August 2014
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Common Nighthawks
It’s been a difficult week. But one of the highlights was on Thursday, when a friend and I went into Prospect Park in the late afternoon. Just before sunset, we were in the Nethermead. Overhead, the chittering of many Chimney Swifts was heard as the little birds darted all over the sky taking their last…
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Future Odes
Eastern Amberwings (Perithemis tenera) in the reproductive wheel: the male holds the female by the back of the head; the female curves her abdomen up and forwards his genitalia, located (counterintuitively?) at the base of his abdomen. A female Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) dipping her abdomen down to lay fertilized eggs in a bit of…
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Bombus
A bumblebee rumbles into the heart of the flower. Identifying bumblebees of the genus Bombus is not an easy task. In their new identification guide, Bumble Bees of North America, Williams, Thorp, Richardson, and Colla note that color patterns “can be strikingly variable within species and strongly convergent between.” As an example of the variability…
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Great Crested Flycatcher
Always a nice surprise to get a good look at a Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus), since they are usually at tree-top level. I thought this might be a migrant, and it may well be, but it should be noted that there are breeding records for the species in Prospect. They are the only cavity-nesting…
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Orange Is the New Bluet
A male Orange Bluet (Enallagma signatum) in the afternoon sun.
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Spotted (or Not) and Streaky
Spotted Sandpipers (Actitis macularius) — no spots once they’ve moved out of their breeding plumage — are patrolling the edges of fresh water bodies now during migration. Also along the watery edges these days are Northern Waterthrushes (Parkesia noveboracensis).
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Venation
Male Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans).Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia) male.Forewings of female Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella). I found this with a little bit of thorax exoskeleton a few blocks from home. Extremely lightweight, and prone to blowing away in a weak breeze.Some magnification. Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) female. Hindwings are especially wide on this species.
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Eastern Forktail
A male Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis) showing off the characteristic and unique solid green shoulder markings and blue on segments 8 and 9. An inch long; you really have to get close to see the jewel-llike details. And, oh, look, an exuvia I didn’t even notice in the background when I took this picture.
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Robin Spotty Breast
Late brood young American Robin. The binomial Turdus migratorius may raise an eyebrow, but Turdus is just the Latin for “thrush.”
Backyard and Beyond 