Richard Conniff
@richardconniff.bsky.social
Author, magazine feature & NY Times essayist, about wildlife, public health, poetry, museums, & other topics. National Magazine Award. Guggenheim Fellowship. Latest book, "Ending Epidemics: A History of Escape from Contagion" from MIT Press.
.
.
Here's the conclusion of my three-part series on spider webs. Read on to learn how the insects take their terrible revenge. 🌿https://open.substack.com/pub/richardconniff/p/a-spiders-life-hanging-its-butt-in?r=1fcr4&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
November 8, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Here's the conclusion of my three-part series on spider webs. Read on to learn how the insects take their terrible revenge. 🌿https://open.substack.com/pub/richardconniff/p/a-spiders-life-hanging-its-butt-in?r=1fcr4&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Been to the Serengeti. Explored in the Amazon. Trekked in Bhutan. But watching spiders has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life as a naturalist. richardconniff.substack.com/p/spider-web...
October 25, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Been to the Serengeti. Explored in the Amazon. Trekked in Bhutan. But watching spiders has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life as a naturalist. richardconniff.substack.com/p/spider-web...
You may be a policeman still angry that Trump freed Jan 6 rioters who battered cops, or a coal miner pissed that Trump has blocked regulations to protect you from black lung disease ... If you believe in America, it's your march, too. richardconniff.substack.com/p/heres-why-...
October 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
You may be a policeman still angry that Trump freed Jan 6 rioters who battered cops, or a coal miner pissed that Trump has blocked regulations to protect you from black lung disease ... If you believe in America, it's your march, too. richardconniff.substack.com/p/heres-why-...
The shsssssssh-shsssssssh of boots walking through fallen leaves in the Connecticut woods
October 8, 2025 at 12:41 AM
The shsssssssh-shsssssssh of boots walking through fallen leaves in the Connecticut woods
It's never been legal to export Galapagos iguanas from Ecuador. But pet dealers still sell them "legally" in Europe. Time to crack down on the wildlife pet trade. richardconniff.substack.com/p/the-wildli...
October 6, 2025 at 2:28 PM
It's never been legal to export Galapagos iguanas from Ecuador. But pet dealers still sell them "legally" in Europe. Time to crack down on the wildlife pet trade. richardconniff.substack.com/p/the-wildli...
It wasn't a secret, but Trump admits he's using the power of the presidency to fatten his own bank account.
September 24, 2025 at 12:35 PM
It wasn't a secret, but Trump admits he's using the power of the presidency to fatten his own bank account.
Also worth contemplating their handiwork, from an 1863 photo of escaped slave Peter Gordon. This photo is now deemed "corrosive ideology" by the Trump regime and banned from display in our National Parks.
September 17, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Also worth contemplating their handiwork, from an 1863 photo of escaped slave Peter Gordon. This photo is now deemed "corrosive ideology" by the Trump regime and banned from display in our National Parks.
Haunting image of three southern slaveholders, c. 1850. The banal face of evil. Original daguerreotype in the Metropolitan Museum, colorized and restored by Frank Hellsten
September 17, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Haunting image of three southern slaveholders, c. 1850. The banal face of evil. Original daguerreotype in the Metropolitan Museum, colorized and restored by Frank Hellsten
These Canada geese have an almost mathematical idea of acceptable social distance
September 16, 2025 at 10:57 PM
These Canada geese have an almost mathematical idea of acceptable social distance
Authors will do almost anything to promote their books. But I'd draw the line at deliberately getting bitten by a black mamba. richardconniff.substack.com/p/how-to-get...
September 6, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Authors will do almost anything to promote their books. But I'd draw the line at deliberately getting bitten by a black mamba. richardconniff.substack.com/p/how-to-get...
With regret, a new addition to the Wall of the Dead for lost species seekers. Donovan Kirkwood fell off a cliff in the Western Cape while searching for a critically endangered flowering plant. 🌿 strangebehaviors.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/t...
August 30, 2025 at 10:14 PM
With regret, a new addition to the Wall of the Dead for lost species seekers. Donovan Kirkwood fell off a cliff in the Western Cape while searching for a critically endangered flowering plant. 🌿 strangebehaviors.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/t...
Is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s anti-science killing your children? That could be just be a photo op for him. richardconniff.substack.com/p/a-chronicl...
August 30, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s anti-science killing your children? That could be just be a photo op for him. richardconniff.substack.com/p/a-chronicl...
John Deering on the long-running Epstein File Distraction Strategy
August 26, 2025 at 12:03 PM
John Deering on the long-running Epstein File Distraction Strategy
Any clues what this might be? Found under a mattress.
August 13, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Any clues what this might be? Found under a mattress.
On the beach, evening, Duluth, MN. Meadow fritillary?🌿
July 29, 2025 at 11:58 AM
On the beach, evening, Duluth, MN. Meadow fritillary?🌿
A cloud phalanx?
July 23, 2025 at 12:09 AM
A cloud phalanx?
Bees go wild for black cohosh
July 20, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Bees go wild for black cohosh
I noticed these small insects circling above lupine seed pods last evening. A mating lek? Some sort of feeding behavior? 🌿
July 13, 2025 at 9:41 AM
I noticed these small insects circling above lupine seed pods last evening. A mating lek? Some sort of feeding behavior? 🌿
Substack, the web host for writers who no longer want to answer to billionaire bosses & corporate drones last month beat the traffic on wsj.com and cbs.com. You can subscribe there, free or paid, to my weekly column. richardconniff.substack.com
July 12, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Substack, the web host for writers who no longer want to answer to billionaire bosses & corporate drones last month beat the traffic on wsj.com and cbs.com. You can subscribe there, free or paid, to my weekly column. richardconniff.substack.com
Substack, the web host for writers who no longer want to answer to billionaire bosses & corporate drones last month beat the traffic on WSJ & CBS. You can subscribe there, free or paid, to my weekly column on wild things. richardconniff.substack.com
July 12, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Substack, the web host for writers who no longer want to answer to billionaire bosses & corporate drones last month beat the traffic on WSJ & CBS. You can subscribe there, free or paid, to my weekly column on wild things. richardconniff.substack.com
Honest headline ("Poorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package") and lead graph from @nytimes. Please repost. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/b...
July 2, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Honest headline ("Poorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package") and lead graph from @nytimes. Please repost. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/b...
Ok, this photo is not meant to mimic images of the risen Christ (or Batman), and the headline uses "God" only as a literary stand-in for, you know, nature. So read on in the comfort of your beliefs. 🌿 open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
June 28, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Ok, this photo is not meant to mimic images of the risen Christ (or Batman), and the headline uses "God" only as a literary stand-in for, you know, nature. So read on in the comfort of your beliefs. 🌿 open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Name the #spider quietly practicing external digestion in my shower. Bonus points if you can name its prey (My guess: A housefly, Musca domestica)
June 23, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Name the #spider quietly practicing external digestion in my shower. Bonus points if you can name its prey (My guess: A housefly, Musca domestica)
House cats, a rare hummingbird, and hope on an ocean island. 🦉
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
June 21, 2025 at 3:07 PM
House cats, a rare hummingbird, and hope on an ocean island. 🦉
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Maybe 25 feet from the feeder, where ruby-throated hummers do combat, we’ve got a nest of Baltimore orioles, & another 25 feet from that, a bluebird couple working on their 2nd clutch of the season.
June 18, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Maybe 25 feet from the feeder, where ruby-throated hummers do combat, we’ve got a nest of Baltimore orioles, & another 25 feet from that, a bluebird couple working on their 2nd clutch of the season.