~ Early Web Links ~

Awkward Botany is an amateur botany blog written for the "phytocurious," covering plant families, weed profiles, horticulture, urban ecology, and plant identification with genuine depth and enthusiasm. Posts like the detailed breakdown of Liatris microcephala and the Weeds of Boise series showcase careful research and a love of plant science that will delight both beginners and seasoned plant nerds.

Curated by the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Division, this digital archive spans 1890 to 1961 and brings together photographs, documents, and original materials tracing the history of salmon fishing and the roots of the Pacific Northwest salmon crisis. Visitors can browse topics ranging from Native American fishing practices and salmon canneries to hatcheries and the Columbia River salmon industry.

Science Workshop appears to be a science-oriented site, though its content is extremely minimal with only a single image visible at crawl time. The domain name suggests a focus on science education or hands-on scientific topics, but without further content the site's exact subject remains uncertain.

A comprehensive scientific reference on freshwater benthic ecology and aquatic entomology, covering macroinvertebrate taxa from mayflies and dragonflies to beetles and caddisflies across dozens of detailed chapters. Produced by the Soil and Water Conservation Society of Metro Halifax, this site offers taxa tolerance values, biological monitoring protocols, and research reports focused on freshwater ecosystems in Nova Scotia and beyond.

Diptera.info is a comprehensive portal dedicated to the insect order Diptera, covering flies, midges, and gnats with galleries, checklists, catalogues, and an active identification forum for researchers and enthusiasts worldwide. With over 5,000 members, a larva gallery, downloadable articles, and curated web links to scientific collections and catalogues, it serves as a serious reference hub for dipterists at all levels.

A focused educational page from Weber State University exploring the history of mass extinctions, covering all five major extinction events across 600 million years of Earth's history. Complete with graphs, fossil imagery, and detailed descriptions of each extinction's causes and casualties, it makes paleontological science accessible and visually engaging.

Operation RubyThroat is a comprehensive hummingbird research and education project run by Bill Hilton Jr. and the Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History in South Carolina. The site covers everything from attracting hummingbirds with feeders to scientific banding studies and student citizen-science projects, making it a rich hub for both casual enthusiasts and educators.

The Kentucky Paleontological Society maintains this hub for fossil enthusiasts in the Bluegrass State, featuring field trip reports, taxonomic fossil photo galleries, and an impressive library of digitized historical geology texts dating back to the 1860s. From Ordovician trilobites to tetrapod trackways, the site covers Kentucky's rich fossil record with resources for both amateur collectors and researchers.

A firsthand account of fossil hunting at the Mazon Creek site in Illinois, one of the world's most celebrated locations for soft-body fauna preservation found inside concretions. The author shares photos, practical tips on finding nodules, and personal observations from multiple visits to this unique strip-mine-turned-wildlife-preserve.

Created by Dick and Sandy Daniels, this site functions as a comprehensive online field guide covering over 10,000 bird species organized by genus and family, making it easy to compare related birds side by side. Entries span every major region of the world including North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, with links to additional information for each species.