Author Archives: andrew

Blue-jeans frog

The local population of Oophaga pumilio are called ‘rana blue-jeans’ for obvious reasons. We hear them often, and occasionally spot one just before it ducks under a leaf. I was lucky to find an angle where I could see this … Continue reading

Posted in critters | Leave a comment

Yellow-throated toucan

A crowd of these wakes me up most mornings. They seem to like to sit on trees opposite from each other and have yelling contests. I don’t mind, most of the time!

Posted in critters | Leave a comment

Oprah says

I was just reading about Central American stingless bees a few days ago, and just now I spotted what looked like an abandoned chunk of electrical conduit sticking out of a tree. Turns out, bees made that conduit!

Posted in critters | Leave a comment

Finca Isla, again

Years later, we are back visiting Finca Isla in San Carlos, Costa Rica. I have taken very very many photos and videos, and am going to dump some here. Does this mean I’m going revive this blog? Probably not, but … Continue reading

Posted in critters, travel | Leave a comment

Kleptoplastastic

My marine tank is looking pretty dismal — the coral are chronically unhappy and there’s way too much algae. For a while I was secretly nurturing hair algae so I would have an excuse to buy some Elysia slugs. Elysia … Continue reading

Posted in critters | Leave a comment

Finca Isla in Aguas Zarcas

We’re spending the week at a guest house in Costa Rica. It’s been very rainy but that hasn’t deterred the wildlife so I’ve been sitting on the front porch watching the bird feeder. Our host asked me to email her … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Polyps A-Plenty

I spent quite a while this weekend talking to Fritz, Will, and Candy about my tiny corals and, more generally, the complicated symbiotic relationships that allow lots of sea creatures to be mostly solar-powered rather than gut powered. So, mostly … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Flying Foxes at Wolli Creek

I showed up in Sydney wanting to see the flying foxes that lived in the Botanical Gardens, but it turns out that they’ve been driven out in recent years (I guess because all of those tiny feet were wearing out … Continue reading

Posted in critters, travel | Leave a comment

Bugs!

Here, without warning, are some insect photos from the Brule River and Lake Nebagamon. Most of these just showed up at random, but we spent a while stalking the last one, an Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly. They like to hang out … Continue reading

Posted in critters | Leave a comment

A half-finished essay about ‘Ex Machina’

First of all: nothing in Ex Machina resembles a Turing test. Here’s how a Turing test works: There are three participants: Human A, Human B, and an AI. Human A interacts with Human B for a while and the AI … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment