ANSWER: This wasn’t easy – but this large and beautiful moth was from Australia and is in the family Xyloryctidae (Philarista sp.). We have a handful of representatives of this group here in the US and Ted MacRae over on Beetles in the Bush has a few great photographs of them. Somehow I think we . . . → Read More: Monday Moth
 8 comments - (Comments are closed)  Entomology  California Academy of Sciences, Contest, Entomology, Moths, Photography, Species These large and interesting Lycidae beetles (Lycus fernandezi) were abundant in south eastern Arizona a few weeks ago. Constantly flying between flowers and moist sand they were making for easy photography targets. I thought to myself “here is a great opportunity to catch a beetle taking off!”. Wait for it… Lycus fernandezi (Lycidae) . . . → Read More: Net-Winged Beetle Share this!
Whoops, it’s almost Tuesday! Above is Schinia ligeae (Noctuidae) resting on its host plant Xylorhiza tortifolia, the Mojave Aster. I photographed this about three weeks ago outside the town of Big Pine, California. The asters were thick in the valleys below the snow capped Sierra, and the moths were abundant. . . . → Read More: Monday Moth Share this! 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Collecting, Entomology, Flowers, Lepidoptera, Moths, Photography
Male – Marin Headlands Like so many other urban animals, the Mission Blue Butterfly (Plebejus icarioides missionensis) is one that is gravely imperiled. This small blue lives in tiny fragments of habitat alongside multi-million dollar development in and around the San Francisco Bay. A century ago this butterfly . . . → Read More: The Mission Blue Butterfly Share this! 3 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Butterflies, Conservation, Endangered Species, Lepidoptera, Mission Blue, Photography
Everyone is familiar with the famous death’s head hawkmoth, but I think it’s a shame we have popularized such a grim character. Above is a much more cheery Neotropical Arctiinae from French Guiana that looks like it’s sporting a clown face. Sadly this isn’t my photograph, but . . . → Read More: Sunday Moth Share this! 4 comments - (Comments are closed) Entomology Collecting, France, French Guiana, Lepidoptera, Moths, Photography, Tropics A few weeks ago I was invited to join a Berkeley entomology class out in the field for the weekend. Our destination was the Blue Oak Ranch Reserve; one of the newest reserves to the University of California system located just outside of San Jose on Mount Hamilton (map below). It was a . . . → Read More: Blue Oak Ranch Reserve Share this! Comments are closed Entomology Beetles, Berkeley, Entomology, Moths, Photography, Spiders, University of California Better be careful of what you do while out in the countryside. Farms can be dangerous places, especially if you’re a photographer. Proposed legislation in Florida, titled simply “farms”, is attempting to make photography or drawings in, on or of a farm without explicit written consent a first degree FELONY (up to 30 years in . . . → Read More: 1984 Share this![cetsEmbedGmap src=http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.393039,-118.416824&spn=0.359452,0.715485&t=h&z=11 width=600 height=330 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=auto] Tomorrow morning I’m off for a 10 day collecting trip down to Catalina Island. I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to join Dr. Jerry Powell of UC Berkeley on a moth survey, and this will be my first time to any of the islands. . . . → Read More: The Moth is off to Catalina Share this! Comments are closed Entomology, Miscellaneous Catalina, Channel Islands, Collecting, Entomology, Photography Oops, looks like I missed my first ‘blogoversary’! Monday the 21st was the one year turning point for my blog; and I’m incredibly happy to have spent the last year sharing some of my ramblings with all of you. I’ve somewhat lost track of how many hits I’ve had since I moved everything . . . → Read More: A Year in Review Share this! Comments are closed Miscellaneous Blogoversary, Entomology, Moths, New Species, Photography, Skepticism Alex Wild posted a few days ago about the “freelensing” photography technique. You can get some really cool results, especially with creating the illusion of miniatures – but so far I haven’t been brave enough to give it a shot (no pun intended). I came across this impressive compilation of Haitian images on NPR today . . . → Read More: Some really cool tilt-shift Share this! |
Skepticism |
