Occasional Invaders It’s a great big world of critters all around us! The more one looks around, the more insects one will see. Some insects observed are small pollinators, some are garden insects who control pests which may be harmful to your plants, and some are true pests to your home and family. All have
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Humans are not the only species who are vulnerable to illness. In fact, humans are not alone in acknowledging the presence of infectious pathogens in our individual members. Furthermore, humans are not the only species with plans on how to deal with pathogens before they break out into epidemics or pandemics. Other species, including those
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Tap, scratch, crinkle, and crunch… There’s little more annoying in life than a persistent, unreachable noise coming from inside your walls or ceiling. It may be at night or during the day, but the question remains: What is it!? And once the agent of the noise has been determined, how to make it stop? Let’s
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The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the buzz of the cicadas, and the peep of the chorus frog… These are the sounds of summer in New England. Cicadas occupy a sub-group of Hemiptera called Homoptera. Hemiptera are the “true bug” group and consists of leafhoppers, aphids, cicadas, bed bugs, and shield
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In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, spiders are everywhere! In fact, worldwide they are everywhere! Worldwide, over 40,000 species of spiders have been identified and named, and likely more than three times that number are still yet to be named. In North America, around 3,700 species occur, but only a small portion of these actually are found
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A fly buzzing around your home is often a nuisance unparalleled by almost any other annoyance. While the kids may enjoying fluttering around the house with swatter in hand, the novelty usually tires before the flies do. And when the family is resting, but the stridulation from our two winged nemesis persists, one three-lettered word
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It sounds like you are seeing a couple of different dermestid beetles. Dermestid beetles, also known as Skin Beetles, are a family of beetles who vary in their behavior, but are commonly considered to be scavengers. These beetles feed on dead vegetable and animal matter, often infesting hides of animals and beneficially removing the material.
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March is the month of the official start of spring. In new England, that means we keep one eye open looking for the next storm of the century, as many have occurred in the first part of March, and one eye on the Crocus and Daffodils peaking through the soil, signaling the upcoming new life
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Migration to warmer climates Famously, the Monarch Butterfly migration is investigated by researchers and amateur lepidopterists alike. The migration from Canada and the Northern United States occurs in the fall by a single generation of adult butterflies. An adult butterfly lives for only about four to five weeks. In this time, the generation of migrating
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