull yellowish through orangish and have robust and scaly midsection (thoraces), small heads, bright reddish-orange forelegs, and sparse black spotting on the wings. Each abdominal segment bears three black dots. The Isabella larva emerges from the egg in the fall and overwinters in its caterpillar form by allowing most of its mass to freeze solid. First its heart stops beating, then its gut freezes, then its blood, followed by the rest of the body. The larva survives being frozen by producing a cryoprotectant in its tissues that keeps the inside of the cells from freezing. In the spring, it thaws, and the cycle begins again.

Folklore in both Canada and the US holds that the relative amounts of brown and black hair on a woolly bear larva indicate the severity of the coming winter. If the brown band is wide, winter weather will be mild. If the brown band is narrow, the winter weather will be severe. A variation of this story says the color of the stripes predicts winter weather, with darker stripes indicating a harsher winter. Another version of this belief is that the direction the Isabella crawls indicates the winter weather, with the caterpillar crawling south to escape colder weather. There is no scientific evidence for weather prediction and hatchlings from the same clutch of eggs can display considerable variation in their color banding. The larva’s brown band tends to widen with age as it molts. Since the 1970’s, several locations in the US hold woolly bear festivals in the fall.

THOUGHTS: The wooly bear Caterpillar is not the only creature that can withstand being frozen. Amphibians like the wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) and American toad (Anaxyrus americanus), reptiles like the alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) and green iguana (Iguana iguana), certain types of carp (family Cyprinidae), and microscopic animals like the tardigrades (Phylum, Tardigrada) and rotifers (Phylum, Rotifera) all survive freezing. While the technology for freezing a human and bringing them back to life does not yet exist, cryonics involve preserving legally deceased bodies at extremely low temperatures with the hope of future revival. If an alligator can do it . . . Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Jumper

October 01, 2025

When I opened my mailbox this morning to retrieve my newspaper, I was surprised by something jumping out of the mail. The mail itself was covered by a fine gauze-like webbing. I figured this was some sort of spider that had decided to take up residence in the dark confines of my closed mailbox. This did not strike me as unusual as many spiders are on the move at this time of year seeking a place to overwinter. I was surprised by the distance the spider had jumped. It had shot off my paper and onto the ground several feet away. When I Goggled a picture of the spider, I found it was aptly named a Bold jumper.

When I went online, I found the bold jumper (Phidippus audax), also known as the daring jumping spider, is a common species of spider belonging to the genus Phidippus. This group of jumping spiders easily identified by their large eyes and their iridescent mouth parts (chelicerae). They are typically black with a distinct white triangle on their abdomen. Like all jumping spiders, they have excellent stereoscopic vision that aids them in stalking prey and facilitates visual communication with potential mates during courting. The species are native to North America and have been introduced to Hawaii, Nicobar Islands, Azores, and the Netherlands. The Bold jumper is a solitary carnivore that uses their highly specialized eyesight to actively hunt and stalk a variety of insects and non-insect terrestrial arthropods such as caterpillars (order Lepidoptera), dragonflies (infraorder Anisoptera), grasshoppers (suborder Caelifera), and other spiders (order Araneae). They are one of the most common spiders found in agricultural areas and have been studied to determine their impact on crop pest populations. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed the HB 318 bill on June 11, 2021, designating the bold jumper as the state spider following a campaign by a class in Hollis, New Hampshire.

The bold jumper is often found living near humans. Bites are rare but may occur if they feel threatened or are mishandled. Bites are often described as mildly painful and are not considered dangerous. Symptoms often include localized redness, itching, and swelling for one to two days, if at all. Medical attention is only advised if symptoms worsen or abnormal symptoms arise. If bitten, you should wash the area with water and a mild soap. A cold compress may be used to treat swelling and aspirin, and acetaminophen may be used for pain. As a major predator of crop pests, they have been studied to determine their impact on pest insect populations. However, in addition to eating pests, they also eat beneficial insects such as pollinators. My jumper went to the ground and then calmly stayed in place as I maneuvered my camera to take a photo. It obviously did not consider me a threat and having been around them frequently I did not consider it a threat either. Unlike most spiders, the bold jumper does not build webs to catch prey.

THOUGHTS: I found it curious that the bold jumper does not build a web to catch prey, yet there was an obvious webbing on my newspaper. This was the start of the thin sheet of silk that would become the nest for an egg-sac. This is usually built in hidden areas under rocks, bark, or leaves, but the inside of my mailbox seemed to serve. The jumper was preparing to create a secluded nest to provide for the next generation in the spring, but my mailbox was not the secluded location she sought. Humans find similar radical shifts in environment. A site along the ocean seems perfect, until the storm surge from a hurricane washes out the foundation and sweeps the house into the sea. Building needs to take potential environmental shifts into account. Both for weather impact and the impact of encroaching on fragile ecosystems. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Paddle Tribal

September 19, 2025

Inside the front section of my local newspaper was a USA Today article following up on a blog I posted a year ago on the dam removal along the Klamath River in California/Oregon. The Klamath had been pushed to the point of extinction with construction of two hydroelectric and two reservoir dams. A key tributary was channelized resulting in massive amounts of phosphorus flowing into the lake and lower river. The dams deprived the Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and threatened coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) salmon and other fish species from reaching the headwaters to spawn. Dam removal began in 2024. This initially released millions of tons of accumulated sediment but began a natural part of the river’s restoration. The salmon many said would never return appeared upstream almost overnight. This summer members of the Yurok Tribe were joined by other tribal participants to take a historic 310-mile kayak journey from Klamath Falls to the Pacific Ocean. Central to this trek were the teenage participants in the Paddle Tribal Waters program.

When I went online, I found the Paddle Tribal Waters program was formed in July of 2022 as a collaboration of the groups Ríos to Rivers and Maqlaqs Paddle. The program started with a two-and-a-half-week kayak and river advocacy training program for 15 Indigenous youth from the Klamath Basin and continued with weekend kayaking trips and kayak roll training sessions. The program continued in the summer of 2023 with a second cohort of 15 Native students participating and a third cohort in in the summer of 2024 with 13 participants, for a total number of 43 indigenous youth completing the beginner program. In January 2024, the first two cohorts combined to participate in a semester-long kayak training and high school program that Ríos to Rivers created in collaboration with World Class Kayak Academy. The semester-long kayaking and high school program is key to setting these students on the path to truly having the skills needed to make the first descent of the Klamath. The long-term vision of the Paddle Tribal Waters program is to support the youth who participated in the first descent of the Klamath to go on to create tribally led river programs in their communities. The descent was completed in September 2025.

Another of the Paddle Tribal Waters programs’ goals is continued restoration and conservation of the entire Klamath Basin. Wetlands need to be restored to impound the phosphorus and prevent the growth of deadly algae. Much of this comes from the extinct volcanoes at the head of the Sprague River around Mount Mazuma. The channeling needs to be replumbed to bring back the meandering stream and water plants to hold back the phosphorus. Two other dams still bar salmon migration as the fish ladders constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation were not built to accommodate large fish. Wetland removal from the Upper Klamath Lake and some of its tributaries allow the toxic algae to feast off the phosphorus and suffocate the fish. Ashia Wilson, member of the Klamath Tribe at the rivers’ headwaters, said the Upper Klamath is still too toxic to touch, even as the kayakers paddled their way to the mouth. The endemic c’waam (Deltistes luxatus) or lost river sucker, and the koptu (Chasmistes brevirostris) or short nosed sucker, used to feed the tribe but are now endangered.

THOUGHTS: The arrival of the small Paddle Tribal Waters group of natives and their allies marked a milestone. Removal of the four dams (all beyond their service life) will make restoration of the rest of the basin possible. An ending ceremony at Requa and a celebration the next day in Klamath told of the 20-year struggle to restore the river and seemed to suggest anything is possible. The wetlands of headwaters and river deltas are critical habitat and must be both preserved and restored. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.