Parancistrocerus leionotus.
Euodynerus hidalgo ssp. boreoorientalis.
These potter wasps are licking up nectar produced by American Trumpet Vine buds before they bloom. Such extraflora nectaries are a huge hit with wasps, bees, ants, beetles, and other critters. Find a good patch of this wall-covering plant, and appeal of sugary carbohydrates will never again be obscure.
Great Golden Digger Wasp/Sphex ichneumoneus
Even though some of the flowers are open, this Bombus is nonetheless doing the buds.
And where there is a buzz of insect activity, there’s sure to be
..things lurking.
Some galls, like this Rough Bulletgall Wasp/Disholcaspis quercusmamma on Swamp White Oak/Quercus bicolor, produce nectar as well. These Odorous House Ants/Tapinoma sessile were not best pleased when I tried to move some leaves out of the way…
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I hear that the annual Staten Island butterfly count had the lowest numbers in 27 years. In nine hours, they counted “a mere 233 individual butterflies accounting for just 19 species.” And the weather was good for butterfly flight. On iNaturalist, some 61 species have been observed on Staten Island over the years. (For NYC as a whole, it’s 78 species.)
Backyard and Beyond 
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