Category Archives: backyard fauna
Bejeweled Insects
Every so often, dear readers, the author of BV is struck positively speechless (shocking, I know) by an image from the animal world. In this case, these include the images of Miroslaw Swietek , Martin Amm, and Jens Kolk (see a sample of … Continue reading
Filed under backyard fauna, the strange and the beautiful
Petaluma Bird Sanctuary Threatened
There is a new asphalt plant planned for a site along the Petaluma River. GOOD NEWS, right!? Industry, new jobs in a ravaged marketplace… But, in this case, the costs may be too high. Because in this case, the proposed … Continue reading
Filed under backyard fauna, endangered species, human behavior, Uncategorized
I dig on Swine… Hackers?
The author woudl like to draw your attention, dear readers, to these porcine smartypants. Smartypanteses? In any case. Also note the swingin’ soundtrack.
Filed under backyard fauna, pink animal league, Uncategorized
G.I. Joe: Proud Patriot Pigeon
It is not a frequent occurence, in the part of the country in which the author of BV was raised (and where the spirit of the American nineteen-sixties still rules) for the US military to recieve much fanfare, or … Continue reading
Banana Slug: “hard” life.
Beloved by alumni of UC Santa Cruz, banana slugs seem to have a pretty good thing going. Sure, they’re slow and eat detritus on the forest floor. But they’re beloved. …Just, you know, not by each other. In fact, … Continue reading
A Welshman, 200 sheep, and 1000 LEDs walk into a bar…
What do you get when you combine welsh shepherds, sheep, herding dogs, electricians, lighting techs, and copius light emitting diodes? Genius. Dear Readers, we don’t CARE if this is a thinly veiled advertisement. This is, very simply put, the best. … Continue reading
Parasitic Wasps, part deux
A friend to BV has alerted the author to the following video, as a follow-up to a recent posting on parasitic wasps. His advice? Not to watch this while eating lunch. Dear readers, heed this wise man’s advice. But *do* watch. The … Continue reading
Undead Spiders Survive Mass Drowning.
The author of BV, dear readers, is not happy. She is, in fact, deeply, deeply troubled. And all because what she is about to report confirms her deepest suspicions about order Araneae; spiders are, in fact, evil minions of the undead sent … Continue reading
Cane toads just can’t catch a break
Once upon a time, 101 Cane toads were deliberately introduced to Australia, under the premise that they would eat the beetles ruining the sugar cane crops, ridding the farmers and population of a costly pest. Yet as we have learned time and … Continue reading
The life of the leaf-cutter ant: miss lonelyhearts OR sapphic smithii?
Leaf-cutter ants, or so they say, are all female. According to a National Geographic article, these ladies ”thrive without sex of any kind—ever.” As evidence of this essential sexlessness, scientists cite the fact that leafcutters have evolved to the point that they … Continue reading
Blatant Animal Exploitation.
These animalian commercials were produced by Capitalist Pigs. Get it? Pigs? … the author of BV apologizes. That joke was not funny. Hopefully, these will be…
Exploding frogs (as per request)
Well, dear readers, I have recieved my first command performance, and am more than happy to oblige. Here they are, the amazing, exploding frogs. FUNNY, dark, and clearly not American-made… VERSUS … just plain sick. You can complain … Continue reading
Filed under backyard fauna, human behavior, Phobia-inducing, Uncategorized
Ichneumon wasps: evidence against religion or just mean sons of Bi*%*!s ?
Darwin once offered the ichneumon wasp as proof against the central tenets of natural theology, which believed in the creation of all living things by a benevolent god. Expressing his opinion in a letter to American botanist Asa Gray, Darwin wrote: ”I cannot persuade myself that … Continue reading
Filed under backyard fauna, parasites, Phobia-inducing
every dog has its day… off
and so does B.V. Come back tomorrow for something worth looking at. For today, consider this: If you were a bee, you could get your legs chewed off for drinking your evening beer.
Hercules Beetle: natural prey of the Stymphalian birds?*
The Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules) is perhaps the most immediately recognizable of the rhinoceros beetles; it’s propensity for epic battles and family tragedies in the Grecian vein, though less well known, is among the beetle’s most prominent characteristics. Male beetles, for instance, often use their prominent … Continue reading
