Links that may or may not be related to gardens, food, travel, nature, or heterotopias and liminal spaces but probably are. Sources in parentheses. Unless mentioned, all links should be free of paywalls.
field guide to June (Vermont Center for Ecostudies) This month we look at montane birds like yellow-bellied flycatcher, Bicknell’s thrush, and blackpoll warbler who spend most but not all of their time at higher elevations; white bog orchids and their pollinators; how to help house bats raise their pups.
short article: Scientists Can’t Get Enough of Watching Seagulls Steal Your Food: Birds’ ability to seamlessly swap marine food for a Big Mac—and outwit humans to get it—is a source of fascination (Natasha Dangoor/WSJ – gifted link). “‘If you put something to your mouth, that’s a cue to them that it’s food.’” And check out — and maybe add your observation to — the research website mentioned, Gulls Eating Stuff.
article: Goldenrod Crab Spiders: Masters of Disguise (Lee Toomey/The Outside Story/Northern Woodlands). I love finding these spiders on flowers (including many plants other than goldenrod) and now know a little more about how they change colour and, perhaps, why — though the fact that it can take several days for their colour to change from yellow to white or the reverse makes me wonder.
podcast/highlight notes: Sam Hoadley on Native Plant Trials at Mt. Cuba Center (Jared Barnes/Meristem: The Plantastic Podcast) Get your plant geek on as you listen (1 hour 13 mins) to Hoadley discuss his own history and Mt. Cuba’s, the goals of the trial gardens (“to evaluate plant performance and wildlife value, primarily for the Mid-Atlantic”), how the trials work, cultivar diversity and appropriateness of use, and details of specific trials, data collection, and data analysis. Some plants they have or are trialing include Carex species, Helenium (sneezeweed), Pycnanthemum (mountain mints), Solidago (goldenrod), Asclepias (milkweeds), oakleaf hydrangeas, bluestem grass, Echinacea (which “showed clear pollinator preference for straight species over double-flowered hybrids”), and Amsonia (blue star). You can also read the many highlight notes if you don’t have time to listen to the podcast.
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