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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 16/09/2026

We also saw one yesterday and one of the kids took this photo for me of this little muppet in its tiny cave in a cave

A photo of a cave wall illuminated by a flashlight. There is a hole on the cave wall which a salamander is sticking its head out of

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 16/09/2026

Coming out of my cave to post about some cool salamanders I found in a cave

Despite being found in a cave I think these might be long-tailed salamanders (Eurycea longicauda) and not cave salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga). A photo of two salamanders chillin' in a cave, illuminated by a flashlight. They are sort of an orangey-brown, with spots all over their bodies and long tails

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 09/08/2026

I also met a teeny tiny little moth

A tiny brown moth. It was hanging out on a door just below the latch plate. It was so small that it fit even when the door was closed!

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 09/08/2026

There was a very angry killdeer when I was checking on the mud pit one morning.

A killdeer standing on a giant pile of dirt next to a (not pictured) mud pit, which is a giant pit of muddy water for children to play in

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 11/07/2026

While I was looking at the photos of this friend I had already taken he stuck his head out of the water to give me a gander.

A picture of a juvenile common water snake. It is under the water in a shallow but fast-flowing stream, partially under some rocks. In the bottom of the frame you can see it poking its head out of the water to look at me

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 11/07/2026

Met a lot of interesting friends at camp today!

A spider, probably a common fishing spider given its proximity to the water. Very leggy. Not obvious from this photo but also huge - perhaps 3 inch leg span. Mottled brown with longish body.

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 01/07/2026

On a different note I've been wanting raspberries forever and one has maybe volunteered itself to my yard?

A photo of what is perhaps a young raspberry bush, growing in the shade of another plant

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 01/07/2026

Anyways I was out investigating the various volunteer plants in my front yard. Apps are great for this but not always totally accurate. For instance it can't decide if this is ragweed or mulberry (and I don't know enough to know, myself. If you know please tell me!)

A photo of a leaf. It is strongly lobed. My plant app id'd this photo as giant ragweed

A different photo of the leaves showing their growing habit. There is a long branch with leaves growing off alternate, except the last two are growing together/opposite.

A photo of the stem of this plant near the base, showing both young leaves and older ones

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 01/07/2026

Someone left me a gift on the front porch...

A small cream-colored bird's egg with brown speckles, post-hatching, laying on grey outdoor carpet. The shadow of a fence post crosses the egg aesthetically

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 10/06/2026

I've been hearing/seeing this a lot lately so I kinda want to address it. Contrary to popular belief, opossums don't actually eat all that many ticks! This little bit of misinformation came from a study about black-legged ticks, which cause Lyme disease

A photo of a Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) out and about on a snowy day. It has its head down sniffing for food under some (not pictured) bird feeders

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 27/05/2026

But there is one exception to this! Some members of the family Musophagidae are green due to a pigment called turacoverdin - named for turacos like this white crested turaco (Menelikornis leucotis) I got to meet at a zoo one time

A young turaco, I'm pretty sure a white crested (Menelikornis leucotis) sitting on the edge of a planter at a zoo. He has a green chest and white head with black above his eyes and over his forehead, and a bright yellow beak.

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 20/05/2026

Today at work I spotted these little raccoon tracks! There are tracks from another animal too but I'm not sure what it is.

A pair of animal paw prints in some mud. There is a set that sort of look like human hand prints but with claws - that's a racoon, probably front paws. There is also another, smaller pair of tracks, in nearly the same position but offset enough you can see both kinds clearly. These ones look a little cat-like but are quite tiny.

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 18/05/2026

Today's nature friends are on opposite ends of the camouflage spectrum. Spider pic courtesy of my co-worker whose nature name is Cottontail!

A photo of a spider on a stone wall. The spider is well camouflaged so it blends in, but is holding some kind of prey it just caught. The prey item is black and dark red and stands out a little more.

A white moth on the same stone wall as the spider. Unlike the spider it doesn't even remotely blend in; it is almost entirely white with just a few tiny black spots. It's very fluffy and cute

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 14/05/2026

We also found junior, out looking for some grubs to eat haha

An eastern eyed click beetle larvae, also hanging out on a different rotting old log. The larva is tan with a darker brown head. It looks sort of like a segmented worm except it has legs. It's a little hard to tell but I think it also has big pincers on its head

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 14/05/2026

Today's nature friend was an exciting surprise!

An eastern eyed click beetle (Alaus oculatus) on a rotted old stump. It is a large, long, mostly black beetle. It's sort of mottled with lighter greys, and has two big eye spots.

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 26/04/2026

I wish I'd remembered to get a photo on the day it was raining but the cedar trees near the climbing tower at work had some big cedar apple rust galls on them

A photo of a tree - juniper, I believe - with a cedar apple rust gall nestled between its branches. It's dried out in this photo, but was originally bright orange! It looks like a ball with lots of little floppy spikes sticking out of it, very funky

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 10/04/2026

Since @ethankocak.com's new book The Unfamiliars has now arrived, now seems like a good time to announce Wandering Path Press - a new imprint of Endangered Art Books. Featuring impactful books on various topics, Wandering Path Press is Just for Fun!

A photo of Ethan Kocak's new book The Unfamiliars, with cover art by Syd Moncrief. It features the main character, a black cat named Gram, hanging upside down from a flying broom and reaching to grab her hat. A stick big and salamander ride the broom with her

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 18/03/2026

This friend helpfully posed on my window for several hours. Thanks, friend

A side-by-side comparison of a photo of a mantis of some kind - perhaps a Carolina mantis - standing upside down on a window so that you are viewing it from underneath, and a watercolor painting of the same sans background

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 18/03/2026

This was the first one I did and I realized belatedly it was way too small but at that point I felt committed

A side-by-side comparison of a photo of an American robin sitting on a nest tucked on top of the bend in a rain spout, and a small pencil drawing of the same, sans background. I did draw the nest though. The robin decorated its nest with some nice dried flowers

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 18/03/2026

This friend was very polite even though there was a large group of kids being very loud and trying to poke it (I did not let them)

A side-by-side comparison of a photo of a young common watersnake, and a watercolor painting of the same but without the background. It is curled up in a pile of leaves, probably sunning

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 18/03/2026

Virginia opossum! This friend was hungry enough to come out during the day to scrounge for snacks under some bird feeders

A side-by-side comparison of a photo of an opossum and a pencil drawing of the same, sans background. It is facing towards the camera and leaning down as if investigating something on the ground

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 18/03/2026

Some variety of lungless salamander. Perhaps a long-tailed, not sure! It was only handled briefly, for some kids to see, then returned to where it came from

A side-by-side comparison of a photo of a salamander in my hand and a watercolor painting of just the salamander, no background. It's a sort of reddish brown with darker spots all over its body. It's very long, with long limbs and a long tail, curled in a sort of u-shape

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 18/03/2026

I think this might be a juvenile reddish egret? From back when I was doing field work in TX

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 18/03/2026

I did some little paintings based on past nature friends, for a zine I'm working on! What do you think, how'd I do?

A side-by-side comparison of a photo of a large snail sitting on my hand and looking down, and a watercolor painting of just the snail on a white background

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 28/02/2026

We were actually out looking for salamanders. We only found one but it was a different species than we expected so that was fun!

A photo of an eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) sitting in a sieve that was used to (gently) catch it. It is surrounded by some various pond grasses and leaves that got caught with it and also some snails. It is more or less a sort of orange-brown newt but if you look close it has some spots along its sides

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 06/02/2026

Today's nature friends are known only by some circumstantial evidence they left behind

A photo of a snowy yard. A tree is just visible in the top right corner, and a bush in the lower left. There are some scraps of bark in the snow, along with tracks from a squirrel, a rabbit, and some variety of small bird

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 26/01/2026

Earlier on the fence! There was more but they were so spread out it was hard to get them all in one photo

Three mourning doves sitting on a chain link fence in a snowy yard. They are all poofed up for warmth

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 26/01/2026

It's a good day for backyard birds. This little gaggle of doves was hanging out on my fence earlier and have now migrated to my silver maple. I even got out my big camera, though I'm not sure those shots actually turned out better. I guess I'll see!

A photo of 8 mourning doves sitting on the branches of a bare tree on a winter day. They are all puffed up for warmth

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 26/01/2026

I didn't go with this photo because it isn't as good but: round

The same bird from before. It's facing forward now, head ducked, and its puffed up feathers make it quite circular from this angle.

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 26/01/2026

Today's nature friend has some nice color blocking going on. 10/10 fashion sense

A small bird - I think probably a Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) - sitting on the branch of a bare tree on a winter day. This bird is mostly dark grey with a white underbelly

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 15/01/2026

Usually this is restricted to very small animals but, for instance, some species of lungless salamanders - which, as the name implies, only respirate through their skin - can reach lengths of over a foot! (Not this guy tho - this just happens to be the only photo I have of a lungless salamander)

A red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus) in a small plastic collection cup. In the background you can see a hand, showing that this salamander is quite small. It is very long and skinny, a deep rusty red color, lighter on the back, with a long tail

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 15/01/2026

(Fun fact: the only known multicellular animals that don't require oxygen are some species of Loricifera - multicellular though they may be, they are very, very tiny. Here's an illustration by Carolyn Gast. An environment without oxygen is called anoxic)

An illustration of a loricifera, which is a type of tiny ocean-dwelling animal. It's illustrated in white on a black background, and looks sort of like a funny see-through vase with many tendrils of various types coming out the top

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 28/12/2025

These nature friends are having a fun time in the river! (I was indoors so background noise is just Miscellaneous Kitchen Sounds, no need to listen to this video!)

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 26/12/2025

Today's nature friend is one of my favorite little guys I haven't seen in a while!

A slightly blurry photo of a black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia) toodling around on some lawn grass in front of a river

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 25/12/2025

And Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate that one!

A scene made of cookies, mounted on a wooden cutting board. There is a river with cliffs in the background, and two little houses on the bank. There are some trees scattered about on the cliffs and beside the houses

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 25/12/2025

Happy holidays! The white squirrel in my neighborhood says hi

A white squirrel (probably leucistic, since it has black eyes) on a branch of a tree. It's sort of behind, but peeking out at the viewer

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 10/11/2025

A peaceful moment at the falls today in the snow

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 09/11/2025

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Yesterday's nature friend was out enjoying the garden a little late in the season

A small butterfly - some sort of skipper, maybe? - on a bit of yellowing foliage

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 06/11/2025

Today's nature friend is enjoying a seasonal treat

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 30/10/2025

Oh I almost forgot! How could I forget! Cordyceps fungus!

A photo of a cordyceps fungus, which is a sort of tall, narrow orange fungus, sprouting apparently from the ground (but actually from some kind of caterpillar, probably). This photo is by Gail Hampshire

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 30/10/2025

But other times the larvae develop internally, leaving the host's body and pupating underneath it, like this Lymantria dispar caterpillar photographed by György Csóka (licensed under a creative commons attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/...)

A photo of a hairy caterpillar with a mostly brown and red body with yellow highlights. It is dead atop a bunch of pupating wasp larvae, which look like a bunch of fuzzy little white bundles. This photo is by György Csóka.

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 30/10/2025

Sometimes eggs are laid externally, like this hornworm photographed by WanderingMogwai (Darrah Leffler) (licensed under a creative commons attribution-share alike license creativecommons.org/licenses/by-...)

A photo of a hornworm, which is a green caterpillar, with parasitoid wasp cocoons sprouting out of its back. The cocoons look like little white bundles. This photo was taken by WanderingMogwai

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 30/10/2025

But hey! Snails aren't the only zombies out there, and worms aren't the only target. Parasitoid wasps (of which there are many species) also like to turn a wide variety of their fellow arthropods into zombies

A parasitoid wasp next to a cinnibar moth caterpillar it has just infected. This photo is by Ian Alexander

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Endangered Art Books @endangeredartbooks.com · 29/10/2025

Yeah that's right. It turns out that lots of parasites alter the behavior of host (or vector) species, some way more dramatically than others. Like this funky worm in the genus Leucochloridium. If you're thinking, "that's a snail, actually" - look closer!

A photo of a snail infected with a parasitic flatworm. It's eye stalks have been replaced with the worm's broodsacs, which are green and pulsate. Very gross. This photo is by Pavel Kirillov

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