Eric R. Eaton
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bugeric.bsky.social
Eric R. Eaton
@bugeric.bsky.social
6.7K followers 4.3K following 2.6K posts
Nonfiction author, blogger, insect identifier, ally. Presenter/speaker. #SciComm, entomology, urban nature, human conflict with other species, other humans. Opposed to colonialism, capitalism. Married Progressive in Kansas, USA.
he/him/they
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bugeric.bsky.social
This is the wingless female Fall Cankerworm moth. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, January 5, 2026. #bugsky #moths #insects
Wingless female moth, silvery gray in color, with long, slender legs. Sitting on plank of wooden fence, and facing up/north.
January 6, 2026 at 3:05 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
The insect of the day is a pair of Fall Cankerworm moths. This is the male, I’ll post the very different female in comments. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, January 5, 2026. #bugsky #moths #insects
Silvery gray moth with a white bar on the leading edge of each wing. The insect is sitting on the frame of our side door.
January 6, 2026 at 2:59 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
I also had this tiny juvenile long-jawed orbweaver (Tetragnatha sp.).
Small, oblong spider with silvery abdomen and mosaic-like vertical, linear pattern. Legs relatively long. Sitting on a downspout on the corner of our house.
January 1, 2026 at 7:46 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
Birds are easy. Share your first *living* arthropod of the year. Please don’t dig for one, disturbing its diapause or habitat. My first was a small midge (Chironomidae) on the fence in our backyard. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA a few minutes ago. #bugsky #insect
Tiny, slender fly with grayish wings folded roof-like over its back, and long, slender legs. Sitting on wooden fence, stained with green algae.
January 1, 2026 at 7:42 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
I remember Psychology Today. Was that not fast enough for ya?
Magazine (Psychology Now) on rack at grocery store checkout.
December 31, 2025 at 12:16 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
A few of the estimated 700 Mallard ducks flying over Benedictine Bottoms during the Christmas Bird Count centered around Atchison, Kansas, USA, today, December 20.
December 21, 2025 at 4:04 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
I love what they have to say about it!
Screenshot of website of Audubon Society online gift guide profiling my book, Bugwatching: The Art, Joy, and Importance of Observing Insects. Book has green cover, with magnifying glass over the subtitle. Accompanying text to the right reads “swap your binoculars for a hand lens and learn to love the (really) little things with this engaging and accessible guide to‘the art, joy, and importance’ of observing insects. You likely know that many birds depend on bugs for sustenance, but this guide will have you admiring insects for their own sake. From beetles to butterflies, a whole new world of abundant, bizarre, beautiful wildlife awaits your discovery.
December 19, 2025 at 4:24 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
Donated double reds today. It is the season of giving after all. Please donate blood if you are able. Thank you.
Smiling older white man with gray hair and beard, wearing glasses and red shirt that says “Chiefs NFL AFC Kansas City,” plus adhesive name tags, and blood pressure cuff, on reclining cot with apheresis machine in background. Donating blood.
December 17, 2025 at 2:28 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
I’m just a *little* late celebrating the appointment of @heidi-eaton.bsky.social to the board of Audubon of Kansas (USA). I’m very proud of her, and the organization.
Page from the magazine of Audubon of Kansas, featuring a photo of a smiling White woman with rather short, curly brown hair, wearing glasses and a purple T-shirt, with bookcase behind her.
December 14, 2025 at 6:17 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
I was somewhat surprised to find this female “malaria mosquito,” Anopheles sp., sitting on our backyard fence yesterday. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA. #bugsky #mosquito #fly #insects #vectorcontrol #mosquitoes
Female Anopheles mosquito, with long, slender legs, spotted wings folded over her back. Brown thorax, head with long proboscis and palps directed forward. Insect is sitting on algae-stained wooden fence.
December 11, 2025 at 3:33 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
Another wasp! We had warmer weather today, and this female ichneumon wasp (subfamily Pimplinae), was on the side of our house. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA. See yesterday’s post of a gall wasp #bugsky #insect #wasps
Wasp, about 8-10 millimeters, on gray siding of our house. The wasp is mostly black, with white “shoulder” spot where wings connect to the body. Legs reddish at base, becoming black distally, a broad white band on each hind leg. Spear-like ovipositor protrudes from rear of abdomen.
December 10, 2025 at 12:45 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
Wasps in December (in northern hemisphere)?! Yes! I found this 3 millimeter gall wasp on top of a post here in Leavenworth, Kansas, USA today, December 8. There were Pin Oak trees nearby, so the wasp could have emerged from a gall on one of them.
Tiny, shiny, dark brown wasp on a cylindrical post, painted yellow. Lawn and path in background.
December 9, 2025 at 3:21 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
Holiday reminder that my books make great gifts! None of my titles assumes prior knowledge of the insect subjects, and they make for captivating reading (so I am told). 😊
Selection of books by author Eric R. Eaton, on wood surface. Titles, from left to right are Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America, Insects Did It First (with Gregory S. Paulson, in English and Hebrew editions), Wasps: The Astonishing Diversity of a Misunderstood Insect, Insectpedia (in English and Chinese editions), and Bugwatching: The Art, Joy, and Importance of Observing Insects.
December 8, 2025 at 3:51 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
Insect of the moment is a lauxaniid fly, Sapromyza brachystoma, walking on our backyard fence. It is about 42 degrees F, but thanks to a breeze feels more like 30. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, December 6.
Small, generic fly, similar to a House Fly, but narrower in shape, walking on a wooden fence.
December 6, 2025 at 8:40 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
"It used to be straight, everyone knows it...."
Original meme built with ImgFlip template, features Donald Trump speaking into microphone with his right hand raised. Caption over his head reads "They're making the yuletide gay!"
December 2, 2025 at 5:46 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
My partner and I went on a walk today. We got about a block before she noticed this Merlin falcon atop a utility pole, eating prey. We dashed back to get our cameras. Bird was done feeding, but flew only a short distance to a nearby tree. Leavenworth, Kansas USA. #birdsky #birds #birding
Small falcon (Merlin), atop a wooden utility pole, with insulator and wire on left side, all against a blue sky. Bird is gray on the back, and much of head, with gray "sideburns" on white cheeks. Flanks are white with heavy brown bars. Small falcon (Merlin) perched on tree branch with other branches and twigs around it and in front of it, against a blue sky. Bird is facing camera obliquely. Breast and belly are dirty white with heavy gray-brown streaks and bars. Head is mostly gray with white eyebrown and dark gray "sideburns." Eye is dark, beak short and hooked.
November 27, 2025 at 3:20 AM
bugeric.bsky.social
So close! LOL! My best, and favorite, shot of an immature Golden Eagle in flight over El Paso County, Colorado, USA, on March 30, 2015. #FlyDay #EastCoastKin #birding #birds
Very large bird (immature Golden Eagle), in flight, some of the bird out of frame. Perspective is looking up at the underside of the bird, dark brown, with white patches on wings, and broad white band at base of tail. Back of the eagle's head is shiny gold. Backdrop is blue sky.
November 21, 2025 at 10:35 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
A Banded Sunflower Moth, Cochylichroa hospes, in flight. Cheyenne Mountain State Park, El Paso County, Colorado, USA, July 25, 2017. #FlyFriday #EastCoastKin #bugsky #moths #moth
Small moth in flight, overall beige in color with dark brown blotches. Short antennae, legs trailing beneath and behind as it flies from lower right to upper left, shadow beneath on wooden window frame.
November 21, 2025 at 10:28 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
So-o-o many acorns falling and blowing out of our big Pin Oak tree. It’s nuts!
I‘ll show myself out.
Acorns and fallen leaves and twigs at the bottom of our concrete front steps.
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
We’re outta here! Heidi has been discharged from the hospital, and we are waiting outside in glorious weather for her mom to pick us up. Kansas City, Missouri, USA. St. Luke’s has been good to us, but we’re still glad to be leaving. Heidi still needs a follow-up procedure in 2 weeks.
Two White people: woman with brown hair and glasses in blue T-shirt, and older man with gray hair, beard, and glasses, wearing gray sweatshirt and maroon fleece jacket. Both outside of hospital building, smiling.
November 12, 2025 at 9:06 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
Had to spend another night at the hospital with my partner who has complications around kidney stones. At least I got a glimpse of the Northern Lights, despite all the city glow.
Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) appearing as a red smudge in the night sky over a roofline of houses in North Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
November 12, 2025 at 3:35 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
Airports should hire stand up comedians to work at TSA lines:
“Hey, buddy, cargo pants are now considered a carry-on item.
I’m kidding.
I’ll be here all week.
The way this line is moving, so will you.”
Screenshot from my YouTube channel featuring a video of my stand up comedy set from decades ago. White man in his forties, with dark brown hair, wearing white shirt with dark blue trim, and navy blue pants, standing in front of a microphone on stage with brick wall behind him. Sign for Laffs comedy club in upper right corner.
November 7, 2025 at 2:08 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
The people behind Fat Bear Week, and Fat Squirrel Week, are missing the obvious. Don't they know that what we *really* want is "Fat Ass Week." My favorite to win it all would be "Chonky Badonkadonkey." #fatbearweek #humor #comedy
Wild Ass, standing in a zoo enclosure, against a black tree trunk, with a building in background. Facing camera, the animal resembles a horse, pale gray, and white legs with transverse black zebra stripes. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
November 3, 2025 at 4:48 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
Happy Halloween, and final day of #Arachtober. I found this handsome male crab spider (Xysticus sp.) crawling slowly over our house foundation outside today. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA. #bugsky #spiders
A long legged male crab spider, facing southwest, moves slowly across a pale gray, textured and painted concrete foundation. Spider is a beautiful reddish brown color.
October 31, 2025 at 10:18 PM
bugeric.bsky.social
I am an author being overwhelmed by emails from people offering their services to promote my new book. This is a brand new problem, and I do not have an agent or publicist to sift through the offers. Help? #writingcommunity #authors
Older White man standing behind a chair, and a table featuring four of my book titles. A large poster representing the cover of my newest book, Bugwatching: The Art, Joy, and Importance of Observing Insects, is on the floor to the right of the table. All of this is inside a public library.
October 31, 2025 at 1:10 AM