ATHOL — The Athol Bird & Nature Club will host a program by Charley Eiseman on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Millers River Environmental Center, 100 main St.
Eiseman will talk about “Native Plants as Insect Habitat.” Each native plant species has a suite of host-specific insects that depend on it for food.
Even allowing a single weed to grow in your garden can significantly increase its habitat value, and choosing to plant native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers will cause your yard to teem with life. Using a number of common New England plants as examples, Eiseman will introduce some of these insects, their natural history, and signs of their presence to look for on their host plants. His close-up photos will provide an unusual perspective on the tiny animals that are going about their lives right under our noses.
Eiseman is a freelance naturalist, conducting plant and wildlife surveys for various nonprofits, state agencies, and universities throughout New England. He has co-taught an “Ecology Through Animal Tracking” course in various incarnations since 2004, and since 2018 he has been teaching week-long field seminars on insect tracks and sign at the Eagle Hill Institute in Maine. He holds an MS from the University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist Program and a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation and Management from the University of Massachusetts.
Eiseman is the lead author of “Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates” (Stackpole Books, 2010) and “Leafminers of North America” (self-published e-book, 2019), and he has co-authored more than 30 scientific papers, including the description of over 60 new insect species. For more information visit http://charleyeiseman.com/