Natural Wonders

A surprising partnership benefitting native insects is discussed in this essay, between The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and General Mills, (yes that General Mills,  Cheerios origins are now better than you might think). 

This essay is by Anna Murray, a senior pollinator habitat specialist and Food Systems and Living Farms Project lead with the Xerces Society. I'm reading from the Fall 2025 issue of Wings, a quarterly publication of the Xerces Society. (check out xerces.org)

Fire is vital for maintaining biodiverse healthy prairies, oak woodlands, wetlands and savannahs. Let's hear what the experts have to say. This is a season where you might see white smoke in the distance and if you follow to it, you'll find a dedicated crew, trained to have a safe, well prepared, prescribed burn.

Today essays on the life of Wendell Berry who died August 31 2026. I read the obituary from the NY Times by Robert McFadden and a reflection,, by Barbara Kingsolver about her friend and mentor.

Wolves and coyotes and livestock predation, as seen from researchers point of view that reveals that killing of both these animals does not lessen the killing of livestock, and may increase livestock predation by unknowlingly killing wolves and coyotes that are living in harmony with livestock producers, disrupting the social structure of the families, and many other reasons. We so often cause significant problems by our incomplete understanding of the natural world.

Reading for the 8th time from Carl Safina's classic book The View From Lazy Point, A Natural Year in an Unnatural World, 

today parts of the October Chapter. We experience through his words, the thrills of watching peregrine falcons, and his work with them; and then tuna fishing off Long Island and watching migrating birds in the ocean storm.

"Having received great gifts from the ages and the ancestors, we act as though we are a wall against which time suddenly stops."

Reading from Carl Safina's book, published in 2011,The View from Lazy Point; A Natural Year in an Unnatural World; we are in Palau in the western Pacific, meeting the people who have been there for many many generations, facing new problems in a world of rising sea water. 

"Through the silhouettes of mangroves and coconut palms, the moon rises full and lovely. But that moon pulls a pucker of sea around the world, and as the tide rises we watch Leonard's backyard disappear. Soon he and his neighbors are sloshing around in shin-deep saltwater that rises up the wheels of parked cars and laps at front doors."

More from The View from Lazy Point; A Natural Year in an Un natural World, by Carl Safina, we are in the ocean around the islands of Palau, the abundance of life in the reefs at Palau are described beautifully, as only Safina can write, and we meet scientists who study this area.

"...Bob says, 'More kinds of corals live right here on this patch than in the entire Caribbean.' Van Woesik amplifies: 'actually there are more species of  hard corals growing on the concrete dock at the lab - I've actually counted - than in the whole Caribbean"  ~~why is abundance??

Dave Krier speaks with Stanley Temple about the Endangered Species Act and Roadless Rule. How they were originally conceived and implemented, and are now being changed under the current administration.

A tropical fishes collecting trip for an aquarium, we travel not to the tropics, but on Long Island, (how could this be in a winter-cold temperate region?) and the icing on this reading is a trip to Palau and the vibrant fishes and reefs there, (and why they do so well).

I'm reading The View From Lazy Point by Carl Safina.

"...pure sensuous detail, seeing the natural world from a variety of angles..." Newsday

We will be standing on the sand at the far eastern point of Long Island, Lazy Point, watching with Carl Safina for the birds coming on the wind from the north, heading  south and stopping to feed up on insects and fish , which are in abundance. 

Reading The View from Lazy Point; A Natural Year in an Unnatural World, migration is starting to grow.