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The bugs are starting to pop up more in the yard

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copper my beloved

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they’re here! it’s them! the

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It should be illegal to be this cute. Look at him. My boy. SwampMan Craig, Creator of Chaos in his yellow raincoat. Ugh 😭

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Starry Rock Tripe (Umbilicaria angulata)

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I might be a little biased but I’m honestly starting to believe that there’s no purer form of love than the defensive spite you see from biologists that have devoted their life to the study of a maligned or misunderstood species. For example:

The hyena biologist that arranged for Disney animators to come sketch captive  hyenas for The Lion King film (Laurence Frank) was so incensed when the animals were depicted as villains in the movie that he later included boycotting the film on a list of ways the average person could help hyena conservation.

Though it’s commonly known that Charles Darwin’s distaste for parasitic wasps played a role in his development of evolution theory (since he felt no loving God would create animals with such a disturbing life cycle), the biologists who study these wasps find it an unfair characterization. When they were tasked with coming up with a common name for the family of parasitic wasps (Ichneumonidae) that old Charles so disliked, they proposed the name “Darwin Wasps” to spite the famous naturalist who had insulted their beloved family of insects.

Parasitologist Tommy Leung was so frustrated with the way people write about parasites to evoke horror and gore that he started writing a Parasite of the Day blog, that specifically avoids inflammatory or unsettling language to describe them. He also illustrates different species in colorful anime art on Twitter in a series called Parasite Monster Girls—which he calls his “love letter to parasites.”

I guess I’m just saying that if you’re a biologist studying an unpopular species and you have a little bit of a chip on your shoulder about it you can always count on me to be in your corner if you want to get a little petty with the public!

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I believe this is a tiger moth caterpillar of some kind. Went to start my car this morning and noticed this guy hanging out underneath it. I gently moved him out of the way and got some pics-without touching him with my hands.

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Some sort of fly that was hanging out on this dandelion for a long time. Thinking mayhaps in the genus Delia but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I really have no idea I just like to take pics of bugs for fun.

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Lots of rue anemones on my hike today. They are such lovely native spring flowers.

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My ma and I were taking my dog for a walk and she spotted our first ever morels! They are teeny tiny, but we found them in the small wooded area of our local park. Jokingly thought it could be a possibility but didn’t expect to actually find some!!

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I don’t know when I turned into a tulip blog but until the other flowers are blooming just look at these guys 🤩

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Some kind of Fawn Lily found on my hike this Friday, April 5th. There was so many plants carpeting the place but this was the first to open.

Only one other with a bud. Every other plant was only leaves. I want to come back at a later date and take more pics when the rest have bloomed

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I could die happy right here

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I didn’t expect to like this color combo as much as I did. Such a stunning flower to see in person. I love the fringed

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Went to the botanical gardens again today and the tulips were blooming and agh just so pretty. I took so many pics that I’ll be posting as I edit them