mthew

Dodging Blue Jays, a Cooper’s filled with somebody digests in a yew.

The strappy leaves of Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) can easily be overlooked. But do look closer: This is Spring Beauty Rust/Puccinia mariae-wilsoniae. Virginia Spring Beauties come in a range of colors. The pink-flowered ones are more likely to be eaten by slugs. Wet springs, then, can result in fewer pink flowers. The white-flowered ones…

(American Goldfinch near a thistle-packed feeder.)

A window of bark has fallen off this European Beech/Fagus sylvatica, revealing the trail of beetles. These are so irregular I think they’re woodpecker trying to get in rather than beetles trying to get out. These are, I think, exit holes. But look closer: A fine Lion’s-mane/Hericium erinaceus mushroom.

In roughly age/plumage order, younger to older. Incidentally, you don’t need a weatherperson to tell you which way the wind is blowing if you have gulls around.

Common Drone Fly on Hoop Daffodil. Slurping up pollen from an anther. The flower’s stigma can be seen between the fly’s legs. Close-up of fly/pollen interface. (Common Drone is something of a bee-mimic.) A real bee, albeit a farm animal. Honey Bee on another Hoop daffy. Stigma reaching out further than the anthers. She’s packed…

Two Coopers Hawks, one with a pigeon. The bird with the prey brought it down to the solar panels and feasted for an hour. The feasting bird can just be glimpsed through the parapet fire-escape cut. There was a third accipiter in the air (to the left) in the background while this was going on.…

The False Milkweed Bug is so named because it once confused with the Small Milkweed Bug/Lygaeus kalmii, but it turned out to not feed on Milkweeds. False Sunflowers/Heliopsis helianthoides are their food of choice. Saw several a week ago at Brooklyn Bridge Park where False Sunflowers are planted, but… what are they feeding on this…