July 1st, 2007
Circus of the Spineless – Edition #22
Welcome to the 22nd edition of Circus of the Spineless!
I considered coming up with a theme for this edition, but in the end, I went with the one unifying quality that I found as I made my way around the web from one blog to the next. I was time and again struck by the incredible beauty of so many of the images found in the posts that follow. I hope that visitors to this carnival will enjoy this wonderful collection of writing and photography from some of the best nature blogs around. So, without further ado, I send you on your way. Please enjoy.
As always, at The Annotated Budak, Marcus has served up a visual feast of incredible photos. If you’ve never visited his blog, you’re in for a treat in the four posts he submitted:
* Crabby night at Big Sister’s Island.
* Slugs, seaweed shrimp and suckers.
* Lots of Legs.
* Names on the fly, or a Dim Sum of Dollies
Larry at Riverside Rambles, treats us to some examples of moth mimicry in Masters of Disguise and More Moth Tromp-l’oeil. He also introduces us to the Ralls County Assassin, and a certain Goldsmith.
At Thomasburg Walks, Pamela has been spending quite a bit of time studying spiders. She has a mystery Jumping Spider awaiting identification (can anyone help with an ID?), and a nice collection of Misumena vatia to share with us.
At Milkriver blog, Tony has posted photos of some Big Springs Ode Rareties.
Fred at Fragments from Floyd shares photos of Forficula auricularia, and a wonderful example of Dimorphism.
At Anna’s Medlar Comfits, see a Cocoon, by day and night, and Portraits of muck in a rainbarrel’s lid: The Invertebrates of Illawarra.
At his new blog, iSpiders, David provides us with a taste of the politics behind taxonomy & nomenclature in his recent piece on Salticus scenicus (Clerck, 1757).
Visit BioBlog to learn about the fascinating Diachasmimorpha juglandis, and Carnivorous Hawaiian caterpillars.
Rebecca at Pocahontas County Fare introduces us to Meed Bugs on Indian Hemp, a Big-eyed Bug, and a Luna Moth in the Laundry.
Susannah at Wanderin’ Weeta reveals a glimpse of a Soft and Cuddly creature — but is it really? That’s for you to decide.
At Sisu, a moth and a cat share a garden in Spring Fancies.
Aydin at Snail’s Tales enlightens us with his analysis and photo essay of What the slug had eaten for dinner.
At Bootstrap Analysis, Nutchatch writes about an encounter with the thing that came from the tree.
Jennifer at Invasive Species Weblog, posting on location from Cornell University’s Citizen Science Project Toolkit Conference, reports on the Great Lakes Worm Watch and provides some accompanying photos. She also tells us about a horrid buck moth caterpillar.
John at A DC Birding Blog has provided a review of Lang Elliott and Wil Hershberger’s new book and sound CD, The Songs of Insects.
Mike at 10,000 Birds sends along an excellent photo essay on Learning Butterflies by Corey, one of the new voices on his blog.
At Andrea’s Buzzing About, she has posted photos and text of the Beautiful Butterflies, Bees, and Bugs that have been active in her garden over the past few weeks.
Summer at Bird Watchers Notebook sends us a short essay on why she is feeling Just a Little Bugged.
At The Other 95%, Kevin writes about how Tahitian Tree Snails survived mass extirpation by heading to the mountains.
In my own wanderings around favourite blogs this month, I came across a few pieces that I’d like to share:
* at Dave’s Via Negativa, two posts that might make you pause to think for a moment — On Deciding Not to Travel, and False Faces.
* at Laura’s Somewhere in NJ, she invites us to a puddle party and also illustrates how bunnies are not the only ones who enjoy good things from the herb garden.
* at Wayne’s blog Niches, there’s a nice series of posts on spiders found in his bog garden. Find them here, here, and here.
* at Celeste’s Dzonoqua’s Whistle, some great photos of the creatures in the Cape Kiwanda Tide Pools.
* at Doug’s Gossamer Tapestry, some neat creatures seen on a biology-related road trip.
And to wind things up, here are few recent posts from my own blog that I thought visiting readers might enjoy:
* Moms at Work, and A Little Special.
* Fabulous Fakes and Insect Art.
* My Latest Discovery.
* and some phenology-related posts: Like Clockwork, and They’re Hatching.
That’s it for this edition of Circus of the Spineless. I hope that all of the above links are working. At this time, my net connection is so thoroughly dreadful that it was all I could do to put this edition together, so I won’t be checking this post too carefully. If anyone finds an error, please email me so that I can make a correction. My thanks to all of the contributors for your wonderful submissions! The next Circus will be appearing at Roger’s most excellent Words & Pictures blog. Please email your submissions to him by July 30th.
Tags: Circus of the Spineless
July 1st, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Beauty in unexpected places. As St. Francis de Sales said to the rose, putting his hands to his ear, “Stop shouting.”
July 1st, 2007 at 8:02 pm
I love Sissy’s comment – the quote: ‘Stop shouting.’
So much wonderment and so little time to cast our nets and have a look at all the mystery. It isn’t all ‘pretty’, but it is indisputably fascinating. Good job, Bev. (I’m about to post a recent butterfly picture in the spirit of your post along with a link to your wonderful blog.)
July 3rd, 2007 at 6:41 am
So many bugs, so little time. Cool circus!
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:10 am
Bev – once again, thanks for the work you do on the matter of these circuses and festivals. With a slow connection it’s very hard to accomplish that.
At some point I’m going to have to start trying to remember deadlines and keep in touch with contributing. At present I’m a failure in this manner. I’m coming around though, and thanks for making the executive decision to pull a post of mine.
I agree completely with Corey – so many bugs, so little time. I have such a backlog of both photos and observations of things that never got photographed. Tiny little bugs and flies that landed briefly on my face or arms, and I have absolutely no idea what they are other than fly or beetle, and no opportunity to photograph. In some ways I approve wholeheartedly – there’s so much out there – and in other ways it’s depressing: no way I’m going to accomplish even the smallest portion of a census every year.
But it is lovely to see what others are finding.
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:31 am
I’m so glad I was directed to this site. So many neat things to see. I’ll make it a habit. It’s amazing what you can see when you look a little more closely!
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:03 am
Sissy – I hear the shouting every day – well, actually, it seems more like the mainy voices in a choir beckoning me outdoors.
–
Cathy – Thanks! And also thanks for posting a link back to this carnival. There are so many beautiful posts to peruse through. (-:
–
Corey – Yes, that’s for sure!
–
Wayne – You’re so right about the speed(?) of my connection. It makes so many tasks incredibly onerous. However, it’s nice to put these carnivals together as it’s so neat to get a collective sense of the observations being posted on so many good blogs. And I also agree with Corey – so many bugs and so little time. My computer and 2 large auxiliary drives are jammed full of images and I’ll no doubt have to add another large drive later this summer. I’m way behind on sorting through everything, but it’s there for some time in the future when I may not be able to get out and about as much as I do at the present time. It seems rather like having a big stash of gold in a vault. (-:
–
Nina – Hi! I see that you’ve wandered over from Cathy’s Looking Up blog. Welcome. I hope that you’ll enjoy checking out some of my posts. And yes, it is amazing what we can see if we just spend even a little time looking.
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Hi Bev,
I’m fairly new to this whole blogging thing and didn’t have a clue about blogging carnivals. Thanks for putting this together, you’ve come up with some really great stuff. Next time, I’ll be sure to send you something rather than making you ferret it out on your own. And thanks for linking to me.
July 3rd, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Meed Bugs? I’ve never heard that name before.
Thanks for the link, and for all the work that went into organizing it!
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Hi,
I was late for this edition of Circus of the Spineless, but I encourage you and your readers to peruse my blog on Invertebrates called The Other 95%.
Great Job!
Kevin Z
July 4th, 2007 at 6:52 am
Doug – You’re welcome. Definitely consider submitting some of your great invertebrate posts for future editions of COTS.
–
Rebecca – I see a few new things just about every time I read posts in this carnival.
–
Kevin – I always say, “It’s never too late!”. I just added a link to one of your posts in this edition of COTS. Welcome aboard!
July 4th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Thanks Bev!