Skippers out and about. Like tiny flying Persian carpets.

An ambitious leafcutter bee struggles to transport her especially hefty cargo. For some reason this reminds me of visiting a bookstore.

Multiple dragonfly species have been breeding in the backyard pond for several years, but this is the first year I’ve repeatedly witnessed and documented the egg-laying process in the moment.

An ambitious leafcutter bee struggles to transport her especially hefty cargo. For some reason this reminds me of visiting a bookstore.

Multiple dragonfly species have been breeding in the backyard pond for several years, but this is the first year I’ve repeatedly witnessed and documented the egg-laying process in the moment.

Chickadees enjoying a summer spritz as I water the plants

Beelysian fields

Good morning from me and this gorgeous Nevada bumblebee, one of the two largest bumblebee species in North America

One plant, 15+ visiting insect species: the power of a native bloomer! This Douglas aster is one of the most popular plants in the garden right now, enticing a diverse entourage of bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, and more. It will keep blooming into October, providing vital late-season resources.

A dragonfly — likely a cardinal meadowhawk — laying eggs in our pond! I slowed down the video a bit so you can get a better look at the telltale tail-dipping behavior. Dragonfly larvae/nymphs spend ~several months to five years underwater before climbing ashore and molting into a winged adult.

A Cooper’s hawk landed on our roof yesterday, the 2nd especially large & magnificent bird to grace our home, following the Great Blue Heron earlier this year. I believe this means we have been accepted by avian kind & officially initiated into HAWK: Human Allies of Winged Kreatures — a great honor.

Crouching Gardener, Hidden Dragon

BREAKING: Orcas have invented the piscine piñata

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2w ago

Marine biologists in Mexico captured video of the brutal way that killer whales hunt sunfish. With an unusual maneuver, the orcas pulverize the giants. nyti.ms/4whZsZ8

This week in the garden: Glittering green cuckoo wasp graces dried leaf Bumblebee traffic jam among the Nasturtium Astata wasp surveys domain from poppy perch Longhorn bee fits, thus sits

With its magnificent monoliths, foggy forests, shapeshifting sand dunes, and teeming tide pools, the Oregon coast is one of my favorite places on Earth. Over the weekend, during low tide, some friends showed us their favorite spot to observe the soggy and spectacular cosmos of seashore life.

Honored to be a small part of this extraordinary and enlightening compilation, edited by @siricarpenter.bsky.social and featuring contributors like @edyong209.bsky.social @maryroach.bsky.social @sabs.bsky.social @bengoldfarb.bsky.social @amymaxmen.bsky.social and more!

The Open Notebook@theopennotebook.bsky.social · 2w ago

Our new book is out today! Edited by our own @siricarpenter.bsky.social, the collection contains 11 exemplary science stories with commentary. Thank you to our authors and annotators, @sloanfoundation.bsky.social, and @uchicagopress.bsky.social. Order here: www.theopennotebook.com/the-best-sci...

Sometimes dragons deign to let you approach

Now in print. Thank you so much to everyone who read and shared the story — it generated a big response! More than 26K likes on Instagram, more than 700 comments on the NYT website, a lot of reader emails — a truly spirited discussion. Plants provoke our passions.

Ferris Jabr@ferrisjabr.bsky.social · 4w ago

For the @nytimes.com Magazine, I wrote about the increasingly fervent native plant movement; its esteemed guru, the entomologist and bestselling author Douglas Tallamy; and the complexities of ecologically responsible gardening in our modern era. Gift link 🎁 : www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/m...

Major Pollinators Ranked by Overall Importance 1. Bees 🐝 2. Flies 🪰 3. Beetles 🪲 4. Moths 🌙🦋 5. Wasps 🐝▶️◀️ 6. Butterflies 🌞🦋 7. Birds 🐦‍⬛ 8. Mammals 🦇 9. Reptiles 🦎 10. Ants 🐜 That's my rough draft, mostly as a fun exercise and thought experiment. I'll add some notes below. What would you change?

Alex Wild@alexwild.bsky.social · 3w ago

Pet peeve of mine, but butterflies are really not important pollinators, most of them. They are pretty, yes. But they are nowhere near as important as flies and beetles and bees.

It’s cloudy and drizzly and this adorable fuzzy longhorn bee is sheltering in a dahlia 🥹

Clearing out the birdhouse in which the black-capped chickadees nested and successfully fledged. Absolutely PACKED floor to ceiling with a spongy, soft, highly compressible mattress of moss, plant fibers, and animal fur. Think of all the foraging required to make that!

‘Scuse me! Coming through!

Much of the time, I’m unimpressed with these supposedly intelligent algorithms that routinely offer me things in which I have little to no interest or overlook something I would absolutely love. Every now and then, though, they are almost eerily precise.

We’re excited to have “Mind Blender” by @ferrisjabr.bsky.social (first seen in @nytimes.com Magazine) with annotations by Bijal P. Trivedi in our new book, The Best Science Stories and How They Work. Pre-order here: www.theopennotebook.com/the-best-sci...

Ever seen a twerking bee who looks like she just took a bath in a bowl of cheese puffs? Probably the superpollinator that is the leafcutter bee! Whereas honeybees pack moistened pollen into dense balls on their legs, leafcutters store it loosely across their fuzzy bellies. That means…

I decided to try making one of the latest summer culinary fads: Sicilian watermelon pudding. Verdict: really good! Simple, light, tangy, highlighting an underused flavor. Also spotted some fresh blackcurrants at the store and made my version of Ribena. Perfect for seltzer and cocktails.

The black-capped chickadees that nested in our garden have successfully fledged! Despite daily surveillance, I unfortunately missed the moment of departure. Since then, however, they’ve visited the garden several times, looking extra bright and fluffy, as though freshly groomed.

For the @nytimes.com Magazine, I wrote about the increasingly fervent native plant movement; its esteemed guru, the entomologist and bestselling author Douglas Tallamy; and the complexities of ecologically responsible gardening in our modern era. Gift link 🎁 : www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/m...

I Wanted an Ecologically Responsible Garden. It Was Harder Than I Thought.

nytimes.com

1/3 WHOA! 😍 Just observed a white-lined sphinx moth flying through the garden for the first time! They’re also known as hawkmoths / hummingbird moths bc they’re so large that you could mistake them for a bird! By far the largest native moth to visit the garden. In fact, I think it’s breeding here! …