Almost a Hummingbird

My daughter, Kate, and I were cruising the aisles of a large, well-stocked garden center last week when we noticed rapid movement in a display of bee balm or monarda.  The garden center was full of butterflies and small birds swooped in and out of the covered plant areas, but it was clear the movement … Read more

Book Review: The Butterflies of North America by Titian Peale

Some things in this life never change. Take writing and book publishing for example. Author and artist Titian Peale—1799-1885—worked on his book, The Butterflies of North America, beginning with a prospectus in 1833. When he died, fifty two years later, the book was still unfinished and Peale had no commitment from a publisher. In 1916, … Read more

Night Flyers

NIGHT FLYERS             You may have been too distracted by heat waves, summer chores or garden watering to notice, but National Moth Week is upon us.  The celebration, a New Jersey-based initiative, takes place this year from July twentieth through twenty-eighth and aims to raise awareness of moths and the role they play in biodiversity. … Read more