mthew

Another Vespula ground yellowjacket species in the ‘hood! Southern Yellowjacket, Vespula squamosa. This is a queen. She was probably looking for a nice hole at the base of this old cherry to start a nest. This is the first report for this species in Brooklyn on iNaturalist; they’re recorded on Staten Island, Manhattan, and further out…

Only the last of these has two spots, but Adalia bipunctata also comes in a black-with-four-red-markings form.

At first, I thought this nearly two-inch-long Eastern Eyed Click Beetle crawling up a London plane tree was actually two beetles. This is a lot of beetle. I’ve seen Alaus oculatus before, but I have never gotten such a close view. The larvae of this species preys on other beetle larvae found in decaying wood. The…

There has been a lot of Fish Crow activity in the neighborhood for weeks now. I hear them all the time. Yesterday, this Eastern Kingbird wasn’t too happy about it. Well, well, well! A wing-flapping fledgling being fed. I don’t know where the nest is, but it must not be too far away.

The patience of a heron inspires me to wait patiently for the bird to come my way. Both Great Egrets and Green Herons tend to patrol the edge of Sylvan Water in a similar fashion, moving slowly around the edge with periodical pauses before quick, lunging thrusts of their bills into the water. Sometimes, when…

Two Red-eyed Vireos seen in close proximity to each other, and no territorial tsuris between them, suggesting nesting. Dark Paper Wasp. House Wren. Sylvan Jumping Spider. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker holes on a tuliptree. In Brooklyn, I’ve now found the sign of these birds on 27 tree species I can name and three I can only get…

Wet and harried by Blue Jays.

A periodical cicada sighting in Prospect Park on iNaturalist brought me to my old stomping grounds. I searched the Vale, where the sighting was made, and the Midwood, but found neither sight nor sound of any. There was much else to see, otherwise, of course, including all the Chipmunks. (Green-Wood doesn’t have a large Chippy…