~ Early Web Links ~

Rachel Sussman's project documenting the oldest living organisms on Earth, from ancient chestnut trees to Siberian actinobacteria, combines scientific curiosity with fine art photography. Each post chronicles her travels to find and photograph these extraordinary subjects, paired with reflections on deep time, survival, and the nature of life itself.

Pembrokeshire Birds is a long-running blog dedicated to birdwatching observations across Pembrokeshire, Wales, covering sightings from notable sites like Skokholm Island and Teifi Marshes. With records dating back to 2008, annual reports, species lists, and detailed field notes, it serves as a rich regional ornithological resource for birders interested in Welsh wildlife.

Oliver Beckstein's academic homepage showcases his computational biochemistry research at the intersection of physics and biology, covering topics like ion channel gating, membrane transport proteins, and molecular simulations. Hosted at the University of Oxford's Structural Bioinformatics and Computational Biochemistry Unit, the site links to publications, software, and his lab at Arizona State University's Center for Biological Physics.

The Lundy Bird Observatory Sightings Archive is a long-running blog documenting bird and wildlife observations from Lundy Island, now preserved as a historical archive after migrating to a new site in late 2023. Years of detailed sighting reports, species updates, and passage records make it a rich resource for birdwatchers and naturalists interested in this unique Atlantic island.

Oiseaux.net is a comprehensive ornithological portal covering more than 10,000 bird species worldwide, complete with species sheets, photos, drawings, birdsongs, and thematic files for all skill levels. The site also features identification tools powered by artificial intelligence, birdsong quizzes, games, a forum, and curated news from the ornithological world.

A beautifully curated image gallery of Lepidoptera species spanning seven families, including Papilionidae, Nymphalidae, Sphingidae, and more, with detailed scientific notes on each specimen's location, photographer, and natural history. Each thumbnail links to a larger image accompanied by rich descriptions of habitat, range, behavior, and larval food plants, making it a valuable reference for entomology and butterfly enthusiasts.

Bogleech is Jonathan Wojcik's long-running labor of love covering creature design reviews, bizarre biology, weird fiction, and year-round Halloween horror since 2001. Visitors will find deep-dive reviews of Pokemon and Digimon monsters, original tabletop RPG content including the Mortasheen bestiary, Halloween finds, and a sprawling archive of creature-focused writing spanning decades.

The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria is a collaborative portal uniting 60 regional herbaria across Alaska, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and the Yukon, offering access to over 3.6 million plant specimen records and nearly 1.8 million images. Researchers and naturalists can search the database by label data or geographic location, download datasets for offline use, and consult a fully annotated checklist of vascular plants native to the Pacific Northwest.

Created by Dr. John Hilty, Illinois Wildflowers is a comprehensive botanical reference covering prairie, woodland, wetland, savanna, and weedy wildflowers native to Illinois, complete with plant-feeding and flower-visiting insect databases. The site's depth is remarkable, extending beyond flora to include vertebrate animal interactions, botanical and ecological terminology, and detailed photo documentation built over nearly two decades.

Stern's Splendors of the Rain Forest is a richly illustrated site dedicated to tropical plants, focusing on orchids, bromeliads, tillandsias, cacti, and succulents native to the Americas. Featuring exotic photo galleries, cultural guides, and links to major plant societies worldwide, it serves as an enthusiast's showcase for rain forest horticulture.