Lexington Alive!
© 2012-2022
Edward C. Eisner
All Rights Reserved
Ned Eisner's Fauna of Suburban Boston
© 2002-2012
Edward C. Eisner
All Rights Reserved
Last revised 7/9/2022.
This site is dedicated to photographs of the wildlife, and now plants, in suburban northeastern Massachusetts, specifically to what I can find in my backyard and neighboring woods in Lexington. Frankly, I am less interested in the flora than the fauna, so I don't know how much progress I will make with the flora. Generally, I enjoy strolling around looking for interesting things. If I find something, I take a picture. Sometimes I get lucky and the photograph is well-composed, well-lit, and in focus with the proper exposure. Most of the time the photo is deficient in some significant way, but that is O.K. with me. I do not enjoy taking the time and effort required to take really excellent photos.
As of my last count on 6/22/2019, there are photographs of 2111 different animal species from MA and 208 species of plants, fungi, & lichens. I haven't recounted how many I've identified so the table below is still out of date.
Category | Sub-category | Number of Identified Species | Number of Unidentified Species* |
Amphibians | 11 | ||
Birds | 67 | 6 | |
Fish | 3 | 5 | |
Mammals | 14 | ||
Reptiles | 4 | ||
Arachnids | Spiders | 92 | 101 |
Harvestmen | 1 | 9 | |
Ticks and Mites | 1 | 20 | |
Pseudoscorpions | 3 | ||
Crustaceans | 8 | 7 | |
Insects | Bees, Wasps, & Ants | 44 | 93 |
True Flies | 36 | 92 | |
Scorpionflies | 3 | ||
Fleas | |||
Caddisflies | 1 | 10 | |
Butterflies | 47 | 11 | |
Moths | 302 | 318 | |
Lacewings & Antlions | 1 | 7 | |
Dobsonflies, Fishflies, & Alderflies | 2 | 2 | |
Beetles | 72 | 108 | |
Twisted-Wing Parasites | 2 | ||
True Bugs | 54 | 142 | |
Thrips | 1 | ||
Booklice & Barklice | 1 | 1 | |
Lice | 1 | ||
Mantids | 2 | ||
Termites | 1 | ||
Cockroaches | 4 | ||
Walking Sticks | 1 | ||
Grasshoppers, Crickets, & Katydids | 18 | 27 | |
Earwigs | 1 | ||
Zorapterans | |||
Stoneflies | |||
Dragonflies & Damselflies | 34 | 14 | |
Mayflies | 5 | ||
Bristletails | 1 | ||
Jumping Bristletails | |||
Diplurans | |||
Springtails | 3 | 14 | |
Proturans | |||
Myriapods | 1 | 13 | |
Gastropods | 2 | 10 | |
All the Rest | 23 | ||
TOTAL | 792 | 1064 |
Category | Sub-category | Number of Identified Species | Number of Unidentified Species* |
Algae | 0 | 1 | |
Ferns | 1 | 2 | |
Fungi | 8 | 29 | |
Grasses | 2 | 1 | |
Lichens | 0 | 14 | |
Oddballs | Lycophytes | 2 | 0 |
Sphenophytes | 1 | 0 | |
Mosses | 1 | 16 | |
Shrubs | 2 | 0 | |
Trees | 6 | 0 | |
Vines | 2 | 0 | |
Wildflowers | 17 | 18 | |
TOTAL | 42 | 81 |
*Unidentified species may turn out to be variants of already identified species, so the count may not represent the true number of species.
At this point I think most of the photos are full resolution, but there are still lots that have been downsampled. I am slowly going through and updating those.
This web site was created using an Apple iMac (before that a Mac Mini, an iMac, and before that a G4 933).
The HTML code was created by Adobe GoLive and is now maintained in Dreamweaver.
I have used the following camera equipment (in chronological order): 2001 -- Nikon Coolpix 950 digital camera, usually with a 2x teleconverter; 2002 -- usually a 3x teleconverter; 2003 -- Nikon Coolpix 5400 camera; 2005 -- Nikon D70s camera, usually with a 60mm Micro Nikkor lens and the camera's own flash; 2007 -- 105mm Micro Nikkor lens and a 70-300mm zoom lens; 2017 or 2018 -- Nikon D750 with the same lenses.
Drawings were scanned with an Epson ES1200-C scanner.
All photographs and images were created and edited using Adobe Illustrator & Adobe Photoshop.
Web design "philosophy": Simple with lots of pictures. No flashing text. No flashing icons. No annoying music. No scrolling ticker. No advertisements!
I do not claim that this site is particularly well designed (I know it isn't). I just wanted something quick and easy to make.
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