Fieldnotes
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Blue, Red, Rot
A Black-throated Blue Warbler hovering to bite bits out of a kousa dogwood fruit. This particular tree was hosting half a dozen species in its branches and on the ground, where a lot of the fruit had already fallen and was perfuming the air with rot. A siren-song to fruit flies. The Spot-winged Fruitflies, evidently,…
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Campari Wasps
On July 26, I spotted this wasp at the pollinator-madness of the trumpet vine flowers. Put it up on iNaturalist and bumpkiss resulted. I added four more observations up to last week, when an Italian wasp enthusiast wondered if it was Eumenes mediterraneus. It wouldn’t be the first wasp that’s made its way over: the…
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Even More Migration
Ovenbird. Veery. Black-throated Blue female. Clay-colored Sparrow. First time I’ve seen one of these here in Brooklyn. Scarlet Tanager. House Wren. Hermit Thrush Damn! Brown Creeper interrupted by a building.
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Raptor Wednesday
Look who’s back! The Bald Eagle with the black R over 7 band, who first showed up in the spring, has lately been seen again in Green-Wood. After eating… something, the bird stropped its bill on this branch. The bird was banded as a nestling in 2018 in New Haven, CT. There’s definitely more white…
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Notes on Galls
“Galls are highly specialized plant tissues whose development is induced by another organism.” The relationship is essentially parasitic, says Britain’s Plant Galls: A Photographic Guide, but “few gall-causers seem to cause more than localised, short-term damage to their host plants.” This book continues: “Plant galls can be caused or induced by a very wide variety…
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Back To The Galls
Andricus quercusstrobilanus on swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor). There’s no common name for this gall-forcing wasp species. Note the gap here, and the hollows within. The individual galls brown and shrivel up as they grow. Then they fall to the ground. (I don’t think this is standard for gall wasps in general). Since this tree…
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Sad Underwing
What a stupid common name for Catocala maestosa. This fabulous riot of patterning isn’t sad. Methinks the guy who came up with a lot of the common names for our moths, especially the underwings — the Girlfriend, Sweetheart, Magdalen, Once-Married, Mother, Semirelict, Darling, Bride, Tearful, Widow, Obscure, Betrothed, Penitent — had some issues, as they…
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Flickerings
Northern Flickers, passing through on their south-bound migration, will often rocket off the ground well before your approach. A couple on the path ahead of me recently allowed me to stand still as they policed the edges for ants and, presumably, other delicacies. There certainly are a lot of components to this species’ plumage. And,…
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Monarchs, Mostly
All the Monarch caterpillars I’ve seen this month in Green-Wood. Not overwhelmed by the numbers, unlike two years ago. Black Swallowtail for a change of pace. *** I thought this Judith Butler interview on gender was excellent. It was an exchange of emails, so much better than a conversation; the written word is still the…
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Backyard and Beyond 