Fieldnotes
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Mite-y Cargo
A blue-form female Familiar Bluet, I think. About three blocks from the nearest water body. The edge of this parking lot was weedy– more recently every bit of greenery was removed. But it’s already sprouting back… Anyway, the damselfly turned out to be laden with cargo. These red things are water mites, hitching a ride.…
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Bent Snapper
Medium-sized snapping turtle. By medium-sized, I mean the shell here is bigger than your average dinner plate. About a month ago, I ran into this same turtle in the water. This carapace (top shell) is unique, and rather unusual. I’ve never seen the spines on the far edge pointing upwards on other specimens.
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Birds
Another breeding bird? A pair of Brown Thrashers were hunkered under a few bushes in Green-Wood recently. A big, bold bird that hides its light under a bushel if there ever was one. Seeing this one out in the open was a nice change of pace. Forster’s Tern hunting over the Crescent Water. A bit…
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Breaking
This is the first Ebony Jewelwing I’ve ever seen here in Brooklyn. They can be common elsewhere, but this is now the first record in iNaturalist and Odonata Central for Kings Co. A male. Eating a small fly in this shot. He was patrolling a puddle in the Dell Water, which is mostly drained now…
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Raptor Wednesday
Sometimes far… Sometimes near. The local American Kestrels. Three or four still seen most days.
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Periodic Reminder
Orange antennae are the fastest way to distinguish European Paper Wasps in the field. Polistes dominula are everywhere, constantly prowling around for prey. I see them in the bushes, the taller grasses, the trees. An umbrella paper wasp, they make umbrella-like nests. Our other Polistes wasps are rather dark; indeed, the most common native species…
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Mammal Monday
Why yes, this Common Raccoon does seem to be splayed belly-up in a tree crotch on a hot, humid day. One can only imagine the nocturnal debaucheries this beast has been up to. **** This post dedicated to David Burg, who passed away suddenly on Saturday. He was about 70 and died while walking in…
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The Red Crown
I’m still looking for hard evidence, i.e. fledglings, of Green-Wood breeding Eastern Kingbirds. In the meantime, enjoy this rare look at the rather subtle touch of red on the bird’s head. At Sylvan Water. At Valley Water. Throwing up a pellet of indigestible insect bits. Camera didn’t catch the bolus, but last year….
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Lizard, Abbreviated
Northern Italian Wall Lizard. Lost its tail. The replacement growth is never as long as the original. Podarcis siculus ssp. campestris got to America via the pet trade. They have expanded out from several areas, including on Long Island.Note that this article says there’s no evidence of birds eating these lizards. But in fact, there…
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Tiger, tiger, flying bright
… until caught in a web. An ichneumon wasp — of some kind. You might think something this distinctive looking would be easy to identify. For instance, doesn’t “Tiger Wasp” sound good? But there are a LOT of ichneumon wasps. The Ichneumon genesis alone includes about 143 species in Neartica (most of North America). Here’s…
Backyard and Beyond 