September 2021

Most of the turtles in Brooklyn are refugees from the pet industry. It’s actually illegal to sell them if they have smaller than 4″ carapaces, but we’ve all seen sidewalk hustlers selling tiny ones. (In Boston, I met a turtle who was given away as a wedding reception gift; every table got some.) This is…

What’s in your Igloo? A sandwich? Beer? Body parts? Well, sure, you’re a doctor….. Well, as it happens: I had frozen invasive bees in mine. A researcher at the University of Ghent got in touch with me via iNaturalist and asked if I would collect Sculptured Resin Bees (Megachile sculpuralis) and European Wool-carder Bees (Anthidium…

This potter wasp is a recent introduction to the NYC region. (You may remember that I helped in confirming the identification). Is it benign, is it invasive? Probably too soon to tell. I’ve generally seen them gathering nectar, but like other wasps they’re carnivores, too. This one had a caterpillar of some kind.

Yesterday was pretty extraordinary. Between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m., I watched just over a hundred Monarchs drift by our apartment windows, some as close a few feet, others as far as a third of an avenue block away. They’re awfully small at that distance, but still distinctively fluttering. Flight is meandering, but still swift and…