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“What’s this shiny black beetle with four eyes?” asked Erin Hayes-Pontius, a visiting UVM student, from her microscope. Without glancing up from my own scope I answered, “that’s a whirligig beetle.” Erin’s answer came back: “err, cute … but what’s it really called?”
I will grant you that the name whirligig is a bit odd – particularly when applied to an inert pickled beetle – but there are excellent reasons it. In life, whirligig beetles weave and whirl on pond and river surfaces amongst dozens of their peers. They move like miniature motor boats that appear to lack rudder function. There’s method to this seeming madness. The mesmerizing movement confuses predators, who find it difficult to focus on any one individual. Ecologists call this phenomenon predator dilution. It’s like the old joke about the two friends and the tiger: “I don’t need to outrun the tiger, I just need to outrun you!” » Continue Reading.
The Albany Institute of History & Art is set to host Rebecca Bedell, associate Professor of Art at Wellesley College, on Sunday, October 14 at 2 pm for a lecture on the Hudson River School movement and their relation to America’s national parks. The lecture is included with museum admission. Space is limited and attendees will receive a wristband at the admission desk the day of the lecture. 
Over the years I have put my canoe into the waters at Low’s Lower Dam (constructed 1907); and paddled the meandering Bog River Flow up to Hitchins Pond.
The 27th Annual Whiteface Mountain Oktoberfest is set for this weekend, Sept. 22-23.
NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery has announced “Back to the Future,” an exhibit by Heidi Gutersloh and David Woodward. The opening reception has been set for Friday, October 5, from 5 to 7 pm at 11 Woodruff Street, Saranac Lake.
September is the peak of autumn bird migration, and billions of birds are winging their way south in dramatic pulses. A new study published in the journal Science reports that scientists can now reliably predict these waves of bird migration up to seven days in advance. The study details the underlying methods that power migration forecasts, which can be used as a bird conservation tool.
Cornell Cooperative Extension have announced a Shiitake Mushroom Cultivation Workshop has been set for Saturday, September 29, from 10 am to 1 pm, at Paul Smith’s College VIC; 8023 State Route 30; Paul Smiths.
The Adirondack History Museum has announced their annual Historian’s Day event has been set for Friday, October 12th, from 10 am to 2 pm. This years theme is “Researching Diversity in the Adirondacks” and will feature three guest presenters. 
Many nightshades are safe and delicious, and go well in sandwiches and sauces. A few are deadly, dished up mainly by criminals, but most occupy a gray area between these two extremes. Worldwide, there are around 2,700 shades of nightshade, a family known to Latin geeks as Solanaceae. The family comprises tasty crops like tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers, and tomatillos. It is also composed in part by jimsonweed and other shady characters which have wrought mayhem and death, both accidental and intentional, throughout history.
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