Bird’s Breath Ever wonder how birds have boundless energy? Not to mention how they fly and fly thousands of miles during migration and fly with ease at altitudes that would have us gasping?This week’s Crawlies will answer those questions.The simple answer is “birds breathe much more efficiently than we do.”Let’s[Read More…]

Bi-colored carpenter ant (Camponotus vicinus) by Christy Solo Don’t p-ant-ic!While this week’s crawly is a carpenter ant, they’d much rather live in wooded areas than near or under a home. Although you just might want these beauties in your home – we’ll get to that in a minute.Meet the bi-colored[Read More…]

Mountain cottontail (Sylvilagus nuttallii) by Christi Solo Here comes mountain cottontail! Hopping down the bunny trail!If the Easter Bunny visited you during the weekend, you’d better learn about their western counterpart, so meet the mountain cottontail (Sylvilagus nuttallii).The mountain cottontail could just as easily be called the “western cottontail” because[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[Read More…]

Green-tailed towhee (Pipilo chlorurus) This week’s crawly takes the “wearing of the green” to heart – or rather to tail. Meet the green-tailed towhee (Pipilo chlorurus).These colorful sparrows may look quite exotic, but they can be found right here in our own backyards.What’s in a name? Their scientific name can[Read More…]

It’s nothing but net for this week’s crawly, an amazing little underwater ecosystem engineer! Meet the net-spinning caddisfly (Family Hydropsychidae).It’s been a minute since we’ve met a caddisfly, so let’s do a brief overview. Caddisflies (Order Trichoptera) are semi-aquatic insects who as adults are quite moth-like in appearance and behavior.Like[Read More…]

Paddle-tailed darner (Aeshna palmata) This week’s crawly is an agile flyer and mosquito-eating machine you’re quite likely to see in the coming months. Meet the paddle-tailed darner (Aeshna palmata).What’s in a name? Darners are a family of dragonflies with 41 species. They get their family common name from their overall[Read More…]

Pacific velvet ant (Dasymutilla aureola) This week’s crawly is the picture of “looks can be deceiving.” Not only is our fuzzy wuzzy crawly one you very much do not want to touch, but she also masquerades as a different type of crawly.Meet the Pacific velvet ant (Dasymutilla aureola). She is[Read More…]

PINK MOTHS To celebrate Valentine’s Day a week late we’re going to meet seven area moths who look pretty in pink!Did you know we had so many sweetly colored moths here in our backyard?Some of these moths we’ve met before, some are new.Before we list their names and some fun[Read More…]

This week’s crawly is a small bird with a small range and an even smaller territory within that small range. Meet the wrentit (Chamaea fasciata).These pretty bitties can be found only from northern Oregon down to Baja, Calif. They cling to the West Coast, found only to the western edge[Read More…]