Author: Caitlyn Finton
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Meet the mourning dove
I’m one of those people who uses a physical planner. Sure, I have an online calendar, but I still physically write everything down in the planner. I love having everything clearly written out on my desk. Plus, it’s satisfying to cross things off my daily to-do lists! For 2023, I splurged and got a fancy planner.…
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Meet the crested anole
I love reading the news and finding cool animal stories. Cool animal stories are the best kind of news! The news inspires this week’s animal, the crested anole (Anolis cristatellus). This little lizard (also called the common Puerto Rican anole) has recently been featured on NPR for their quick adaptations to living in cities. I’ll…
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Meet the willow ptarmigan
Happy New Year! It’s winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, which means snow and cold weather. In fact, I went through a blizzard just a few weeks ago in Michigan! That got me thinking about all the animals that are adapted to and thrive in cold weather. So today, let me introduce you to one…
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A Holiday Break
Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well. I’m just writing to let you know that I will be taking a break from writing for a few weeks. I’m excited to take a break from work and have a chance to relax! I’ll start writing again in early January. In the meantime, why don’t…
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Meet the aye-aye
I’ve been playing a lot of the most recent Pokémon game recently. And let me tell you, there are a lot of cool new Pokémon in it! There’s a dog made of bread, a ghost dog, a mastiff dog…can you tell I like dogs? One Pokémon I’m not as enamored with is Grafaiai. It’s a…
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Meet some Daphnia
I’ve been collaborating with another scientist to finish up some of my graduate school work. However, unlike me, he doesn’t work with voles. He works with Daphnia. What are Daphnia, you ask? Daphnia are a genus of small crustaceans that are surprisingly cute. Also called water fleas because of their flea-like movement, there are more than 200 species of Daphnia that…
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Meet the turkey
If you’re in United States, next Thursday is Thanksgiving! And we all know what that means – many of us will enjoy a turkey dinner. Beyond the domesticated turkey on my dinner table, I’ve become more aware of their wild cousins lately. Quite a few turkeys are running around the towns surrounding Boston! In fact,…
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Meet the fisher
This week’s animal is an identification request from my partner. He was biking around Massachusetts when he saw a sign that said, “Warning: fisher cats.” Which begged the question: what is a fisher cat?? He asked me if I knew what they were when I got home; I said I did, but I honestly only…
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Meet the alpaca
I had an exciting weekend – I went with some friends to visit an ALPACA FARM!!!! Do you know how cute alpacas are? (Spoiler: they’re pretty cute). And alpacas are sooooo soft. They almost didn’t feel real. Beyond letting us meet alpacas, the farm gave us some interesting facts about these animals that I want…
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Black Cat Halloween Special!
Today (as I’m writing) is a very special day: October 27th is National Black Cat Day! My cat Ori is a black cat, so he would like some treats and attention from all of you 😉 AND it’s almost Halloween, so there’s no better time to appreciate black cats, a not-so-spooky Halloween symbol. There is…