mthew

A Question Mark butterfly. Laying eggs on the underside of an elm leaf.

Bembix americana Bembix something Bicyrtes ventralis. Ten feet up from the fiddler crab flats seen in Tuesday’s post, three species of Bembicini sand wasps were scoping out the terrain. The tiny strip of beach at Bush Terminal Park is habitat for these nesters in the sand. One more species, Microbembex monodonta, should start showing up…

Eastern Kingbird riding Red-tailed Hawk out of Sylvan Water airspace. The Kingbird in turn was harried by a female Red-winged Blackbird. Busy few minutes. Here’s a rare look at the Kingbird’s colorful head patch.

Good variety of things coming to the ultraviolet light: beetles, flies, hoppers, wasps, caddisflies, ants, lacewings… …and yes, some moths for National Moth Week.

A trio of wet ravens on the roofline. They probably bathed in some rooftop puddles somewhere around here.

Or Chukar, an escapee from a live poultry market. Was pecking away at the parapet of this four story building when I went up there to set up a bug light. Hop-flew onto the next building…

Small Tortoise Beetle (I think). Slender Lizard Beetle (I think) Imported Willow Leaf Beetles defoliating willows. Crenate Cylindrical Bark Beetle (I think). Blackened Milkweed Beetle. There are a bunch of Long-horned Milkweed beetles in the genus Tetraopes, but only three range in the East. I’d only every seen the Red Milkweed here in NYC until…