Tag Archives: conservation

Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

For those of you who plan to be in the Chicago area on Saturday, March 7th, perhaps you’ll be interested in attending the 2009 Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network Annual Indoor Workshop. I’ll be giving a talk entitled, “From Hilltops to … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

We Are Here: The Pale Blue Dot

Posted on January 25, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

This has been around for awhile, but its message is more relevant now than ever. The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of the planet Earth taken in 1990 by Voyager 1 from a record distance of 6.4 billion kilometers … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Superior Scribbler Award

Posted on December 1, 2008 by Ted C. MacRae

Huckleberry at Huckleberry Days recently honored me with a Superior Scribbler Award. Huckleberry maintains an excellent blog about “Biodiversity, conservation, natural history and more, mostly in British Columbia, Canada, mostly in the Fraser River Delta, but sometimes not…” I enjoy … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

A sand prairie autumn

Posted on October 27, 2008 by Ted C. MacRae

Ask any astronomer when autumn begins, and they will likely tell you it begins at the autumnal equinox – when shortening days and lengthening nights become equal as the sun crosses over the celestial equator. According to them, fall began … Continue reading →

Posted in Ascalaphidae, Asilidae, Cicindelidae, Coleoptera, Coreidae, Crabronidae, Diptera, Fabaceae, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Myrmeleontidae, Neuroptera, Poaceae, Polygonaceae, Sphecidae | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

“All the better to see you with, my dear!”

Posted on September 12, 2008 by Ted C. MacRae

Click me! Cicindela formosa (the big sand tiger beetle) is a not uncommon species that occurs across much of North America east of the Rocky Mountains in deep, dry, open sand habitats. It is absent in Appalachia and much of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

The Loess Hills in Missouri

Posted on September 5, 2008 by Ted C. MacRae

The term Mountains in Miniature is the most expressive one to describe these bluffs. They have all the irregularity in shape, and in valleys that mountains have, they have no rocks and rarely timber. – Thaddeus Culbertson, missionary, 1852 One … Continue reading →

Posted in Acrididae, Agavaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Asteraceae, Cerambycidae, Coleoptera, Fabaceae, Orthoptera, Poaceae, Scarabaeidae, Scrophulariaceae | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

The hunt for Cicindela celeripes

Posted on August 9, 2008 by Ted C. MacRae

One of the more enigmatic tiger beetle species in North America is Cicindela celeripes LeConte (swift tiger beetle). This small (6-8 mm), flightless species has been recorded from a restricted area of the eastern and southern Great Plains – from … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicindelidae, Coleoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Sand Prairie Conservation Area

Posted on July 30, 2008 by Ted C. MacRae

I have a love-hate affair with Missouri’s Southeast Lowlands (formally known as the Mississippi River Alluvial Basin, but simply called the “bootheel” by most folk in reference to the shape of its boundaries). Of the four main physiogeographic regions in … Continue reading →

Posted in Asclepiadaceae, Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, Cactaceae, Cerambycidae, Cicindelidae, Coleoptera, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments