mthew
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Night Warbling
Friend-of-blog Geoff Wisner has a new book coming out. Pre-ordering it at this link saves you money and supports the Thoreau Society, not that nasty plutocratic emperor of Amazon. The book gathers a large sampling of Thoreau’s many writings about birds over the years and organizes them through a single calendrical year. This will doubtlessly…
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More Early Bees
Last week it jumped up to almost 70F. It’s dropped quite bit since, but it resulted in a bloom, so to speak of bees. Note the slits in the sides of the Japanese Andromeda/Pieris japonica flowers above. This Two-spotted Bumble Bee/Bombus bimaculatus is sticking her tongue into the flower opening to suck up that sweet…
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BVs
A trio of Black Vultures passing overhead. Three’s a lot for these parts, where Turkey Vultures predominate.
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Not Raptor Wednesday
What is the one thing that could preempt our regularly scheduled broadcast? Bluebirds! There were two, a female and male. The female caught something yummy, looks like a caterpillar.
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First Lepidoptera of 2024
This time of year, a Mourning Cloak is the likeliest sighting. But this White M Hairstreak/Parrhasius m-album turned out to be the first butterfly I’ve seen this year. These are unusual here: I’ve only seen one once before, and there are only 22 observations for NYC. And is it early! In flight, the insect flashes…
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First Bees
Suddenly last Thursday it warmed up and up. The bees started to emerge. This Brown-belted Bumble was going after the nectar of Japanese Andromeda. Sometimes the brown belt is readily apparent. That tongue!
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Ravens
The Solar Building downhill used to host the local American Kestrels. Plenty of other birds have alighted on it in the past, but this was the first time that I can recall a Common Raven on it. Yum! Something scavenged, something good. Anyway, the big bird attracted a couple of American Crows who yelled and…
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Potter Wasp
The mud nest of a potter wasp, probably of the Eumenes genus. It amazes me that this has withstood this winter’s ample rain.
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Fly Pollinators
Flies don’t get much credit for pollination, but there’s Veronica pollen on each of these.
Backyard and Beyond 