Fieldnotes
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Butternuts
The tropical storm with all the vowels in its name brought down a lots of branches in the city last week. Green-Wood Cemetery was closed for two days for clean up. Some whole trees were uprooted as well, and some weakened ones snapped. One was this butternut, Juglans cinerea. Already a shadow of its former…
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Book and Flowers and Bugs
A month of summer yet, at least as the calendar goes. But Carol Gracie’s Summer Wildflowers is good the whole year through. You’ll love opening this in early January! I can’t better the foreword by NYBG’s Robert Naczi: “Gracie seamlessly integrates diverse facets about these plants—history, geography, habitats, human uses, morphology, classification, pollination, conservation, and…
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Blue-winged Ones
Zethus spinipes, I think. One of the potter and mason wasps. Note all the parts of the mouth, like little tendrils. Isodontia philadelphica, a grass-carving wasps, also sans a common name. Female and, with the face dot, male Four-toothed Mason Wasps (Monobia quadridens). Nearctic Blue Mud-dauber (Chalybion californicum), presumably. Very similar looking to the Steel-blue…
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Sharpshooters
A nymph Broad-headed Sharpshooter. The adult form is amazing, so I’ll keep my eye out for them now. A lot of people resist the appeal of insects, but this one might break down some barriers. In unmown meadow, here’s a Draeculacephala genus sharpshooter. Couldn’t get another photo because it shot off at the slightest provocation.…
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Raptor Wednesday With Gliders
Two American Kestrel males in Green-Wood. Hunting must be good here, because I’ve seen kestrels in this area for years. There are some great perches, with meadow below. When I was there Saturday, both Spot-winged and Wandering Gliders, the orange-y dragonflies that seem to be constantly in the air, were flying at eye-level. Kestrels eat…
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Cicada-Killers
It’s time to suck the lilac sap again. How does one tell individual insects apart? Well, look at the abdomen patterns on these Cicada Killer Wasps. There are subtle distinctions between individual females as well as between individual males. And then there’s sexual dimorphism. The male is rather smaller. Females are big and burly for…
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Cardinals
Heard under a conifer. A baby Northern Cardinal. Clammed up upon seeing me. The bird could scurry and even hop-fly about a foot at a time. There was a parent with a large moth, which she tried to stick in the baby’s mouth several times. Before finally succeeding on the third try. Even all muppet-mouthed,…
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Wavy-backed
The caterpillar of the Wavy-lined Emerald Moth (Synchlora aerata) sticks bits of plant material to itself. I’ve seen this before, but only on instars half this size. Nice to be able to get some feet in these shots. FYI: some green lacewings stick clumps of lichen to their backs. Try as I might, though, I…
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Sunset Park
Different views from the roof. Jersey City, Manhattan to Midtown, and Downtown Brooklyn making a continuous urban skyline. And Green-Wood Cemetery. Went up when I heard an American Kestrel calling. A female. A Laughing Gull passed, silently. Three-four-five Chitterwizzles, or Chimney Swifts, were overhead, too.
Backyard and Beyond 