natureswondersbyclyde

      Of all the kinds of crickets I have seen, or heard, northern mole crickets are the most unusual.  And those crickets are so-named because they live much like moles in the same underground habitat both types of creatures are well adapted to.      Real moles and mole crickets demonstrate how genes and habitats shape body forms into a specific habitat.  Genes dictate the body form, but the habitat dictates what body forms will continue to thrive in a particular habitat to the age of reproduction.  Though unrelated, moles and mole crickets are both adapted to living in underground burrows, another case of convergence.      Like moles, mole crickets have small eyes to keep soil out of them.  They can't see in the dark anyway.  Mole crickets have shovel-like front feet, with "claws", to dig tunnels in soil, especially moist soil.  And like moles, mole crickets have fine "hairs" that sheds soil off them.  Als...

      To me, the adaptable, common five-lined skinks are the most beautiful lizards in the rocky-bottom woods of the eastern United States, including here in southeastern Pennsylvania.  I mostly see juvenile, blue-tailed skinks in crevices on cliffs and among rocks in locks of an abandoned canal along the Susquehanna River bordering Lancaster and York Counties.  But I see them only for a second because they are quick to scamper away and hide.               Juvenile skinks are particularly striking with their distinctive brown and yellow stripes that run lengthwise on top of them from nose to tail, and camouflages them.  And they have long, bright-blue tails that might attract the attentions of predators, who may attack those tails, breaking them off, while the young skinks get away to grow a new, but stunted, tail.       Five-lined skinks are diurnal, basking in the sunlight to warm up enough to hu...

      Seed dispersal is important to every species of plant that produces seeds.  Many, like dandelions and milkweeds have small seeds on "parachutes" that float away on the wind.  Seeds in berries pass through birds' digestive tracts and are passed later.  And prickly seed pods hitch rides on mammal fur.  Plant species that have their seeds spread into proper habitats, far and wide, and away from parent plants, have a good chance of thriving, as a species, indefinitely.        Common burdocks and common cockleburs have burs in their names, and for good reason.  These  plants have characteristics in common, particularly in how their seeds are dispersed over the countryside and away from the parent plants.  Burdocks and cockleburs have bristly seed capsules that, not only protect the seeds inside them until they mature, but those pods break off and hitch rides in the fur of mammals, including foxes, rabbits, deer,...

      Atlantic mudskippers are well-named.  They are ten inch, semi-aquatic fish that live on Atlantic Ocean coast mudflats, including those flats with mangrove tree forests growing on them, in a hot, humid climate along the western shore of Africa.  They are diurnal, amphibious fish that live three-quarters of their lives on mud flats and the rest in brackish or salt water down the burrows they dig into coastal flats, a niche they are well adapted to.        All species of mudskippers need to be always moist to be able to absorb oxygen through their skins, mouths and gill chambers, much like amphibians, frogs and salamanders, do.  Mudskippers even store water in their gill chambers to retain moisture to breathe when foraging for tiny fish and crustaceans, and worms and other invertebrates, or mates, on the flats and in shallows.  Scales and mucus also help them retain moisture.        Atlantic mudskipp...

      From 5 to 6:30 pm on August 8 of this year, I sat on our deck in New Holland, Pennsylvania to enjoy the beautiful, green scenery of numerous trees and shrubs, and watch for interesting wildlife I regularly see on our back lawn in summer.  I saw the usual couple each of gray squirrels and cottontail rabbits on the ground under a neighbor's bird feeders, a pair of northern cardinals, a catbird, a family of blue jays, a few mourning doves, and several each of house finches and house sparrows, all of which I like to see.        But I was also happy to see several each of chimney swifts and barn swallows streaking, sweeping and zig-zagging across the sky after flying insects they caught on the wing and ingested.  And I was thrilled to see a couple of monarch butterflies on our butterfly bushes and about a half dozen adult spotted lanternflies on our deck and around our back yard.             The swifts...

      We spent a couple of days along the Rappahannock River on the Northern Neck peninsula in northern Virginia during the end of July, 2026.  The Northern Neck has a beautiful, rural countryside of meadows, soybean and corn fields, and patches of deciduous woods.  But of most interest for me those two days was the Rappahannock and its wildlife.      All the birds I saw along that river were large and obvious, and catchers of fish.  But they snare fishy prey in different ways and seek them in a variety of sizes, all of which reduces competition among those river and impoundment birds, allowing them to live together in harmony.        I saw one or two each of great blue herons, green herons and great egrets from that house along the Rappahannock.  All those birds perched handsomely on docks and pilings in the river, and stealthily waded on long legs along the shallow shores of the river to catch fish.  Each ...