mthew

Autumn Meadowhawk. Common Green Darner, with details:

We’re entering the quiet season. You have to look harder for signs of life. Here’s a leaf-miner on American Sycamore, perhaps Ectoedemia plantanella. Backlit by the sun, this blotch mine on Pin Oak reveals the frass, waste product, on the left, and the organism, a caterpillar, at the upper right, all between layers of leaf.…

Yes, a thing. Common Freshwater Jellyfish/Craspedacusta sowerbii. Introduced, all of the world now. They just showed up in Green-Wood’s Sylvan Water. On the plus size, the largest are the size of US quarters. They do sting, that’s how they capture their tiny prey, but their stinging cells are so small they don’t seem to have…

Surprisingly, this female was laying eggs on Common Milkweed on Sept 28th. On my two Bugging Out walks that weekend, I saw at least two dozen adult Monarchs.

Papa Kestrel atop the Old Chapel has some wasp attendents. I didn’t notice these while photographing. Is there a nest up there, or are these wasps on mating flights?