GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
Fiery Skipper, Hylephila phyleus.
W. 11th St. Park Butterfly Garden, Houston, Texas.
28 October 2006
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
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Comments
How about this one: Thistle
You may use it with a link back to http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/ how ever you like.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Walter
Sugar Mtn Farm
in Vermont
Posted by: Walter Jeffries | December 26, 2006 5:13 PM
Beautiful photo! Makes me long for spring.
Mimi
Posted by: Mimi | December 27, 2006 8:44 PM
Mimi,
It was 71 degrees in Houston today, so if you long for spring, you could at least get some additional doses of Indian Summer down here. I like Skippers, although in this region some of them are a challenge to identify. The Fiery Skipper and many of our other Skippers uses grasses as their host plant, so Grass Skippers are abundant in cities except where people saturate their yards and vegetation with heavy doses of agricultural chemicals, either through their own endeavors or through commercial lawn services. Mosquito spraying does not help the lep fauna, either, and hardly touches the mosquitoes.
Posted by: biosparite | December 28, 2006 5:43 PM