mthew
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Gold Bug Vs. Parks Department
Dogbane Leaf Beetle/Chrysochus auratus is one of the most spectacular beetles found in our parts. Their specific epithet means golden, but as you can see they’re something of an iridescent rainbow. Their common name comes from their association with Hemp Dogbane/Apocynum cannabinum. I found my first beetles of this species last year in a patch…
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Raptor Wednesday
The Staten Island Ferry passes this octagonal sewer outfall structure (circa 1915) near Robbins Reef Lighthouse. The other day… … you can see why I did a double-take. A mature Bald Eagle was perched upon it. (Yes, that’s a golf course on the Bayonne Peninsula beyond.) From another angle.
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Earwigs
I hang around Common Milkweed a lot. So do a lot of other things waiting in ambush, like European Earwigs/Forficula auricularia. This looks like a male/female pair.
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Hedgehog Galls
On White Oak/Quercus alba, the distinctive galls of the Hedgehog Gall-maker wasp, Acraspis erinacei, are in full “flower” right now. These growths are induced in the plant by the tiny wasps to serve as nesting and feeding chambers. Yes, this is oak DNA being manipulated by wasp DNA. Galls are tough, but they are not…
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A Drama
Beneath a Common Milkweed leaf, a crab spider has caught a honeybee and is in the process of digesting it from the inside. But note who else is along for the ride. There’s a tiny fly on the underside of the bee’s wing. With that bold M(W) on the head, it looks like a Desmometopa…
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More Corvids!
Through fence and scrub, across the tracks of the D train cut, a glimpse of nestling crows. This is one of three local crows nest I’ve spotted this season, but the only one I can see now that the trees are crowded with leaves. I saw this parent bird prepping food on a neighboring building…
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Bees on Penstemon
Some bees, like this Brown-backed Bumble and this European Woolcarder, go right into the flowers. Others, like this Great Northern Bumblebee queen, are too big, but her tongue suffices. This Eastern Carpenter is too large and too short-tongued, so she straddles the flower and sticks her tongue into the nectary from outside. This is one…
Backyard and Beyond 