Some Recent Sightings

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica): this is a Brooklyn bird, but this is a cosmopolitan species; Eurasian specimens, which I saw most days recently in the UK, have generally longer tails and brighter colors.The clean work of a leaf-cutter bee on Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), one of their favorite plants. If you’re a gardener, you should be proud to be hosting these bees, who line their nests with plant fragments. Here’s one of these Megachilidae family bees on that pollinator-magnet Milkweed (Asclepias). Note that hairy underside of the abdomen: they gather pollen here. A young (early instar) grasshopper, and a much more ragged edge of leaf-munching. The short antennae are a quick distinguishing mark from their Orthoptera cousins, the katydids.These antenna are more than twice the length of this katydid’s body. A Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), a NYC harbor nester, fishing from the pier.