Fieldnotes
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Gateways
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) absolutely owning the place.There are a good number of Songs nesting at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, which is part of Gateway National Recreation Area.Another was singing on top of this Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) nest box. There’s probably a whole family of swallows in there behind the parent seen poking out.The…
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Tiny Hopper
I think this a nymph Differential Grasshopper (Melanoplus differentials). In the high grasslands of Governor’s Island, which were also filled with Seven-spotted Lady Beetles.
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European Paper Wasp
Polistes dominula, gathering some boardwalk wood.
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Eastern Harvestman
Or Eastern Daddy Longlegs (Leiobunum vittatum). Your annual reminder: these are not spiders, don’t have fangs, don’t bite, and are not venomous. Some can spritz you with a stinking defensive spray, though.
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Eastern Amberwing
Our smallest dragonfly species, the Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera). This is a male. A female was also seen dipping her abdomen down into a lens of water atop a waterlily leaf, depositing her eggs. Blue Dashers, Green Darners, and Black Saddlebags were also about, but we certainly haven’t yet hit peak dragonfly.
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Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
The insects are definitely out and about. I had half a dozen mosquito bites Saturday night, all inside the assumed safety of my well-screened apartment. But let’s highlight some living invertebrates this week, starting with the always stunning Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). Unmistakably big and yellow, right? This is a female, with much more…
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Through The Window
The point of this blog is to celebrate the wildlife right outside our doors, wherever we are. Sometimes, of course, we don’t even need to leave the house. I was alerted to those Ravens by vocal Fish Crows (Corvus ossifragus). Here’s one from that morning, on a pole at the back end of the row…
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Chimneys and their Swifts
Brick chimneys are things of beauty, old utilitarian architecture made pleasing by shape and material. Bricks, made of clay, sand, shale, and heat, have a particularly earthy appeal. I’m posting this today to remind us of the Chimney Swifts (Chaetura pelagica) overhead now. I see and hear them regularly both on top of the Harbor Hill Moraine…
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Eel
Last Saturday, there was a fish survey around the archipelago of NYC and further up the Hudson River. I was too lazy to go to any of the events, but that morning I did run across an interesting sample. On Bush Terminal Park’s pier was this half-an-eel. American Eel Anguilla rostrata, the adult stage of…
Backyard and Beyond 