I'm taking notes in Google Docs, and I've been impressed with how it recognizes all the technical jargon of molecular biology.

This web has been on my car for about 3 weeks now, surviving all my driving, including once for 2 miles at 60 mph. It sometimes catches small flies at slow speeds. The spider stays behind the mirror during the day. I visited at 4am once to try to ID, but I wasn't sure. Maybe a young Neoscona.

Oh here’s one I had cut, ready to go. I think the new shape is a bit closer.

Yes, but it looks like they’re shaped differently now. I still have a few. Here’s what they used to look like. But I was cutting them to something closer to this new shape, so maybe they’re better now.

Here's another amazing thing about this genus. The spiders "obelisk" like dragonflies, pointing their abdomens to the sun to reduce their exposure and temperature. I've watched them change orientation over the day. The webs of these spiders here were not aligned with the path of the sun.

Welcome new followers! Here's a poemy-thing for you.

At first I thought this was a mutated beetle with four pairs of wings and two sets of antennae, but peeking under the wings, I found a much smaller male.

My front yard in Charlottesville, VA. Clover.

Up close, spider poop looks like cookies and cream ice cream. This here is Bold Jumper guano. The solids are undigested prey material. The liquid is a slurry of guanine crystals.

My front yard today. Buttercups. Charlottesville, VA.

My front yard today. Charlottesville, Virginia.

Pine cone nursery in the sky. Charlottesville, VA.

Old pine stag in sunset glow, and soaring vulture. Charlottesville, VA. (Let's see how well Bluesky presents 9:16.)

My first poem on Bluesky. Hope you like it. #nature #poem

Cat enjoying a sun bath at a window.

Tree aflame with sunset. Charlottesville, VA (Dec 2023)

Does anyone know how this ice structure formed? This was on a trail in Charlottesville, VA, mid-January. A previous hiker had kicked up some of the earth, so it is upside down here. As I walked through this area, I felt the ground give and heard ice crushing beneath the surface.

Walking the Monticello trails last October, I turned a corner and found myself engulfed in yellow.