Ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) This time of year we often like to introduce you to a “Crawly which can also be an option for your Christmas main course.” This year we meet the Ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus).Ring-necked are native to Asia but were introduced to the United States as game[Read More…]

“flat bug” (Aradidae) This week’s crawly is so flat!How flat is it?It’s so flat they just named it the “flat bug” (Aradidae).I mean, there are 10,200 species of true bugs (Heteroptera) in North America, and they named this one, single family flat bugs. Your flatness really must stand out to[Read More…]

Marchena minuta jumping spider This week’s crawly is so small. (How small is it?) It’s so small it has “minuta” right there in their name. Meet the Marchena minuta jumping spider.Literally, how small are they? Marchena top out at just over one-eighth of an inch. That’s small. Really, really small.[Read More…]

Xanthochromistic purple finch As a rule, IDing birds is easier than IDing arthropods (there are always exceptions, looking at you gulls!)However, Nature likes to keep us on our collective toes, so she throws some “This is not at all how the field guide describes this bird” birds our way.This week’s[Read More…]

Thrips (Order Thysanoptera) This week’s Crawly is one which is easy to overlook, but quite the interesting insect indeed! Moreover, its name is just flat-out fun to say; meet the thrips (Order Thysanoptera).“Thrips” is both singular & plural, so you might see one thrips or a passel of thrips! Any[Read More…]

Black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) As if you didn’t have enough reasons to watch your hummingbird feeders, this week’s crawly will give you one more. Meet the black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri).If you’ve never seen a black-chinned, that’s not surprising. In Oregon they are more common east of the Cascades. Sightings in[Read More…]

California kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae) What’s black and white and wicked cool all over? All hail the California kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae)!Who better to meet for our second week of Spooky Season than the King of Snakes?Kingsnakes come by their royal title honestly because their diet consists of…mainly other snakes. What makes[Read More…]

Cat-faced spider (Araneus gemmoides) Me-ow! We’re kicking off Spooky Season with the very seasonal cat-faced spider (Araneus gemmoides).Just a glance at the photos and it’s easy to see how they got their feline moniker. Though their binomial name is more jewel-like than cat-like. Sometimes the common name fits the bill[Read More…]

American Bison (Bison bison) Last summer when we met the pronghorn, we said we’d circle back and meet the American Bison.Consider us circled and say hello to our National Mammal the American Bison (Bison bison).First, yes, the American bison’s scientific name really is Bison bison. The plains bison subspecies is[Read More…]

Tent caterpillar moths (Genus Malacosoma) Before we meet this week’s crawly, we’ll open with our oft used “Don’t Panic!” notice.This week’s mini moth might have been dubbed the “Teddy Bear Moth” except that nickname already went to our Pacific Green Sphinx. Meet the forest tent caterpillar moth.Tent caterpillar moths (Genus[Read More…]