A walk in Prospect Park never fails to turn up something exciting in the animal/vegetable/mineral kingdoms, even if I’m paying more attention to the conversation. When the conversation is with NYC Wildflower Week’s Mariellé Anzelone, there’s plenty to learn. For instance, I think I can now actually name the two flowers pictured here. That’s one of the mock oranges above (genus Philadelphus) and the purple-flowering raspberry, Rubus odoratus, below.
Meanwhile, larvae of something eating bittersweet nightshade leaves. There were also wooly aphids on this plant, toting their tiny bundles of wooly-ness.
Barn swallows nesting on the Boathouse. This is one of several you can see there now. They make their nests out of mud pellets.
Not pictured: a host of butterflies, including pipevine and tiger swallowtails; dragonflies, including a 12-spot; and feeding time at the Nelly’s Lawn red-tailed hawk nest.
A blazing day, but so much cooler under the trees! More tree, please! (And let’s not just plant ’em and forget ’em, as the city’s Million Trees project does.)
Backyard and Beyond 
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