May 2020
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Damselflies
Saw my first “ode” of the year on May 7th. Both damselflies, of which this is one, and dragonflies are members of the Odonata order. This one looks recently emergent. It was flying weakly, characteristic of a newly emerged adult, getting used to operating those four wings. This one is easier to identify: a Fragile…
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Raptor Wednesday
The local male American Kestrel. He’s working like a dog now that there must be nestlings in the hole in the cornice where the nest is. These photos, from Sunday morning, document him hunting and eating insects. From the size and color, I’d say roaches or waterbugs that he was grabbing off a couple of…
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Egrets in Trees
Two Great Egrets at the same small pond. Lots of guttural grumblings and retreats to the trees as they contested for… …the rights to the water.
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Winged Critters
Yesterday I pictured some warblers enjoying winged termites, which kept fluttering through the air. Here are some of the termites on the ground. Birders often call these eruptive spring events “hatch-outs” as all sorts of birds come for the feasting at ground level or close to it. Both male and female reproductive caste members of…
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Warblers
Sometimes they land right in front of you. Magnolia Warbler. Other times, most times, not so much. Bay-breasted Warbler. Rather more typical view… Wilson’s Warbler, named after pioneering ornithologist Alexander Wilson. And sometimes, termites reproductives, the winged ones, emerge, and the songbirds fly right overhead hawking them out of the air. (As I was trying…
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Tanagers
As the light hits this male Scarlet Tanager… Too much light in this case. That’s a ground Yellowjacket, one of the Vespula wasps. A female, hunting in the same area. Perching at eye-level or even below, looking all around. Zipping after Hymenoptera. The male virtually crash-landed getting his prey. Piranga olivacea is actually named for…
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Small Flowers
One of the cinquefoils. Two different wood sorrels (Oxalis), I think. Two different Brassica. Corn speedwell (Veronica arvensis). Tiny. Little mouse-ear, Cerastium semidecandrum. A little bit bigger than the speedwell.
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Raptor Wednesday
Two years ago, this London plane tree had a dead, vertical branch on it that was a regular American Kestrel perch. It broke off in a storm in November, 2018, and, ever since, this tree has not been as blessed as a place to see the locals. But yesterday evening, the male was preening here.…
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Vireo gilvus
Warbling Vireo. The species epithet gilvus means “yellowish.” That’s very light-dependent from our modern view, that is, a live bird not in hand, rather than the dead bird such taxonomic nomenclature is based on.
Backyard and Beyond 