A Sevenmile Stream Story

Years ago, Carol Evans, then a Bureau of Land Management biologist in northeastern Nevada, told me she wanted to write a book called Stream Stories — a series of vignettes about the many creeks that webbed her region and defined her career. I have no idea if she’s working on this today (Carol, if you’re […]

Bat Facts (Kate’s Version)

Note: This is a personal essay that happens to include a lot of neat facts about bats. It should not be confused with Our Helen’s excellent 2017 post of the same name. I suggest reading both; there’s no such thing as too much information about bats. The facts and statistics in this piece are accurate […]

Snapshot: Identify the Roadside Critter

Earlier this fall, I had the privilege of profiling the anthropologist and photographer Amanda Stronza, who shoots sensitive portraits of roadkill and thus restores the beauty and dignity of the wild creatures that our vehicles obliterate. Amanda’s work reveals a fundamental paradox of roadkill, one that I also explore at some length in my book: […]

The Best Bugs

Cicadas are the best bugs. The 17-year cicadas emerged here in the D.C. area two years ago and I haven’t gotten over it yet. Everyone knows this, and that’s why Our Kate texted me on Monday with a link to a new paper in the journal Science about the effects of cicadas on the food […]

Snapshot: A Colossal Castoroides

This week I’m in Madison, serving as writer-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin, a gig that’s introduced me to many wonderful faculty, staff, and students. Among my favorite encounters, however, has been with a university resident who’s been dead for around 13,000 years. On a tour of the zoology museum, I had the opportunity to […]

Drama at the beach

I’m at the beach (the beach!) and it’s September, and there was a storm recently, so things have been quite chilly and windy and sploshy. Monday morning, I went out for a walk before starting my day of remote work, and I saw this horseshoe crab, and it was moving. I am told by the […]