Words and photos by Melissa McMasters I’ll admit it: today’s look at the creatures of the Old Forest is a bit of an image rehab project. When most of us think about wasps, we think about the paper wasps that build their nests on our
Today we welcome a special guest author to #NatureZen. Dr. Ronné Adkins is the Memphis Field Office Regional Director of External Affairs for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. He has over fifteen years of experience in public service and the environmental field. Dr. Adkins earned
Words and photos by Melissa McMasters On July 14, I was taking a masked-up walk through the Old Forest with one of our favorite Overton Park alumni, Brooks Lamb. (Here’s where I put in a plug for his book, Overton Park: A People’s History, which
words and photos by Melissa McMasters Happy National Moth Week, everyone! This week we celebrate the beauty and life cycle of an organism with more than 150,000 species worldwide. Because most moths are nocturnal, there are a vast number of species that we may encounter only
Today, we’re thrilled to have a guest edition of #NatureZen by Dr. Sinlan Poo, a Research Scientist at the Memphis Zoo. Dr. Poo is a behavioral ecologist who is broadly interested in parental care, predator-prey interactions, reproductive ecology, and reintroduction biology. Though her research is primarily focused on
words and photos by Melissa McMasters Today we’re looking at some tiny jumping insects: the leafhoppers. Despite the name, they’re not closely related to grasshoppers–the main distinctions are size (leafhoppers are only a few centimeters long) and the way their mouths work. Grasshoppers bite and
words and photos by Melissa McMasters For this edition of #NatureZen, we’re traveling a bit beyond the borders of Overton Park. To find the delicate creatures we’re admiring today, we need access to water, especially rivers and streams. Choose a spot along the Wolf River
words + photos by Melissa McMasters; comic by Rosemary Mosco of Bird and Moon In your recent outdoor wanderings, you may have come across one of spring’s great gifts: the baby bird! Many of our resident songbirds are busy raising their young right now, training
by Melissa McMasters, Conservancy Director of Communications “Everything’s connected.” This phrase is never more true than when we’re examining ecosystems, and how every organism depends on another for its survival. Trees and flowers need insects to carry their pollen to other plants in order to
To celebrate #GivingTuesdayNow, Melissa and Fields held a birding Big Day with a goal of identifying 65 bird species in the park in a single day. Here’s an archive of what we found. (Remember to make your gift to support the care of our incredible
