mthew
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Smile
Bramble Mason Wasp/Ancistrocerus adiabatus Smiling Mason Wasp/Ancistrocerus campestris Bramble Mason Wasp/Ancistrocerus adiabatus Smiling Mason Wasp/Ancistrocerus campestris European Tube Wasp/Ancistrocerus gazella Three of the local Eumeninae potter and mason wasp species sport a smile-like pattern of two scuttellum spots and one transverse band on the metanotum. (There’s another regional smiler, Ancistrocerus catskill, but I haven’t come…
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Raptor Wednesday
A “Marlin hauke,” if I’m reading Thomas Hariot correctly. His 1588 Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia is the first recorded account of bird-watching in North America, though of course the locals had been doing it for thousands of years already. The Merlin (Pigeon Hawk, Lady Hawk) would have been…
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Swiftly
I measure out the seasons in Chimney Swift sightings. Last Friday around 5:40 pm, a dozen or more, probably more (it’s hard to count ’em when they harum-scarum the sky), were over the park and surrounding blocks. It might have been the last big hurrah of the year.
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An Ology of Ornos
When I was a boy, I lived near the entrance to Hades. Lago d’Averno north of Naples near Cumae was where Virgil located an entrance to the kingdom of the dead. I listened hard for the baying of the three-headed dog Cerberus, but never heard him. The round lake—it’s a flooded crater—turned dark red in…
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Less Talk, More Eating
A European Hornet/Vespa crabro chomps up a bee. This is a true hornet, and an introduction to North America. It’s been around since the mid-1800s. These wasps are late season, meaning I’m still seeing them in October. (They come out at night, too, but I’m rarely out at night). I’ve been on the lookout for…
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Wasp Talk
Is the European Paper Wasp/Polistes dominula the most common wasp in New York City? Sure seems like it. I see one or two flying low practically everywhere I go. The orange antenna are the quickest way to separate these from other black and yellow wasps. Here’s an unusual one. Instead of yellow markings, silverish white…
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Raptor Wednesday
A male American Kestrel. Black-spotted front (the female has brownish streaks) and blue wings (the female has russet wings, like the rest of her back).
