The Curator

Salamandering 2011

2011-02-28T22:39:00.002-05:00

For the solemn purpose of leaving record and knowledge for the sake of posterity and furthering of knowledge, we undertake here to leave written accompt of the salamandering exploits of this spring, so that others may follow in our drenched boots. Due to unseasonable warmth and outlandish amounts of early rain, the salamanders of the genus Ambystoma, species maculatum, did undertook an exodus from their burrows on or immediately before the 20th of February, this two-thousand and eleventh year of our lord Jesus Christ. The temperature on that day had reached 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and had been in the 60s the entire week before hand, with the last frost being exactly one week prior. The rain that evening had been scarce, with only a couple of strong bursts, but this was apparently sufficient to drive the salamanders from their burrows, leading me to the conclusion that the temperature is the driving determiner of A. maculatum migration timing. The leaf litter was moist on top but by no means saturated with water. We that night at the Brakefield Rd. pond observed 140 salamanders in a brief span of time, mostly in clumps of 10-20 around egg masses or clumps of spermataphores. The following week we did return to the same pond, finding only four spotted salamanders and four mole salamanders (Ambystoma talpoideum). All signs of spermataphores where absent but many egg masses were to be observed. The next night we traveled to a small pond near Airport Rd., having sought the large pond but being unable to find it on account of fog. In this pond, roughly 5m x 5m, we did observe one clump of spotted salamander eggs but none of the organisms proper. Two mole salamanders were observed, of a color morph not previously observed by myself (Ornithorhynchus)- being of a dark grey color with lighter grey speckling rather than the dark brown with lighter brown mid-line usually observed at the Brakefield Road pond. Also observed that night were a plethora of minuscule arthropods, seemingly like springtails, on the surface of the water, especially partially submersed logs- accompanied by one very lost earth worm with no visible route to attain shore. These observations we solemnly confide to the society this 28th day of February, 2011, in eternal trust of this moste prestigious blog, for everlasting keepsake and source of knowledge.

Ornithorhynchus and Tardigradia

2010-04-01T11:57:00.003-04:00

Day 3 (13 March 2010): Canoeing the Okeefenokee

Yesterday we decided that since most of this place was underwater anyway, the best place from which to get a sense of the park would be the seat of one of those ungainly silver canoes beached on the canal. We started our journey at eight o'clock, in #17 and #18. The going was easy, the first few miles, up to Billy's Island (or as the sign says, Billys Island). We felt like creations of Robert Louis Stevenson disembarking the Hispanola as we landed, amid cool shade and dense vegetation, in total isolation. The only signs of human life were some hundred-year-old rusted-out metal vats strewn across the landscape. As were about to retake the boats, a juvenile hawk mewing at the top of a tree arrested our attention. He clearly wanted his mother, and so did we.
Next, northward to Minnie's Lake, where the wide canal narrowed and became tortuous to navigate, which afforded much opportunity for learning to manage the canoe as we shot and weaved through tight turns and openings barely large enough for our boat to pass through. We had to push our oars off the cypress tress to keep from crashing. This swamp, at least right now, is cowbird heaven; we saw more cowbirds than alligators, and we saw twenty-five alligators today. Corinna the park naturalist says that one can estimate an alligator's total length by the size of its head: take a ruler and measure the distance between the creature's snout and its eyes in inches, and you have the total length of the animal in feet. Using this method we determined that most of the alligators we saw were 6-8 feet in length, and a few slightly larger.
The wind and waves were against us on our return to the canal. When we exited the dense canopy of the winding northern way up to Minnie's Lake and returned to the main waterway, the wind broke upon us from the right with surprising force, making it difficult even to turn the boat into the wind. If we paddled even moderately we lost ground against the current, and the shifting wind kept turning the boat's nose off course. When we finally landed at the dock, we were exhausted and sore, but very satisfied, campers.
Stephanie led another night hike on the boardwalk this evening, complete with periodic listening exercises. These quiet times I cherished more than any we had on the trip. A listening exercise is sort of like turning off a bright light on a very dark night; just as your eyes slowly become accustomed to the darkness they are able to make out more of the landscape and skyscape, so your ears, as they become accustomed to quiet, are able to pinpoint more and more sound sources, even very faint and remote. The sounds swirl together in one's head, and one orchestrates them unconsciously until they make a kind of coherent music with its own distinctive character, maybe peaceful, maybe ominous and foreboding.

Day 1: March 11, 2010... Arrive in Okeefenokee Swamp

2010-03-17T15:50:00.002-04:00

Our expedition began on a cloudy Thursday in Sewanee. Four members of the Sewanee Natural History Society, Cyclocosmia, Egretta, Pipilo, and Benzene piled into our little vehicle called Squeaky to begin the adventure of a lifetime. Our first stop was the Okeefenokee Swamp, a 6500 year old (wikipedia) wetland about 120 miles from the Georgia coast. Along the way, Pipilo discovered some really cool granite rocks on the side of the highway. We didn't reach the park gates until after dark, and were lucky that we made it safely to our campground site since we were attacked by several crazed animals on the park roads. First a hawk came out of no where and hit the front of Squeaky. Five minutes after this incident, a deer slammed into us, but luckily it didn't hit us hard because Squeaky had almost come to a complete stop. Once we made it through the maze of suicidal animals and reached our campground location we spotted a group of foraging raccoons. We then worked to set up our tents but while doing so, I stepped on a mound of Formicidae and was immediately covered by these vicious little hymenoptera. My body responded to this attack with a allergic reaction and I soon swelled up like a member of the Solanaceae family. I was fine by the next morning, however. Overall, we had quite an interesting beginning to our naturally historical journey.

SNHS Spring Break Trip 2010

2010-03-17T15:46:00.003-04:00

Hello all Natural Historians,

Four intrepid members of the Sewanee Natural History Society embarked on an awesome expedition from March 11 to March 22, 2010. The following accounts are daily diaries of our adventure posted by our fearless explorers. Please read on.

Cyclocosmia, matrician

Tales of the Roving Fellow IV

2009-09-16T14:45:00.004-04:00

I've died and gone to a David Attenborough film! I'm here at Finca La Selva, the famous OTS research station at the lower end of the Sarapiqui river. I've been here barely 24hrs and seen (get ready...): Howler monkeys, spider monkeys, pecaries out the wazoo (like St. Cat's pigs), lattice tailed trogon, montezuma oropendula, dozens of other beautiful but unidentified passerines and hummingbirds, iguanas, central american whiptails, bronze backed climbing skinks, a dink frog (common and somewhat boring, but included for sake of comprehensiveness), cane toad (same), numerous small as-of-yet unidentified lizards, a eyelash pit viper (yeah, open y'alls mouths and drool; I'll come back to this...), golden orb weaver spiders (biggest web-weaving spiders around, much larger than those in the states), some ctenid spiders and huge lycosids, grasshoppers the size of my hand, moths the size of my face, fish, flowers, vines and myriapods- in short paradise. Been having trouble with camera batteries so all I've got to put up is one Eyelash pitviper pic, but being an eyelash pit viper I think it's awesome enough by itself. Saw this guy on our orientation walk barely a couple of hours ago; I'm pretty sure my life is now complete (though I would like to see a jaguar before I go). Oh, forgot to mention the beyond awesome members of Formicidae, specifically leaf cutter ants and bullets ants. Leaf cutter ants are all over the place here, busily chopping away at the understory leaves. They form long trails of bare dirt across the forest floor and busily carry leaves along them to feed the fungus in their mounds (see video). Bullet ants are about 2.5cm long, the hugest ants I've ever seen. They can both bite and sting, and get their name from the pain associated with the latter of these two. Anyway, I'm in an awesome rainforest and frankly have better things to do that sit behind a computer, so I'm signing off here.
Your's in bioawe (bio-awe),
Ornithorhynchus, Roving Fellow

Eyelash palm pitviper

Leafcutter ants

Tales of the Roving Fellow III

2009-09-10T11:42:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow I bus down to Cuerici for a week, where I will lack internet connection, so I though I'd better update the society before I left. Biodiversity here continues to be awesome, and I have now seen two sp. of Costa Rican primates! The first was shortly after my last post: while heading down to the Las Cruces futbol (soccer) field to throw a frisbee around, we stumbled across a pair of white faced capuchins hanging out on the border of the forest. Fun creatures, didn't seem particularly afraid of humans. Even cooler however, was my second primate spotting. While hiking up a mountain in Las Alturas farm (a killer hike, by the way; 700m elevation, but awesome view from the top) we ran into an entire troop of the critically endangered spider monkeys.

Photo Contest!

2009-09-04T22:12:00.000-04:00

We are having three photo contests this year. Our first contest will be due at our Octobor meeting. You need to take five photos of any type of arthropod and identify it at least to its order. All participants will receive a prize, while the winner will receive a larger prize.

Tales of the Roving Fellow II

2009-09-04T18:43:00.001-04:00

Veiw of Panama

Inside the Rainforest

Gaestreus mushroom

Aguiti in the garden

Writing from the Las Cruces field station and botanical gardens, Costa Rica. Awesomeness in the tropics! The field station sits at a 1,200m elevation in a premontane tropical wet forest near the Panama border. I'm absolutely sure that I've more than doubled the amount of vertebrate biodiversity I've seen in my life in the span of little more than a week. Currently at the station is none other than great and revered founder Leighton Reid, who took several of the more hard core birders (including myself, of course) out on a birding walk last Monday in which we saw or heard 77 sp. of birds. Mammals have been scarce, but I have seen agoutis, coatis, either a kinkajou, tayra, or small puma (it was dark, only an outline and eyes were visible), and, funny story, a german shepherd that was mistaken for a jaguar. Quick facts: Costa Rica has 4% of terrestrial diversity in 0.03% of land area. As far as birds go, Costa Rica alone, roughly the size of Virginia, has almost as many bird species as the entire North America. Lastly, I'm positive that when I hang out my towel to dry, it actually gets more wet (slightly exaggerating there of course, but the humidity in the rainy season is intense!)
Yours soggily:
Ornithorhyncus; Roving Fellow

Note about Canopus use

2009-08-28T10:14:00.001-04:00

For those of you who are new members, the Sewanee Natural History Society possesses a trunk known as The Canopus. This trunk contains many cool items such as kill jars and a bunch of really awesome DVDs. In previous years, The Canopus was left unopened, free of access to all members. However, due to the loss of many of our DVDs we are keeping it locked this year. Access for items in it many only be obtained at meetings. However, if you really want an item you can also contact either myself (x2003) or Microraptor/Tardigrade, matrician ((x2351). Do not be afraid to ask. We encourage the use of The Canopus.

Journey of the Roving Fellow I

2009-08-24T10:23:00.001-04:00

Greetings to the society! I'm jetting out of Charlotte, NC for San Jose Costa Rica in about an hour, where I will be spending the semester steeped in the bioawesomeness of the tropics. As the officialy ellected "Roving Fellow", I will keep ye ol' blog updated as often as possible. In the next few months I will hop around five field research stations, in order Las Cruces, Cuerici, La Selva, Monteverde, y (and) Paloverde, with a stop back in San Jose in between for cultura y lengua. Like I said, I'll keep y'all posted.
Sean McKenzie, Ornythorhynchus and Roving Fellow

2009-03-25T21:51:00.000-04:00

Eastern Phoebe heralds the arrival of spring....migrants are coming!!

2009-03-10T12:13:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's spring preview brought many birds out of their winter silence and into singing yesterday. Eastern Phoebes have been calling recently, and brown thrashers, mockingbirds, eastern towhees, cardinals and American robins have been making themselves known as well with their spring songs. Keep your ears and eyes peeled for our first migrants. Cruising through Lost Cove yesterday in the back of a truck, I could almost swear I heard a Louisiana waterthrush. It was probably wishful thinking. I did see some of the first wild flowers out yesterday. I didn't ID them, but I think they were spring beauties (Claytonia virginica ). So keep your eyes to the trees and to the ground for spring, because it is coming soon!

(P.S. I didn't take that picture... I stole it from the internets)

Decision '09

2009-02-19T23:09:00.000-05:00

To anybody who did not get my email:
A special meeting of the society has been called for Feb. 26 @8:00pm to hold elections for the 2009/2010 year, this is your one week notice, be there!

2009-02-18T23:25:00.001-05:00

The spotted salamanders are out in force! Earlier tonight I bummed the bio-truck and hit up the ephemeral pond at the end of breakfield to check on these guys and found them out in droves, it was like catching fish in a barrel! Unfortunately, I forgot to return my SD card to my camera meaning that I only snapped off a couple of photos, none of which are great but I've tossed two up here anyway. Since there just chillin in the pond, they should stay there for a while, we'll discuss a salamandering expedition at tomorrow night's meeting.

Spotted salamander egg mass

The clearest picture of a spotted I got

Fernbank Museum of Natural History

2009-01-31T19:06:00.000-05:00

November 22nd saw the Natural History Society in Atlanta, GA at the Fernbank Natural History Museum. In the 86ft high atrium is housed a 123ft long Argentinosaurus, among the largest dinosaurs ever found. The society will regress on Feb. 21st to veiw a special exhibit on modern paleontology opening in a week.

The great one.

Fellows veiw a perched Anhanguera

The crew hangs on for dear life

Awsome mask, picture taken just before we read the "no flash photography"sign

Previous meeting

2008-11-17T09:29:00.000-05:00

1. Owling this Tuesday. We're thinking about heading out to the end of breakfield to listen for the barred owl, which is absolutely the most awsome sounding creature I've ever heard (two seemed to be fighting last Friday when Dan McCoy and I were out looking for salamanders)

2. Fernbank natural history museum this Saturday. The society will pay gas, meals, and admission. This will be open to the general campus (I'll get a cstudent sent out tomorrow) but I want y'all to have the opportunity to sign-up for the limited van-slots first. I'll post a sign up sheet somewhere is Spencer, probably (with his permission) outside of Dr.Haskell's office bright and early tomorrow morning, look for it or email me if you want a spot.

3. Some time near finals those of us at the meeting thought it would befun, because the tower room of Spencer looks like a war room, to hold agiant game of risk in the tower room of Spencer. Snacks and drinks will beprovided. Tentative event name is "screw finals party" (although more offensive wording was originally proposed)

4. Due to lack of useful facilities such as white boards and computerscreens, a vote was taken and the torian room was rejected for the meeting place next semester in favor of the tower room of Spencer.

5. Meeting dates for next semester will be the third Thursday of eachmonth, except January because we just get back two days before so we will meet the fourth Thursday of that month.

Marbled Salamander watch

2008-10-21T17:49:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year again, the marbled salamanders will soon be frolicking in the ephemeral ponds and it is the sworn duty of the society to seek them out. Be on the alert the next couple of weeks for a society excursion following a good rain.

2008-10-20T14:37:00.000-04:00

It Lives! The great Dr. Haskell has revived the old and faithfull blog. So time to post what has needed to go here for a while:
1. meetings: we have one more meeting this semester: Nov. 13th in the torian room.

More coming...
Sean McKenzie, Patrician

The BLOG lives again

2008-10-20T13:12:00.000-04:00

Bufo says: watch this space

test

2008-09-10T11:55:00.001-04:00

DARWIN DAY CELEBRATED!

2008-02-27T14:38:00.000-05:00

On February 12th, the Society celebrated the birthday of a Prophet.
A massive celebration was underway late into the night at the Eco-House to celebrate the 199th birthday of Charles Darwin: Naturalist, Statesman, Philanthropist, Revolutionary.
The Society delved into pizza, soda pop, and David Attenborough documentaries to get the party going. The more avid followers of Darwin's life and times brought their personal barnacle collections. Others brought their earthworms. Enthusiasm was brought by all.
The Society can hardly wait for Feb 12, 2009, the big 2-0-0 anniversary of this leviathan of natural history.
Until next time:

D e s c e n d w i t h m o d i f i c a t i o n.

American Woodcock in Sewanee

2008-02-24T11:48:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday, the Society gathered at the airport to watch the peculiar mating habits of the American Woodcock, Scolopax minor. In Sewanee, this bird is most often encountered in late February at dusk in open fields such as the airport and the clear cut off of Breakfield.

The American woodcock has been made popular by writers such as Aldo Leopold who described the display of the male woodcock as the "sky dance" in The Sand County Almanac.

Check out the Cornell website to hear and read about this bird.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/American_Woodcock_dtl.html

Photo from the Cornell website.

The Society Storms the Creation Museum

2008-02-10T15:00:00.000-05:00

This weekend, a quorum of the Society made haste for the urban wasteland of lower Cincinnati to dive into a wholly other perspective of the natural world. The Creation Museum, located on the northern border of Kentucky, is a 28million-dollar fundamentalist Christian project that presents the history of earth and man's relation to it through a utterly literal interpretation of Genesis 1 and the Noah flood account in Genesis 9.

The Society poses for a candid photo at the foyer of the museum's entrance:
Good times were had by all: After an early early wake-up call, a hearty 5.5 hr drive, and a stopover at Hardee's for some breakfast grease (and ice cream for some), we perused the museum's exhibits, including a reconstruction of the Garden of Eden pre-fall (penguins, leopards and vegetarian Tyrannosaurs living peacefully with Adam and his strikingly Barbie-esque Eve), an animatronic re-enactment of the building of the ark, and mutlimedia explanations for the 6-earth day creation, the distinctly layered geologic and fossil record, and the reasons for painful child-bearing and carnivorous animals. It was widely agreed upon by all attended that the best display was a baby triceratops with a saddle on its back (for use by Adam and Eve in the Garden):Keep on the look out for a more in-depth presentation of our inquiry into this museum of the supernatural history of life on earth, coming soon.

2007-12-03T21:48:00.000-05:00

New Cave!

2007-10-17T15:24:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday, a crew of seven explored a small cave below Point Disappointment. A narrow passageway led to a spacious room and we explored two passages leading from this room, squeezing through narrow tunnels. The crew found two bats, two slimy salamanders, assorted spiders, and cave crickets.

Want to check it out? Park at the old waste water treatment plant and walk down Depot Branch about a mile till you find a cave opening on your right. For you geologically minded folks, the cave opening is 50 meters downstream from the disconformity between the Mississippian Limestone and Pennsylvanian sandstone.

-Elspeth

2007-10-17T12:21:00.000-04:00

Dearest Bio-geeks,
 It is an honor to announce the results from a nigh-spontaneous herping
 quest that occurred yestereve.

 Locale:  Ephemeral Pond, end'o'Brakefield
 Questers:  EM Keen, DA McCoy, EM Iralu
 Query:  Caudata.

 RESULTS:
 106 Marbled Salamanders (Ambystoma opacum).
 106.   M a r b l e d - freaking - s a l a m a n d e r s .
 In a single ephemeral pond.
 In a 40-minute search window.
 Most were in mating pairs.

 CONCLUSION:
 The plateau is teeming.         t      e       e       m      i      n        g    .

Fuersalamander aus dem Odenwald

2007-10-01T12:37:00.000-04:00

Hellö naturalisches historianisen!

Here in the fame forests of Southwestern Germany, sick sick sick animals abound. I must say that it is a lovely place to be, this Odin's forest. I must tell you of a salamander, the Feursalamander of legend. This is a most astonishing beast, beyond all doubt. It is fire elemental, it is poisonous, it is on coats of arms, and it is ovoviviparous. The thing discharges little salamander pollywogs without laying eggs at all. The poison glands behind its eyes can blind you if squirted sharply, and the poison inhibits mold and fungus from growing on the burning skin of the knave.
I encountered this specimen while taking a casual garden stroll. One of only two salamander species in the area, it survives here because it is made of magic thread that never burns.
I considered brewing a potion of invinceability with this juicy ingredient, but I couldn't bring myself to remove any of his adorable toes.
best to you all

Herr B.L:Pädgett, Patron-at-Large.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander_%28legendary_creature%29

Society Meeting Dates, Fall Semester 2007

2007-09-25T19:14:00.000-04:00

The Society will rendezvous in Gailor 202 every other Tuesday of this semester.
These dates include:

September 25
October 9
October 23
November 6
November 20
December 4

These meetings will be used to share current events in natural history on the plateau, disclose financial information and fiscal activity of the Society, plan upcoming trips, bathe in the glory of recently completed outings, and highlight scientists and/or phenomena of the natural sciences.
Everyone and anything is welcome to attend.

Yours,
EM Keen, Patrician

Natural History of the Cross

2007-09-19T20:41:00.001-04:00

In the late summer, masses of moths and other flying insects rendeszvous under the scorching spotlights of the University Memorial Cross to partake in a nightly frenzy of nocturnal feeding and sexing. The Society converged on this entomobananza earlier this week under a waxing crescent moon. Geometridae aside, fellows reported findings of lacewings galore, as well as a phenomenal close relative: the spectacular wasp mantisfly (Climaciella spp.), a Neuropteran also related to ant lions. Ground-dwelling coleopterans, featuring a unprecedented turnout of weevils of every sort, as well as hemipterans and arachnids congregated along the grass near the iron fencing of the memorial. The stars, featuring Jupiter rising abovethe Western horizon, were magnificent. Large members of both Orthoptera's Tettigoniidae and Acrididae were huge hits, especially when one particularly adventurous hopper tried to climb inside Carey Donald's ear.

THE FEATURE PRESENTATION OF THIS NATURAL HISTORY EVENT: Chiroptera. Bats. These placental fighter jets were patrolling the Cross lights on the hunt for inattentive bugs. When hunting, these bats dove and dipped in spectacular showcases of aggressive attack maneuveurs- stunning rolling vortexes as they killed in cold blood - truly formidable displays of derring doo. When we could quiet the jubilated cries of the fellows, we were able to hear the bats clicking their internal sonar-guns over our heads as the raced by.

What a night for Natural History.

Yours,

EM Keen, Patrician

Pictures by Kate Cummings

The Voyage of the Starling

2007-08-31T23:48:00.000-04:00

Greetings, naturalists.
It is indeed a new semester, chock-full of time and opportunity. Thus begins a historic several months in the celebration of the natural history of Tennessee's tableland and all other things jaw-dropping.
The Society kicked off this school year's exploits with a rendezvous on the windy waters of Woods Reservoir for a sunset voyage of paddle and binocular. We intrepidly canoed out to a small nitrogen-waylaid island of ambitious trees that serve as a rookery for the noisiest and most farty of wading birds and their swarming tagalong passerine friends. Bird count for the expedition includes, but is not limited to:
Yellow-crowned night heron
Cattle Egret galore
Little Blue Heron
Great Egret
The notorious Mr. Mallard
Red-Winged Blackbird
Osprey (displaying fabulous diving skills)
Double-crested cormorants
Starlings, thousands of starlings.

Perhaps the most glorious sight of this sunset-drenched canoeing trip was the morphous amoeba-like swarms of flying starlings that would darken certain blocks of sky with staggering flock-shapes and derring-doo.

On a non-ornithological note, the entirety of the drive back took place within the usual summer-mist of lepidopterans (most notably of the geometridae), neuropterans, and other nocturnal pterogytes of the warm August fields. The insects are out in full force, especially after our recent rains. The SNH Society has begun to respond in kind to the climatic and ecological events at hand. Now is the time to spread wings and fly, to empathize with bird and moth and get OUT THERE. Here's to a new semester!
Yours,
EMKeen, Patrician

Fiji: Volcanoes & Chelicerates!

2007-06-30T15:09:00.000-04:00

Island Biogeography: a fascinating subject, and what better place to study it than in the archipelago of the Republic of Fiji?
Cohort BL Padgett and I took the Subduction Recon Team out of the frosty subantarctic to the sea-breezed equatorial isles of the South Pacific this last week. Fiji is a collection of volcanic islands, calcareous paleo-reef mounds and subducted & uplifted oceanic crust.

It truly is another world.

Pumice, a not-at-all dense igneousvolcanic rock, FLOATS between volcanic and reef-born islands that are so young and rumbly that their flora are still dominated by early successional shade intolerant species. Being an archipelago of isles that vary in origin, size and topography, it perfectly elucidates the principles & mysteries of island biogeography...plus, it's tropical paradise.
Most islands have no standing fresh water and the resources and living space are of such paucity that dispersal and establishment of biota on these isles is a rare event, but there is one phylum of Animalia that has perfected such acts of dispersal heroism: Arthropods. Namely, the Insecta, Chelicerates and Myriapods. Flocks of Lepidoptera, man-eating spiders, and centipedes that tunnel through the sand and bite Luke's feet. Here are a few pics of some specimens we encountered.
The Fiji isles are also an example of another phenomenon associated with biogeography on small islands: the trend towards gigantism. Both these spider species were the size of my palm. We found a web spun by the species with the white abdomen that measured literally 20 ft across! Perhaps the best example of this trend towards gigantism is the Fiji Walking Stick, one of the largest insects in the world (over a foot long!!!). Sadly, we didn't encounter this fella. Oh well, it's just an excuse to go back and find it.
Oh, Padgett and I also made a raft (see bottom pic).

This concludes the Oceania posts. Oceania is truly a mystery, and it holds the key to much that we do not yet understand about our natural world. Here's to Wombats, Moas and Giant Walking Sticks, and all things historically natural!

EM

"To live would be an awfully big adventure"

Ummm... G L A C I E R S

2007-06-21T15:30:00.000-04:00

Glaciers. Glaciers. O my God, Glaciers.

OK. Imagine hiking up a steep, rocky trail, so steep the trail is switchbacking to and fro as it writhes up the treacherous landscape, so steep that you wonder if this trail wasn't built for mountain goats 'n' snow leopards instead of mere mortal men, so steep that you look up and it looks like the trail is doing a back flip. OK. When - IF - you get to the top, imagine looking around you and realizing: THIS IS A MORRAINE. It all makes sense, it all comes together: why these weird scoured rocks? Why this abundance of serpentine everywhere? why does it looks like what you just hiked up was a long skinny pile of rocks bulldozed together by a 1,000 ft high BIG CAT?!? the answers can be attributed to one word, one global force beyond human comprehension - the overachieving construction workers of the natural world, the carving spork of the gods, the tantrum-throwing 3-year olds of geology.........G L A C I E R S (so huge a bignes!)

Phew. Just thinking about these puppies pumps me up. My colleagues Laura and Richard Candler (SNHS Curator-elect and brother of, respectfully) and Luke Padgett (Patrician Emeritus and co-Captain of the 2007 SNHS Subduction & Volcanism Reconnaisance Team: Oceania Division) shared with me the privilege of bathing in the immense glory of these bad boys under the shadow of Mt. Cook, the largest mountain in NZ and the pride of the 6-million-year-old Southern Alp Orogeny. The Tasman Glacier, pictured below, is 29km long, and the ice you see in these pictures is over 400m deep. 400m deep. 400m deeeeeeeeeep. The largest glacier remaining from the last glacier age in new zealand (ending about 18,000 years ag), this river of ice moves at a rate of 200 meters a year (!!!!!!!) and bulldozes the landscape, piling helpless rocks into kilometer-long morraines and scouring the mountain ranges, leaving miles-wide glacier valleys in its wake. It was indeed glaciers just like Ole Tasman here that carved the world-famous vistas of Fiordland (see bottom pic).

What I am trying to say is, I wouldn't want to run into a glacier in a dark alley at night. 'Nuff said.

E.M. Keen

The Royal Albatrosses

2007-06-10T21:40:00.000-04:00

The Royal Albatross nests consistently in only a handful of places in the Southern hemisphere. The only colony with easy access and reliable albatross sightings is at the very tip of the Otago Peninsula. The following photographs depict the most ridiculous bird in the skies: the 747 of volant avians. These birds can only fly efficiently when it is EXTREMELY windy outside, and they have the largest wingspan of any bird living today.
To contrast this Boeing Bird, check out the birds in the other photo, some of the largest birds in evolutionary history. This scene depicts a Haast's eagle, the world's largest eagle EVER (about 12 ft wingspan) attacking 2 moas, the iconic extinct flightless bird that was endemic to new zealand. There were about 14 species of these guys, ranging from 4 ft high to over 12 ft high. These ratite birds went extinct when the Maori came over from Polynesia around 1000AD and began hunting these abundant grazers (population of between 5 and 12 million) in mass numbers. They went extinct 200 years after the Maori arrived. Before the Maori arrived, these Haast's eagle were the only predators of these Ostrich-Cows. Birds of all shapes and sizes!
Ornithologically,
E.M. Keen, Patrician-elect

Mayfly madness

2007-06-03T14:48:00.000-04:00

From Sharpsburg, Georgia:

This mayfly hasn't budged from its spot on our porch wall for an entire day. From the order Ephemeroptera, mayflies spend a year as wingless aquatic larvae, then enjoy only hours as winged adults in the spring.

P-a-L R: New Zealand Forests: Beech, Moss & Fern

2007-05-17T17:16:00.000-04:00

The immense micro-worlds of bryophytes, pterophytes, and the Gondwana-relic Nothofagus. Can't get enough!

The Southern Alps

2007-05-17T16:32:00.000-04:00

Only 5 million years old, more or less, the "Southern Alps" is the mountain chain that runs longways nearly the entire length of the South Island of New Zealand. In the south, it spreads into an entire glacier-carved region lovingly called FIORDLAND. The Southern Alps run along the Alpine Fault between 2 tectonic plates, and nearly the entirety of the mountain chain is contained within several national parks. The most notably beautiful regions in the range can be found at Arthur's Pass in the north (pic 1), Mt. Cook/Aoraki in the central S.I. (pic 2), and Mt. Aspiring National Park (pic 3), just above the fiordland. For the geologic youth of the range, a evolutionarily ASTONISHING number of specially adapted alpine species roam the tussock grass above treeline on these mountains, including over 20 species of Alpine Cicada, alpine geckos, and the Kea (pic 4), the world's only alpine parrot. Also, there is the Upland moa (extinct, discovered in 1990s), a species of GIANT flightless bird, kind of like an Ostrich with "Cankles," which was hunted to extinction by the immigration of humans to the New Zealand islands from Polynesia.
A M A Z I N G

Yours,
E.M. Keen, lame-duck Prefect

P-a-L R: Down with Marsupials!

2007-03-12T03:41:00.000-04:00

Down UNDER, that is. Ha! Australia is a world where the mammalian placentals (besides the higher primates that tend to congregate in the urban areas) are the minority, and the marsupial diversity isn't limited to the gruesome beady-eyed O-possum of North America - we're talking everything from sugar gliders and wombats to the macropods - the kangaroos and wallabies. I was fortunate enough to see 4 species of wallaby and the 3 largest species of kangaroo (the Easter and Western Grey and the infamous but ugly Red Kangaroo) in the wild and I even got to race a few of them down some running trails on Kangaroo Island.
But that was nothing compared to my 3 encounters with the short-beaked echidna, one of 3 species in the subclass Monotrema that are still extant in the world today. The above picture is of my first encounter, during possum patrol one night in Dandegong Ranges National Park in Victoria.
This is the Prefect's final entry on the subject of Australia, and subsequent posts will henceforth focus on the prehistorically mammal-less island nation of Aotearoa, "the Land of the Long White Cloud," or in the woods of its European discover Abel Tasman, Novae Seelandiae.

P-a-L R: Aussie Invertebrates

2007-03-07T04:42:00.000-05:00

Funnel-webs...giant cockroaches...the most ant diversity in the world (purple ants with yellow mandibles, not joking, I saw them, but they moved too fast to photograph, sadly)...the snails...the spiders! By God! Enjoy the pics,

Prefect

P-a-L R: Endemic Australian Reptilia

2007-03-07T04:03:00.000-05:00

Australia hosts more species of reptiles than any other country on earth. 89% - EIGHTY NINE PERCENT - of these species are endemic. 795 species of extant native reptiles. That means 708 endemic reptiles. This means one tenth of the world's reptiles live ONLY in Australia.
Australia is also host to some of the most outrageous and venomous snakes in the world, including the world's most venomous, the FIERCE snake (see picture of the late great Steve Irwin). In the top ten of this list is also the Tiger Snake, one of which was found trying to sneak into my Kangaroo Island trailer (see picture).
In contrast to the Australian mainland, Kangaroo Island only has 2 snake species, but it is host to an endemic species of the Goanna lizards (see picture).
Snakes really are everywhere in Australia; I can't tell you how many slithered over my feet in the bush or even on the streets of the Sydney suburbs.
Sadly for me, New Zealand is completely lacking in these legless wonders.
Until next time,
Da Prefect

P-a-L-R: The Geology of Australia

2007-03-06T20:36:00.000-05:00

Although Oz is infamous for its Outback, its barren oxide-rich dust plains and beautiful sandy surfing beaches, it is chock-full of some of the most stunning, outrageous, and unique geologic formations this side of the equator. During my travels in the Great Dividing Range and along the dynamic coastline of eastern Australia, I was fortunate to catch glimpses of some of these rocky phenomena. Here is a photographic account of several such outcrops, holes, how'd-tha-happens, and whazzits of the Australian litho-scene. For a thrilling account of their orogenies and windblown trials throughout geologic time, I am afraid you will have to wait for my conclusive presentation upon my return next semester. Or look it up yourself...but I guarantee the presentation will be cooler.
Yours, tall and truly,
Prefect Keen

Pictured: The Three Sisters (Blue Mountains National Park), The Remarkable Rocks (Kangaroo Island, South Australia - a crazy random granite uplift), the 12 Apostles (Great Ocean Road, Victoria), Razorback (Great Ocean Road), King George Bay (Kangaroo Island)

Woodcocks and Spotted Salamanders

2007-03-01T12:14:00.000-05:00

Twenty seven people gathered on the old road bed near the Sewanee airport last night (28 Feb) to have thier ears and souls tickled by the sweet "peeent" of the love-struck American Woodcock. One male woodcock also treated us to a couple of aerial flight displays. The moon glowed down on it all through cirrus clouds, shining in a halo.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Biol 131 lab found a spotted salamander at the pond at the end of Brakefield Road and one egg mass. The amphibian mating frenzy is very late this year...

P-a-L R: Australia Birding: Species List

2007-02-26T19:19:00.000-05:00

Australia is a birder's dream, with a range of volant and satite Dino-kin, diversity-saturated due to both island and contintental habitats and climates. Seriously, even the pigeons are cool. And the parrots, my God, the parrots! Approximately 85 species were seen in my limited time with binoculars, 75 of those are unique to Austalasia and Oceania.

O.Anseriformes
f.Anatidae
Anas gibberifrons Grey teal
Anas platyrhynchos Mallard duck
Anas quarquedula Garganey
Cereopsis novaehollandiae Cape Barren Goose
Chenonetta jubata Australian wood duck
Cygnus atratus Black swan

O.Apodiformes
f.Apodidae
Apus pacificus Fork-tailed swift

O.Charadriformes
f.Charadriidae
Thinornis rubricollis Hooded Plover
Vanellus novaehollandiae Spur-winged plover
f.Haematopodidae
Haematopus fuliginosis Sooty Oystercatcher
Haematopus longirostris Pied Oystercatcher
f.Laridae
Larus novaehollandiae Silver gull
Larus pacifica Pacific gull
Sterna bergil Crested tern
Sterna caspia Caspian tern
f.Scolopacidae
Burhinus grallarius Bush-stone Curlew
Calidris acuminata Sharp-tailed sandpiper

O.Ciconiiformes
f.Ardeidae
Ardea pacifica White-necked heron
Ardeola ibis Cattle egret
Egretta alba Large egret
Egretta novaehollandiae White-faced heron
f.Threskiornithidae
Threskiornis molucca White ibis
Plegadis falcinellus Glossy Ibis

O.Columbiformes
f.Columbidae
Columba livia Rock dove
Ocyphaps lophotes Crested pigeon
Streptopelia chinensis Spotted turtledove

O.Coraciiformes
f.Alceninidae
Dacelo gigas Laughig kookaburra

O.Falconiformes
f.Accipitridae
Aquila audax Wedge-tailed eagle
Elanus axillaris Black-shoulderd kite
Haliaetus leucogaster White -breasted sea eagle

O.Galliformes
f.Megapodiidae
Alectura lathami Brush Turkey
Gallinulla ventralis Black-tailed native hen
f.Phasianidae
Pavo cristatus Indian peafowl

O.Gruiformes
f.Gallidae
Gallinula tenebrosa Dusky moorhen

O.Passeriformes
f.Corvidae
Corvus coronoides Australian raven
f.Cracticidae
Cracticus nigrogularis Pied butcherbird
Gymnorhina tibicen Australian magpie
Strepera graculina Pied currawong
f.Hirundinidae
Hirundo neoxena Welcome swallow
f.Maluridae
Malurus cyaneus Superb fairy wren
f.Meliphagidae
Acanthagengs rufogularis Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris Eastern spinebill
Anthochaera carunculata Red wattlebird
Manorina melanocephala Noisy miner
Phylidonyris pyrrhoptera Crescent honeyeater
f.Menuridae
Menura novaehollandiae Superb Lyrebird
f.Motacillidae
Rhipidura leucophrys Willie wagtail
f.Muscicapidae
Rhipidium fuliginosa (alisiari) Grey fantail
f.Pachyephalidae
Pachycephela refiventris Rufous whistler
f.Passeridae
Passser domesticus House sparrow
f.Sturnidae
Sturnus vulgaris Common Starling
f.Sylviidae
Acrocephalus stentoreus Clamorous reed warbler
Cincloramphus cruralis Brown songlark
Colluricincla fuliginosus Striated fieldwren
Pycnoptilus floccosus Pilotbird
f.Turdidae
Petroica multicolor Scarlet robin
f.Tyrannidae
Microeca fascinans Jacky winter
f.Zosteropidae
Zosterops lateralis Silvereye

O.Pelecaniformes
f.Pelecanidae
Pelecanus conspicillatus Australian pelican
f.Phalacrocoracidae
Phalacrocorax carbo Great cormorant
Phalacrocorax fuscescens Black cormorant
Phalacrocorax melanoleucus Little Pied Cormorant
Phalacrocorax varius Pied cormorant

O.Psittaciformes
f.Psittacidae
Cacatua galerita Sulfur-crested cockatoo
Cacatua roseicapilla Galah
Calyptorhynchos magnificus Red-tailed black cockatoo
Calyptorhynchus funereus Yellow-tailed lack cockatoo
Calyptorhynchus lathami Glossy Black Cockatoo
Neophema petrophila Rock parrot
Pratycercus elegans Crimson rosella
Psephotus haematonatus Red-rumped parrot
Trichoglassus haematodus Rainbow lorikeet

O.Sphenisciformes
f.Spheniscidae
Eudyptula minor Little Penguin

O.Struthioniformes
f.Dromaiidae
Dromaius novaehollandiae Emu

P-a-L R: Australia Conquered

2007-02-22T16:43:00.000-05:00

Greetings, Naturalists and friends of the Society.
I was fortunate enough to survive the perilous Muscidae and boisterous Corvidae of the Australian bush, through which I rambled for the month of January 2007. In subsequent posts I will be highlighting different aspects of Naturale History Phenomena encountered, featuring photos and brief explanations of each wonder from Down Under I saw. For the remainder of the semester, now that stable and consistent LAN communication has been established in my office on the South Island of New Zealand, I will literally keep you posted on phenomena and interesting tidbits in a running cascade of weekly updates. I do hope all is well back at HQ. This is the Prefect, signing out.

yep! Still beautiful.

2007-02-07T17:12:00.000-05:00

some sort of altocumulus floating around up there today:
(and a sunset from this weekend)

Woods Reservoir Trip

2007-02-05T10:47:00.000-05:00

From the chilly shores of Woods Res, the SNHS spotted the following feathered dinosaurs. The loons and the eagle were the highlight. I've never seen so many loons in one spot! The eagle circled several times, really close, then dived down to get a yummy dead fish, then flew off again. Great looks at this incredible bird!

Participants:

Angie Langevin, Elspeth Iralu, Daniel McCoy, Jake Sberna, Diana Patterson, Valerie Moye, David Haskell

Canada Goose 78
Mallard 4
Ruddy Duck 1
Common Loon 88
Pied-billed Grebe 44
Horned Grebe 6
Turkey Vulture 8
Bald Eagle 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 85
Killdeer 2
Bonaparte's Gull 1
Ring-billed Gull 33
Belted Kingfisher 3
Red-headed Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 15
Northern Mockingbird 6
Cedar Waxwing 9
Song Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Common Grackle 8

MEETING TONIGHT

2007-01-29T15:30:00.000-05:00

Join the Society in the Torian Room at 7:30 tonight for coffee and a discussion of our previous and upcoming adventures. We will be receiving a message from our Prefect-at-Large before I present our new Canopus.

cheers
B.L.Padgett, esq., Patrician.

Senegal bird list

2007-01-13T14:20:00.000-05:00

This is a list of birds that I've seen so far. I've tried to classify them by order, but I'm not certain about the taxonomy, so please let me know if you spot mistakes.

Places visited:
Yoff, suburban village on West Atlantic coast
Mboumbaye, rural village on an estuary of Senegal River
Le Parc National de la Langue de Barbarie
Diama, rural village on the Senegal River (bordering Mauritania), 25km from Djoudj National Bird Park
Nder, rural village in sahel/savanna

1. Ciconiiformes
a. Long-tailed Cormorant, Phalacrocorax africanus
b. Great Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo
c. Grey Heron, Ardea cineria
d. Black Heron, Egretta ardesiaca
e. Black-Crowned Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax
f. Western Reef Egret, Egretta gularis
g. Little Egret, Egretta gardetta
h. Intermediate Egret, Egretta intermedia
i. Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis
j. Black Kite, Milvus migrans
k. Stone Curlew, Burhinus oedicnemus

2. Pelecaniformes
a. Great White Pelican, Pelecanus onocrotalus

3. Falconiformes
a. Osprey, Pandion haliaetus
b. African White-backed Vulture, Gyps africanus
c. Eurasian Griffon Vulture, Gyps fulvus

4. Charadriiformes
a. Common Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus
b. African Jacana, Actophilornis African
c. Spur-winged Lapwing, Vanellus spinosus
d. Long-Tailed Skua, Stercorarius longicaudus
e. Sabine’s Gull, Larus sabini
f. Audouin’s Gull, Larus audouinii
g. Bridled Tern, Sterna anaethetus

5. Columbiformes
a. Laughing Dove, Streptopelia senegalensis
b. Vinaceous Dove, Streptopelia vinacea

6. Cuculiformes
a. Senegal Coucal, Centropus senegalensis

7. Apodiformes
a. Common Swift, Apus apus

8. Coraciiformes
b. Little Bee-eater, Merops pussilus

7. Upupiformes
a. Hoopoe, Upupa epops

8. Bucerotiformes
a. Red-billed Hornbill, Tockus erythrorhynchus

9. Passeriformes
a. Beautiful Sunbird, Cinnyris pulchellus
b. Pygmy Sunbird, Hedydipna platura
c. Greater Blue-eared Starling, Lamprotornis pulcher
d. Long-tailed Glossy Starling, Lamprotornis caudatus
e. Crested Lark, Galerida cristata
f. Sudan Golden Sparrow, Passer Luteus
g. Northern Grey-headed Sparrow, Passer griseus
h. House Sparrow, Passer domesticus
i. Little Weaver, Ploceus luteolus
j. Vitelline Masked Weaver, Ploceus vitellinus
k. Village Weaver, Ploceus cucullatus
l. Red-billed Quelea, Quelea quelea
m. Lavender Waxbill, Estrilda caerulescens
n. Red-Cheeked Cordon-blue, Uraeginthus bengalus
o. Village Indigobird, Vidua chalybeata
p. Red-billed Firefinch, Lagonosticta senegala
q. African Silverbill, Euodice cantans
r. Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla flava
s. White Wagtail, Motacilla alba
t. Pied Crow, Corvus albus
u. Common Bulbul, Pycnonotus barbatu
w. Common House Martin, Delichon urbicum
x. Common Sand Martin, Riparia riparia

un goût du Sénégal

2007-01-03T12:19:00.000-05:00

Na nga def! I am in Senegal for a brief spell, amidst foriegn birds, bugs, and vegetation (and a few not so foreign!). Here are few:

Wintering

2007-01-01T12:16:00.000-05:00

Good morning friends!

Greetings from the Gallup Sag! In the last week, I've traveled east past the Zuni Uplift to the Sangre to Christo Mountains and South along the Rio Grande River and Rio Grande Rift to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, near Socorro, New Mexico. Water from the Rio Grande is diverted here to form a wetlands suitable for migratory birds. Thousands of snow geese and sandhill cranes winter at the Bosque and hundreds (thousands?) of birders in down jackets carrying macro lenses covered in camo print come to watch the birds. Despite a fever the night before, I woke at 5:30 the morning I was in Socorro to watch the snow geese Fly Out from their nighttime rest spot. When the sun's first light hit the lake, all two thousand geese on the lake flew up and over the people watching from the shore. The noise of wings flapping was incredible. In the afternoon, I saw mountain bluebirds, coots, mallards, pintails, shovelers, Harris' Hawks, Cooper hawks, Red tailed Hawks, two bald eagles, one loggerhead shrike, one pheasant, a few great blue herons, and ravens. (The call of the west, Angie!) I hiked up an arroyo to the top of a mesa and found sandstone, breccia, and volcanic rocks. I have to admit that I was even more excited by the rocks than by the birds.

When I woke up after my second night in Socorro, I found that it had snowed all night and that every road west (homeward) was closed. I drove North back to Albuquerque and resigned myself to sleeping at my grandparents house. My friends and I had a violent snowball fight and made a snowman on what looked like sidewalk, but turned out to be someone's front yard. It was the largest recorded snow ever in Albuquerque. It snowed 11-20 inches throughout the city in 24 hours, breaking the past record of 10 inches in 24 hours. The road home opened up that evening, and we got home safely. The sun set as we drove from Albuqerque to Gallup. Snow covered all the mesas and hogbacks and flat land for as far as we could see and electric pink and orange light flooded out from behind the clouds, so that even the snow looked pink. It was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen.

Yours, Elspeth

PaL-R: A Farewell

2006-12-31T19:41:00.000-05:00

Many happy returns on the eve of the new year, fellow naturalists and friends of naturalists.

On the 2nd day of the 2007, I board a aeroplane in the infamous city of Orlando for a red-eye flight straight for the opposite side of the world. I have displayed several figures that provide geographic clues to my Down Under activities. The first shows the outline of my range for the next semester: Islands of Oceania including Australia, New Zealand, and the Fiji Islands. The next two figures reveal smaller scale images of this home range, and an approximate route of my planned activities.

I will update the Curator on occasion with accounts my various encounters with the natural history of Oceania.

Farewell, all, it is comforting to consider that from a geologic perspective, our time apart next semester will be infinitely short.

Until next time,
E.M. Keen, Ltd., Prefect-at-Large

Rennovating the Canopus

2006-12-24T16:36:00.000-05:00

Today's balmy sun saw Dad and I engaged in a systematic refurbishment of the Society's heirloom chest. After stripping the deeply offensive rosy wallpaper from the interior, we decided that repapering would only replace the stupid look with something only a little less dumb. The wood inside the Canopus is rather attractive and covered here and there by glue, cheesecloth, and 100 year-old brown paper. We decided that a sanded down and finished version of this vintage surfacing would be far more attractive than a contrived papering. I will, however, still be including framed portraits of our founders inside upon the upturned lid. We are also replacing the handles, and have found that the previous proprietor of this noble box had the bad taste to use imitation leather belts to replace the original handles - a move congruent with the scads of Grandma-barf bouquet wallpaper we unceremoniously (and rather laboriously) purged from the innards of this vessel. New chains have been acquired to secure the lid and support its cavernous open gape. The new shelving upon the upper reaches of the Canopian innards was constructed with care by C.R. Padgett, Senior, Society Craftsman. Materials include: American Cherry and New Zealand heart Remu woods, the latter imported from the South Pacific in the early 80's by C.R.P. This particular assembly is ideal for the storage of a) Digital Versatile Discs b) Small field guides c) endangered rodents. This is an update, the process is ongoing. Pictures of the final product are forthcoming.

A Merry Yule's Eve to you and yours.

B.L. Padgett, esq., Patrician

P-a-L R: The Natural History of my Backyard

2006-12-24T08:40:00.000-05:00

Salutations on this Eve of Christmas. While for most of you, thoughts of the holiday season include leafless trees and bitter cold, Christmas in my town involves 80 degree weather, flying kites at the beach, and flip flops. While I already miss the colder climate of the cumberland plateau, the green foliage here gave me the opportunity to experiment with my new camera. If anyone is interested, here are some sample pics of plants from my backyard (this is easier than trying to email them).

Prefect-at-Large reports: The Everglades, in 12 hours

2006-12-20T20:23:00.000-05:00

Aloha, mi amigos. Today, my colleage M.W. Kanagy and I braved the dangers of Florida interstate traffic to attempt a 12 hour blitzkrieg of the natural history of South Florida. Though the adventure did not yield findings as topographically and tropically diverse as those of the Caribbean archipelago, the everglades proved fascinating nonetheless.
Notable birds seen were thousands of bonaparte's gulls, the sandhill crane (just like the one's living in my backyard (very loud)), and wood storks. No alligators! Can you believe it?
The biodiversity highlight was definitely the mysterious Falconiformes with vertical wingbands and mysterious markings on its chest. More to come on this.
Moral of the story: Native Florida is marvelous, vast, and flat. A 12 hour driving survey may have been enough to satiate one's propensity for the 3ft elevation ecosystem.

To the top of the world,
E.M. Keen, Ltd., Prefect-at-Large

Prefect-at-Large reports: Kayaking for Christ!

2006-12-19T18:50:00.000-05:00

POST FROM: Malabar, FL. Weather: Cloudless. Temp: 79 degrees.

Greetings, fellow naturalists:
Despite the gaudy imperialistic and ubiquitous presence of the radical capitalism of coastal tourism industry that so consistently causes my countenance to twist into uncontrollable spasms of disgust, the legendary wildlife of the Florida coast survives and at times prevails. A short sunset kayaking outing with my esteemed pater familias yielded the following encounters with some unique coastal fauna (sadly, no pictures):

-We were blindsided by a baby gopher tortoise in my own front yard as we tried to leave for our trip. Luckily, despite my terrible shock, I had the good sense to relocate him to the scrub sanctuary behind my house.
-Birds: Several angry osprey (Pandion haliaetus), too many blue herons (Ardea herodia), white ibis (Bubulcus ibis), several species of tern, ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis), Brown pelican (Pelicanus occidentalis), sandpipers, etc!
-some CRAZY spiders (species unknown)
-ANTLIONS GALORE (O. Neuroptera F. Myrmeliontidae) My father and I stumbled upon an island chock full of these buggers, so full in fact that the island was thereby christened respectfully as "Antlion Island"
-Several redfish "FINNING", or feeding in the shallows so that their fins were exposed to the air
-Schools of mullets alarmed by our Dagger kayaks
- A run in with several bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), who, lucky for us, were not hungry at the time, because we got within 10 ft of them!

Also, a glorious sunset was seen. Sometimes Florida is great.
Tomorrow: A hasty, secret tour of the Everglades! A picture-filled report soon to come.

Suck Creek Canyon, Tennessee River Gorge. Canopus acquired.

2006-12-16T12:01:00.000-05:00

An interesting subject for contemplation

2006-12-10T12:02:00.002-05:00

Yesterday evening we stopped by Lake Cheston on our way to the forestry cabin. Upon seeing the lake partially covered by a centimeter-thin layer of ice, what was supposed to be a brief pause grew into a lingering diversion. We encountered the most bizarre and extraordinary sound created by tossing rocks onto the frozen surface and hearing them reverberate with an eerie resonance. Highly recommend to anyone wishing for a touch of surreality.

Euphoniously,
L. V. Candler

Puerto Rico: a Conclusive Survey

2006-12-05T10:05:00.000-05:00

Greetings, one and all.
Last evening, under a full moon and the incandescent lights of DuPont's infamous Torian Room, two eager naturalists brought their work with the Caribbean Arhipelago to a close with a presentation of their findings from a recent 48-hour blitzkrieg on the Island of Puerto Rico. A healthy representation of community members, faculty, and students were in attendence to experience a powerpoint presentation and short documentary on the expedition.

During our university’s Thanksgiving holiday 2006, Patrician B.L. Padgett and Prefect-at-Large E.M. Keen traveled to the island of Puerto Rico, commissioned by the Biology and Geology Departments, the Center for Teaching, and the Sewanee Outing Program to circumnavigate the isle in pursuit of any and every natural history phenomena they may encounter. In exchange for this opportunity, the duo committed to presenting a multimedia report on the natural history of the island through research and the display of our findings, in the form of photographs, video, and material collections, to the general public upon return.

Although the dates of this trip were November 24-27, travel complications allowed the students only 47 hours in the field. However, this did not inhibit their productivity, since what time tas lost the pair recovered through less sleep and shortened and fewer meals. During those 47 hours, Padgett and Keen successfully explored exhaustively 4 different topographic regions of the island: the limestone rich beaches of the west and north coasts, eastern rainforest among the central Cordilleras, the unbelievable karst topography of the northeast, and salt flats and dune systems of the south coast. While in the field, they spent a significant portion of our time in each topographic region taking sand samples, investigating geologic phenomena, observing bird life, classifying general vegetative structures, and capturing insects, amphibians, and reptiles through direct collection methods.

At the end of our stay, the tired naturalists packaged and mailed their insect collection back to mainland America. The collection includes over 60 specimens from 24 different families of Insecta. Over 120 photographs were taken, along with 90 minutes of video. Other noteworthy accomplishments were the video documentary of 2 endangered and endemic bird species, the collection of 12 different sand samples from the perimeter of the island, and the photographic documentation of an endemic Anole and the endemic Coqui frog.

The students recorded the unfolding of their expedition with annotated maps, field notebooks and sketchbooks, and with the use of a Hi-8 Sony HandiCam and two Canon Powershot digital cameras. Further information about the expedition can be found by contacting Padgett at bpadgett@sewanee.edu or Keen at ekeen@sewanee.edu.

Plans are currently being made to further the pair's survey of island biogeography in the near future. Of course, the Curator will be kept posted of further developments.

Naturally,
E.M. Keen, Ltd. Prefect-at-Large

2006-12-04T10:12:00.000-05:00

PUERTO RICO : a relentless 48-hour survey of Caribbean Natural History.
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Join the Natural History Society for a review of our latest expedition.
Before the turkey had been digested, two of our number had set out to
circumnavigate this volcanic raft. We will hear, see and touch the island
as B.L. Padgett and E.M. Keen exhibit the fruits of their voyage - over 57
insects, various lithic samples, maps, photos, video and tales.
Forage provided.

Monday, 4 December at 7:30 in the Torian Room - Library.

Giganotosaurus, orchidaceae, cirrus, and beyond

2006-12-03T12:04:00.000-05:00

awe:

1. The feeling of solemn and reverential wonder, tinged with latent fear, inspired by what is terribly sublime and majestic in nature

2. The emotion flooding the minds of six Natural History aficionados in the presence of Fernbank's Giganotosauruas (the largest carnivore ever discovered) and 123-foot Argentinosaurus.

Yesterday, six restless Natural History pirates had the good fortune to venture to Fernbank Museum of Natural History and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. After Fernbank, we tromped around the Botanical Gardens where we were barraged not only by the splendorous orchid hall, but also by an enthusiastic dreadlocked orchid expert who fervently described to us the genetics of the orchidaceae family and a pollenization process involving fungus flies and sexual mimicry. It's likely that the most revered exhibit was Fernbank's Giants of the Mesozoic (at least three of our crew entertain affections for paleontology), although I must admit my favourite display was the delicate filaments of cirrus clouds and the sporatic clusters of altocumulus which we observed supinely on the grass. We ended our day delighting in delicacies from Nagaland and returned to Sewanee resonating with a renewed admiration for the ancient and unfolding treasures of the earth. A worthy adventure!

EMERGENCY SALAMANDERING TONIGHT!

2006-11-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

Late Night Salamandering TONIGHT!

Meet at 11pm in the Woods Labs driveway,
Be ready to get wet and dirty!
Bring a headlamp!

The Natural History Society vociferously invites one and all to go on a
late night herpetology adventure like none other. Venture with the
Society as they search a large pond and its surrounding forest in the
nethermost regions of the end of breakfield road. Salamanders are getting
less and less common as winter ominously approaches, yet the warmer and
wetter atmoshphere of the past several days may evoke a few slender
amphibians to brave the elements. And by golly, it is up to us to go find
them!
Tonight at 11!!! Ha!

Amphibiously,
E.M. Keen, Ltd., Prefect-at-Large

Bert Harris and the Antpitta

2006-11-16T20:41:00.000-05:00

Join the Natural History Society as one of our great Founding Fathers tell of his adventures in ornithology in the remote reaches of South America. Mr. Harris has only recently returned from his sojourn through the darkest and dankest of tropical kingdoms in search of rare avian life, braving swamp leaches and untold horrors in pursuit of Science. Little is known of the Antpitta, discovered in 1997, and Bert's work has mainly been to shed light on its ecology and behaviour.

Monday, 20 NOV, 7 PM Torian Room.

Refreshments provided, vicarious exhilaration guaranteed.

Schistosomiastically,
B.L. Padgett, esq., Patrician.

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Bird-Walk-Thursday-11-10

2006-11-08T10:29:00.000-05:00

BIRDWALK!!!
Meet at Morgan's Steep at 6:30am
Leaders: E.M. Keen, Ltd, P-a-L, x2669
A. Langevin, Curator, x2204

The rumors are true...the Natural History Society's Prefect-at-Large, the
cumbersome, gangly fellow often spotted around campus wearing little to no
pairs of respectable pants, that's right, Eric Keen, has finally acquiesced
a pair of brand new, 8x42, roof prism Celestron, motorized, shiny,
solar-powered, ultra-LYTE, high-felutin' darn-tootin' BINOCS! Join him and
his fellow amateur ornithologist, Angie "Funkytown" Langevin for a birdwalk
like no other. Meeting bright and early on Thursday morning at Morgan's
Steep, come and be amazed at those fall plumages and all those other
fall-colors under the rising sun. Weather Permitting, Patent Pending.

Vociferously,
E.M. Keen, Ltd, Prefect-at-Large
AtoZ Langevin, Curator

Jeremiah Johnson Tonight, 11-9

2006-11-08T10:27:00.000-05:00

JEREMIAH JOHNSON
starring Robert Redford

Showing at Gailor Auditorium at 8pm tonight, Wednesday!!!!

The Natural History Society invites one and all to rally around the
stalwart pinnacle of spirit, Jeremiah of the Johnsons, who forsook his
cosseted life for an incredible adventure in the netherregions of the
Rocky Mountains.

For free!!!

I mean, the guy is like a bear.

Unflinchingly,
B.L. Padgett, esq., Patrician
E.M. Keen, Ltd, Prefect-at-Large
S. Hardage, Fellow

A Message from John Muir

2006-10-20T10:28:00.002-04:00

Upon return from our most recent visit to the Yeatman's glorious abode, I was inspired to look up a few writings from the naturalist John Muir (Harry has a book signed by this late awe-inspiring Scotsman), and the following excerpts caught my fancy:

"I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do."

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."

"How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!"

Empidonax and Scarabidae,
E. M. Keen, Prefect-at- Large, Ltd.

Eureka! Audubon in the Archives!

2006-10-18T18:23:00.000-04:00

Greetings, naturalists.
As I was perusing the shelves of the archives today, my gaze became fixed upon what might be the most awe-inspiring art of any naturalist ever. On the second floor of the archives, atop the billiards table, sits six enormous volumes of the artistic works of the late John James Audubon. I would estimate 4.5ft x 3ft each, these massive collections of impeccable ornithological records of the Birds of North America in brilliant color may have changed my life forever. I don't know if you have already visited these works of art in the archives, but if you have not, prepare yourself and do so immediately. I am not sure about the archives' morning hours, but it is open from 1-4:30 every weekday. For those who don't know, the archives are located in the old fraternity house between DuPont, the PPS offices and Snowden. Enjoy!
-E.M. Keen, Prefect-at-Large, Ltd.

To the trees

2006-10-13T19:01:00.000-04:00

The Society has initiated its erstwhile autumnal excursion to the Carolinian woods. We will be unavailable until tuesday, due to extreme Natural History Overload Syndrome (ENHOS). We're having more fun than you.

Seriously,
B.L. Padgett, esq., Patrician.

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SALAMANDER ALERT

2006-10-10T21:41:00.000-04:00

Remain vigilant as the week progresses, as the time is ripe for viewing sexually active members of the polyphyletic clade Amphibia. Green and Marbled salamanders are making their annual run for the procreative borders and will be out in the open and congregated as at no other time. An impromptu nighttime oppoprtunity to see these fabled creatures may take place at Dr. Evan's bluffside house following any significant rain. Be ready at a moment's notice.

Regards
B.L. Padgett, esq., Patrician.

A True Naturalist

2006-10-10T21:36:00.000-04:00

The Society has been invited to the home of Harry and Jean Yeatman, imminent scholars of Natural History with over 170 combined years of experience in the field. This dynamic duo dusted doubtlessly with difinitive wisdom about the Cumberland Plateau and its environs will host an open house for Society Fellows and Affiliates Thursday, 19 October at 5 o'clock. Comprehensive insect collections, timeless stories, and snake trapping are on the adgenda. A chariot will be provided by the Society to convey us en masse. Watch for detailed updates.

Uproariously,
B.L. Padgett, Patrician.

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Meeting Tonight.

2006-10-09T11:07:00.000-04:00

Please join the Sewanee Natural History Society tonight at 7:30 in the Torian Room of the Library for our second official meeting of the semester. We will be hearing field updates from a few guests, and our upcoming fall break trip as well as other excursions will be discussed.

2006-10-05T14:58:00.000-04:00

Edible Plants

2006-10-05T14:57:00.001-04:00

Hey guys: here is an awesome database for edible plants. Go to the bottom of the page, you can search by latin or common name and see the edibility of many of our flora. It gives you medicinal and edibililty uses too, and other cool facts. Its pretty neato.-Angiosperm

www.pfaf.org

Treasure Acquired, Owls Desired.

2006-10-03T10:44:00.000-04:00

Mercenaries hired by the Society's executive committee last Friday to aid in a "Fund-raising operation" have just informed me that their raid on the office of the Treasury, 112 Carnegie Hall, University of the South, has been a success. According to their calculations, over two-thousand American dollars' worth of solid gold bars, platinum records, silver spittoons and alma rodochrosites were pillaged from the building as it smoldered on the quad. As Patrician and Fellow-in-good-standing in the Society, I hereby annex these funds in the name of the Naturale History Society. Our pockets are now full, friends, and we will soon reap the benefits of our present loadedness. First on the adgenda will be the acquisition of a noble wooden trunk to serve as the Society's Canopus. If you have any information that may lead to the apprehension of such, please report to the Patrician's office, 114 Morgan's Steep Road, as soon as possible so we can go buy the bastard. Applications or supplications for the allocation of funds from the Society's now cavernous and overflowing vaults of sheer opulence may be obtained from and made to the Patrician.

ALSO: do not neglect to remember not to forget to attend the imminent post-meridial OWL RECONNISANCE excursion tonight at Morgan's Steep. We will ply that cavernous black for members of the Strigidae and will engage, by way of digital recording and subsequent broadcast, in auditory ping-pong with same. Please plan to rendezvous with E.M. Iralu, Viceroy and A. Lange, Curator, tonight at 8:30 for maximum satisfaction. I suggest you bring a luminous electrochemically powered photonic projection device or night-vision goggles, which we will probably soon be providing to all members along with hovercrafts.

Ensconced in silken riches,
B.L. Padgett, esq., Patrician.

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Rather Like A Dream

2006-10-02T21:25:00.000-04:00

A glorious Sunday hike to Raven Point!

Raven Point

an ant carrying a spider along a twig

saddlebags caterpillar

a snail

Rattlesnake Plantain

Rattlesnake Plantain

Hearts-a-bustin

Pipsissewa

Soapwort Gentian

I walk in the mountain woods,
...season
When the first maple leaf falls red, the first

Beech leaf gold.

I stand, hands at sides, and wonder,
Wonder if I should put out a hand to touch

Tree or stone--just to know.

(Robert Penn Warren)

Money, it's a gas.

2006-10-02T09:18:00.000-04:00

We are waiting poised on pins and needles following friday's interview with the AFC funding committee - a petition was put forward by the Society for an undisclosed figure for the general operations and equipment budgets for the Society's continued forays into the ubelievably naturale world. The results of the Patrician's pleas will be ascertained by SPO mail later in the day. Remain tuned to learn the riveting conclusion to this saga. '...no surprise if they're giving none away.'

Trepidaciously,
B.L.P., Esq.

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A Hike from Fiery Gizzard to Raven Point

2006-09-29T10:58:00.000-04:00

HIKE to BEAUTIFUL RAVEN POINT!

You esteemed leaders:
E.M. Keen, Ltd., x2669
J.D. Trimble, esq., x2204

When? SUNDAY, October 1st, Leaving the BC at 8am
Who? the NATURALE HISTORY SOCIETY and the SOP!
Meet where? At the B.C.!!!
Sign up outside the SOP office!

The Sewanee Naturale History Society (SNHS) and the SOP (SOP) invite you
to join us for a Glorious 9-mile Hike (G9MH) this coming weekend. What a
perfect way to celebrate the arrival of October with an insanely beautiful
hike! We shall begin at Fiery Gizzard (FG), making our way through the
hemlocks and cedars to historic Raven Point (RP), a lookout over a
enormous chasm of cove forest and valley mist. On the way, we will be
catching insects, checking out fungi, looking at the fall migrant birds,
and breathing in that cool fall air. And if that isn't enough, I mention
again the heart-stopping, jaw-dropping, tear-wrenching vista at Raven
Point, where I assure you the secrets of life (SOL) will be revealed to us
all. Come, join us, for the Hike of a Lifetime (HOAL).
Questions? Contact your fearless leaders!
Don't forget to sign up (DFSU)!

A message from E.M. Keen, Ltd., Prefect-at-Large

Bug Out a success.

2006-09-28T21:33:00.000-04:00

Despite the threat of schlocky conditions, a contingent of arthropod aficionados swept the atimbrous airport premises for insects this afternoon. Representatives from the hemipterans were notably common nestled in the flowering forbs. A wacky good time was had by all. Said one K.S. Zigler, Ph.,D., regarding some of the competing arachnid life in the verd: "You never know how many of those little green spiders there are until you drag a net through the grass...but it's approximately a Jillion." Pictures will be added as they become available - the intrepid tri-cycle conductress, Lyn Hutchinson, was on hand to document the Society's latest romp.

Boisterously,
B.L. Padgett, esq. Patrician.

2006-09-28T17:34:00.000-04:00

Found an old well at the top of the watershed. Iron loops at the lip of the well for ropes that would suspend containers down into the well.

Giant eastern sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) swallows Rex. Perhaps a record diameter for the Domain. Matt is only hugging a quarter of the circumference!

Mary Priestley lead us to a spectacular waterfall that drops into an open sinkhole. Unfortunately not much water flowing in the drought. This may be one of the tallest waterfalls on the Domain. It is in an obscure corner of the Domain. Come to the Landscape Lab to see its location on a GIS map.

Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), a tall-grass prairie species (its taller than Alfire!), is common in the powerline glade.

Open glade along TVA powerline opening below the Cross. Lots of prairie species. Great botanical spot on the Domain!

Plant systematics class explores another obscure location on the Domain.... This time we headed down over the mountain below the Cross to pole 75 along the TVA powerline cut and then up the adjacent watershed.

2006-09-27T18:29:00.000-04:00

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves"

-John Muir

Bug Out ! Thursday.

2006-09-27T16:37:00.000-04:00

Join us this Thursday afternoon at 5:15 as we pursue those flighty arthropods known to the Entomologically inclined as insects. Our confidential sources have indicated that excellent hunting is to be had on the grounds of the Sewanee Airport. We will spend an happy hour at the chase, so bring those articles most suited for a romp in the merry grasses of the field.
Nets will be provided by the illustrious Dr. K. Zigler of the Department of Small Reproductive Crawling Entities. Following the hunt, there will be an insect pinning and curation session in the Laboratory, during which time we will enjoy the rousing filmograhphic comments of a one Mr. David Attenborough. Report to the Woods Laboratory Circle (library side) at the appointed time to participate.

Hexapodally,

B.L. Padgett, esq., Patrician.
E.M. Keen, ltd., Prefect-at-Large.
J.D. Trimble XVI, Curator.

Owling at the Steep

2006-09-26T14:59:00.000-04:00

Next Tuesday, October the 3rd, Angie and Elspeth are going owling at Morgan's Steep. Please join us at the Steep at 8:30 P.M. We won't be going far, but you might want to bring a flashlight and dress warmly. Angie wants to let you know that she didn't have a headlamp last year and she ran into a tree. We will use recorded owl calls to call owls and spot them with a large spotlight. This event will last from 30 minutes to one hour. Hope you can make it!

Last night's meeting

2006-09-26T14:40:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting last night. We got a lot of work done. In the future, we'll have fewer things to go over and meetings will be a lot shorter. Some of the things we talked about are:

Fall Break Trip: We voted to go backpacking in Joyce Kilmer in North Carolina for Fall Break. A lot of people signed up, so if you want to go, contact Luke or me as soon as possible. To those of you who have signed up, we'll let you know when we plan the details of the trip.

Upcoming trips: We will post announcements on the blog for each of these trips, but here's a quick summary

Bird walk, this thursday at 8 A.M., meet in front of Woods
Bug Out, this thursday at 5:15 P.M., meet in front of Woods
Owling, Tuesday, Oct 3, at 8:30 P.M., meet at Morgan's Steep

Dr. Potter offered to take a group to Lost Cove this fall. We'll let you know when we can go. Potter also suggested that we have an evening to play music one night this fall.

We appointed Luke Padgett as Patrician (plainly, president), Elspeth Iralu as Viceroy (vice pres), and Angie Langevin and John Trimble as Curators (documenters of trips).

The biodiversity spotlight focused on the praying mantis and copperhead snake.
(Note: Dr. Shaver, Luke, and I released the snake in the woods this morning.)

Please come to our next meeting in two weeks to share your ideas for trips and projects.

Fall 2006 Meeting Schedule

2006-09-26T12:46:00.000-04:00

Dearest Natural Historians,

I have just spoken with an esteemed colleague at the Dupont Library who has granted us access to the Torian Room for meetings on the following nights:

Monday, October 9
Monday, October 23
Monday, November 6
Monday, November 20
Monday, December 4

All meetings will commence at 7:30 P.M.

Yours Sincerely,

E. Iralu

Canoe Trip Photos

2006-09-26T12:07:00.000-04:00

Paddling in the pure waters of Woods Res. 300ish cattle egrets, 8 or so little blue herons, a few black-crowned night herons, black terns, a caspian tern, green and great blue herons. A plume-aceous time was had by all. Aug 31 2006.

The next generation of twisted hook-tooths (Agkistrodon contortrix)

2006-09-26T11:53:00.000-04:00

Don't Miss Fall Migration

2006-09-25T23:26:00.000-04:00

The illustrious curator Angela Langevin and viceroy Elspeth Iralu invite you to join them for a Bird Walk on Thursday, September 28, 2006. Please meet the Natural History Society fellows at 8:00 A.M. on the rotund drive in front of Wood's Lab. This expedition to observe the birds of central campus will last precisely one hour. Binoculars will be provided to those without them.

Meeting Tonight

2006-09-25T11:02:00.000-04:00

To all:
Please join us in the Torian Room tonight at 7:30 for the first semesterly meeting of the Society. We will discuss our fall break trip and other matters of Natural Historical importance. Come in for free coffee, and to see the 30-foot tall backsass-squatch known as E.M. Keen, recently captured in middle Tennessee.

yours,
B.L.P., esq. Patrician

Lisegang Banding in the Pwp.

2006-09-24T21:26:00.000-04:00

This is a really cool set of liesgang bands in the Warren Point sandstone in Collins Gulf. Luke and I saw them last week while hiking with Dr. Potter and another local geologist. They were inside a small man-made addit that was likely mined at one time by American Idians for red iron-oxide pigments (hematite and limonites). There is a smaller possibilty that it was a micro-scale iron mine. Its exact use remains uncertain.
Lisegang banding is still a mystery for geologists. They are one of those things we see every day around here, but have very litle concrete evidence on how exactly they form. Independant study, anyone?

2006-09-21T19:39:00.000-04:00

Intrepid botanical explorers: Rex, Matt, Erin and Alfire

Whoa! Erin almost got intimate with this timber rattler down there...

Nodding onion (Allium cernuum) from a limestone outcrop in the Shakerag Addition. New species for the Domain!! We found six new plant species for Domain down there today!!

Check out this Giant Swallowtail laying eggs on a hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata) leaf...

Hey Natural History Fans!

Plant Systematics class saw some great natural history today deep down in the Shaekrag Addition. See above pics

Dr E

Good To Go.

2006-09-20T21:39:00.000-04:00

The Sewanee Natural History Society has just been granted recognition and approval by the Student Assembly as a bonafide campus organization. In a unanimous vote, the Society was transformed from a bunch of kids who like the woods to a bunch of kids who like the woods and can get money for it. Hooray for us -
Yet another reason to come to Monday's meeting.
overjoyed,
B.L.P., e: P

Savage Gulf

2006-09-20T20:50:00.000-04:00

Today saw two SNHS members in Savage Gulf exploring with that Baron of the Past, Bran Potter. John found this Colyopterid on a sidetrack. The forked fungus beetle (Bolitotherus cornutus) now resides in the entomology lab.

Meeting Monday, 9/25

2006-09-19T18:30:00.000-04:00

I am pleased to announce that our Viceroy, Ms. E.M. Iralu has secured the austere Torian Room on the upper floor of the library for our first official meeting. Present yourself on Monday, 25 September at 7:30 PM to enjoy the company of the Society's fellows. This convergence will be key to shaping our efforts over the coming semester, so I hope you can all find the time. The Society will convene for no more than an hour. Topics up for discussion will include the upcoming fall break trip as well as other excursions, the society's motto, and large colorful moths. Refreshments will be available, n'oubliez pas vos vêtements.

by Darwin's Ghost,
B.L. Padgett, Patrician.

Swifts

2006-09-18T23:22:00.000-04:00

Our chimney swift check was successful tonight. After watching about 150 of the buggers dive into Canon's smokepipes, the dorm seems even more overcrowded.

Welcome

2006-09-18T23:04:00.000-04:00

This is the Curator. The name comes from the title of the person who cares for an institution's collections. The blog shares this title with one of the officers in the Society. In this case, the collection is the sum of the Sewanee Natural History Society's activities, data and photos. Check here for information on upcoming expeditions or use it to post pictures from past activities.