A Visitor From the Himalayas

The Asian Mud-dauber/Sceliphron curvatum is a recent addition to the local fauna. As of this date, there have been 42 observations on iNaturalist for NYC, twenty of them this year. The oldest observation is from 2020. I saw one for the first time last year. Last year I also saw what I suspect was a mud nest of one of them, but it did not look completed.

This is from October 14. The wasp was on the mud, but didn’t collect any. That may have been because of my presence. The date seemed late, but then these evolved in the higher elevations of Asia, so maybe the cooler weather is no big deal for them.