August 2012
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Skipper
One of the numerous small butterfly species called skippers in the family Hesperiidae. Many look quite similar to each other, so I gave this one to the Bugguide crew, and last I checked there was no response. I usually see them skipping about meadows and overgrown lawns; this one was on a butterfly bush in…
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Summer Flounder
D’oh! Forgot to take my camera when we took Nora to the Maria Mitchell Aquarium. Next time. But in the meantime, on the porch of the MMA administrative building, next to the whale bone, I found this dessicated Summer Flounder (Paralichthys dentatus), classic example of a flatfish with both its eyes on the top side.…
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Ailanthus Webworm
I was working my way up to taking a picture of the Ailanthus sapling that appeared this summer in a crack in the concrete in the Back 40. I was looking forward to a tree growing in Brooklyn, at least until the landlord saw it. But the Ailanthus Webworms got to it before I did.…
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Hedgehog Gall
Hedgehog gall, caused by a tiny cynipid wasp, Acraspis erinacei, on leaves of White Oak (Quercus alba) in Green-Wood Cemetery.There are three to five larval cells in each of these galls. Only female adults will emerge from these in the late fall, and lay eggs (without mating) on leaf buds. These eggs over-winter, hatching in…
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Life Cycles in Brooklyn Bridge Park
The rare Two-spotted lady beetles (Adalia bipunctata) I discovered in July are still active in Brooklyn Bridge Park. In fact:“Houston, we have coition.” Luckily, I didn’t learn about reproduction from Republicans, so I know that this kind of activity leads to:Lady beetle eggs. I assume Two-spotted, but don’t know for sure.A recently emerged adult, whose…
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Drama in the corners
And in this corner, a click beetle, so named because they make a “click” when they flip up into the air (it helps them turn over should they find themselves belly-up) and a spider. The battle, such as it was, lasted for most of a day. I could hear the haunting click from a neighboring…
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Lady Parts
Painted Lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) are all over the city. Yesterday I counted a dozen at one flowery corner in Gowanus, and another dozen around a couple of butterfly bushes in Brooklyn Heights. This species is similar to the American Lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis), as you might expect for a genus-mate. Here’s an American Lady…
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Great Blue Skimmer
For your August weekend, Libellula virbrans, spotted today in Brooklyn Bridge Park. A male. At 2.2 inches, this is one of our larger dragonflies, and it’s a great percher: this one returned to the same cattail leaf half-a-dozen times as I watched and photographed. More common in the southeastern swamps, but reaching up to Mass.…
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Green-Wood
Walking through the unruly lawns of Green-Wood Cemetery this time of year stirs up grasshoppers, skippers, and moths, who scurry away from your feet in the grass. Sulphurs and Cabbage White butterflies flitter about, sometimes laddering up together in mating flights.An occasional giant butterfly, like this Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes), is seen.Something had nibbled on…
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Rock Slide
In May, a 10,000-ton piece of rock broke off the nearly vertical face of the Palisades in Alpine, NJ, and came crashing down. Yesterday evening, we cruised by in the Commodore’s boat. It obviously hasn’t taken long for some plant life to return. The Palisades were preserved into a park in 1900 after being deforested…
Backyard and Beyond 