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Big Beetles
Female and male Reddish-brown Stag Beetles/Lucanus capreolus showing up at the BBC’s bug expo in Prospect Park. There were a couple males: one landed on this guy and hung around a while… The next day, I found some Broad-necked Root Borers/Prionus laticollis making more of themselves. Note how much smaller the male is but how…
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Squash Vine Borer
One of our most elaborate day-flying moths: Eichlinia curcurbitae is a clearwing with waspy attitude. As the common name, in the title, suggests, the larvae feed inside stalks of various things, including cultivated squash, zucchini, and pumpkin.
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Raptor Wednesday
Not much on the raptor front this past week. I heard this one announce herself before she landed. They’re often helpful that way. I heard American Kestrels at Machate Circle at the south end of Prospect Park and then again on 6th Avenue and the teens, but try as I might I could not see…
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Clear Cutting A Pollinator Paradise
Two Julys ago I came across this narrow strip in Bush Terminal Park planted with Narrowleaf Mountain Mint/Pycnanthemum tenuifolium. And it was massively alive with insects: bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, etc. Especially wasps: I recorded 22 different species of wasp here over two summer seasons. A few were species I’d not seen much or at…
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Warbling Vireo
Heard for weeks as I passed these Quaking Aspens this summer. Finally spotted July 1st. Peterson notes they prefer aspens and cottonwoods for nesting, so now I’m on the lookout for young ones.
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More Beetles
Wharf Borer taking the ferry to Governor’s Island with us. Asian Oak Weevil Your guess is as good as mine on this tiny one on an oak leaf. Redbud Seed Weevil (I think). Margined Leatherwings. Grape Colaspspis. Click beetle on milkweed, where I’ve seen them before.
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Softshell In Valley Water
There aren’t any softshell turtles native to the northeast. This is evidently a Pelodiscus genus Chinese softshell. I saw one years ago in Prospect Park Lake. Valley Water is one of Green-Wood’s ponds.
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Backyard and Beyond 