I am a freelance naturalist based in western Massachusetts and working throughout New England. My passion is to continually deepen my connection with my natural surroundings and help others to do the same. I do this through writing, photography, teaching, leading natural history walks, giving slide show presentations, and conducting plant and animal surveys.
I am the lead author of Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates (Stackpole Books, 2010), and continue to collect photographs and information on this subject. I share some of my latest observations on my blog, BugTracks. I am especially interested in the signs left by herbivorous insects on their hostplants, and have been studying leafminers intensively since 2011. A second edition of my e-book, Leafminers of North America, is now available, and I am working on a similarly hostplant-based guide to North American sawfly larvae.
I’m always interested in trying to solve natural history mysteries, bug-related or otherwise. If you’ve got one you’re puzzling over, feel free to send it to me at ceiseman@gmail.com, and if you want to ponder some that have me stumped, take a look at these.
For more information about my ecological consulting services, see this page. A list of past clients is included in my CV.
Photographing burrows of sandstone-boring bees in California (photo by Noah Charney).