Fieldnotes
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Prothonotary
A protonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) has been hanging out with the lions in front of the New York Public Library’s main building at 42nd Street for the last couple of days. Paparazzi and police lines… no, just kidding, but those photographers sure are sorta-kinda like hunters, aren’t they, trying to “bag” their bird? When I…
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Dear Backyard and Beyond
A curious reader writes in with images of a mystery caterpillar she photographed in Central Park in mid-July. Consulting David L. Wagner’s Caterpillars of Eastern North America, a gorgeously illustrated Princeton Field Guide, and bugguide.net, I believe what we have here is a polyphemus moth, Antheraea polyphemus. This is one of the giant silkworm subfamily…
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Storm King
The colors of fall at Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY. (Thanks to Nate for the use of his camera.) A beautiful fall day.
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Columbus Day Weekend
The primary color amid the pine trees of Cape Cod was the flaming autumn red of Virginia creeper, surrounding the tree trunks like red tights. On Nantucket, we found a leaf-green bobble-headed praying mantis on the wood-pile as we hung up some clothes to dry. She slowly moved her head to and fro, as her…
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Spiders
One morning not so long ago when I was in northeastern Massachusetts, I started noticing small spider webs on the rounded hump of a bush in a suburban front yard. As I looked around the bush, it became clear that there were very many webs. Dozens of them, if not hundreds, covering most of the…
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Confusing Fall Warbler
Roger Tory Peterson, the Bronx’s great contribution to ornithology, has a couple of famous-in-the-field pages in his field guide called “Confusing Fall Warblers, etc.” On their way south, the warblers have left their breeding plumage behind them, so they are not nearly as dramatic as in the spring. Juvenile birds, born this spring and summer,…
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LDEO
Last Saturday, I went up to Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for their annual Open House. I’ve passed the sign on 9W several times over the years, and really only noticed the “observatory” part of the sign; I thought it was an astronomical observatory, built before city and suburb light pollution pretty much ruined East…
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Monarchy
An unusually dark Monarch caterpillar found at that little wonderland of wildness, Brooklyn Bridge Park. The place was full of standard-colored Monarchs about two weeks earlier. This one was the only one seen on a more recent visit. It’s late, but probably not too late. Nearby, I found the remains of a pupa. Also found…
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Night and Day
… you are the one.” All these insects were found in various parts of Massachusetts at the beginning of this month. I am unsure of IDs for the last two. The butterfly may be a pearl crescent. The Dobsonfly at the very top was a good two inches long, one of the weird delights brought…
Backyard and Beyond 