tales from the wild metropolis
They say necessity is the mother of invention — I guess that's why spiders found a clever way to order in, long before Kroger and Amazon began to lug customer's grub. Not even a Costco cart is big enough to satisfy arachnid appetites but spiders rule when it comes to home food delivery. You see,... Continue Reading →
When the annual cicadas emerge each summer their tymbals vibrate at arboreal drumming circles all over town. The beats bounce and reverberate against hard city surfaces; during a crescendo, I swear I can feel the buildings and sidewalks pulsing like wings, like a heart. Yet, despite the percussive nature of this invertebrate orchestra, to my... Continue Reading →
I say potato, you like potahtos. You wear pajamas, I wear PJs. And a rose by any other name, we're told, would smell equally sweet. So does it really matter that we all agree on what to call an American bullfrog? "HELL, YEAH!" That's the collective cry of taxonomists around the globe raising their voices... Continue Reading →
This university town is always less crowded during the summer. Most students are at home or on summer internships, faculty and graduate students are using the break to slip away for some R&R or doing research at field sites, and there are no home football games to bring in alumni and supporters of the opposing... Continue Reading →
When humans talk about making a breakfast, lunch, or dinner run, it's understood that we're speaking metaphorically. Truth be told, we'll probably drive, not jog, to a local café, convenience store, or Kroger. The same cannot be said about the way greater roadrunners (Geococcyx californianus) grab a meal. Fast food is how these long-legged, long-tailed,... Continue Reading →
I've been called a treehugger more than once in my life, and while I know the comments weren't intended as such, I always take them as compliments. As a sobriquet it's both true and false: true, because I do spontaneously hug exceptionally handsome or venerable trees; and false, because compared to the practiced professionals who... Continue Reading →
Is there any non-human skill people covet more passionately than the ability to fly? Understandably, early aviation experiments centered around mimicry of birds, complete with flapping arms that were usually covered in feathers. The Greek legend of Daedalus and Icarus is a familiar example, but plumage continued to be part of the trial-and-error approach through... Continue Reading →
Daddy longlegs are the jazz cats of the arachnid world! This realization came to me as I watched a single backlit note, poised on a broken music staff, bebop across the asphalt path in front of me. A soundtrack of jazz piano greats immediately began to play in my head — Willie "The Lion" Smith,... Continue Reading →
Next-Door Nature 