Fieldnotes
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Catbird
Migrating, breeding, molting, migrating. While Gray Catbirds are resident year around along the Atlantic Coast up into Massachusetts, the vast majority leave NYC and head south come the fall. Before that, they molt into their basic, non-breeding plumage. This one in Prospect Park is in the midst of shaking out the old and growing in…
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The Better To See You With
You may have noticed the long antennae of butterflies, or the sometimes very elaborate and feathery antenna of certain moths. Male moths especially, like this Chickweed Geometer (Haematopis grataria), pick up the scent of female pheromones from great distances. Some beetles also have long antenna; c.f. the “long-horned beetles.” But note how minor a dragonfly’s…
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The Mosaic
All this week I’ve been detailing little pieces of the great mosaic of life around here. That’s what this blog has been doing for years now, sure, but this week’s cicada / Cicada-killer wasp / Mockingbird sequence was vary connect-the-dots. Usually I see something and then say something, building up observation after observation, painting a…
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An Ecosystem
On Monday, we started with cicadas. I’ve been trying to get a photo of a Cicada-killer Wasp with her six mitts on a cicada. Thrice now laden-wasps have zipped by me, white underside of their prey visible, but I haven’t been quick enough with the camera. ONce they land, the wasps are quite quick into…
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Still Under the Lilac
Joining the wasps under the lilac were three species of sap-happy butterfly. A couple of Red Admirals quietly suckled. But it was the Polygonia genus butterflies that were really stealing the show. This is a Comma (P. comma). More views of Commas. Here we have both a Comma, lower left, and a Question Mark. These…
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Under the Lilac Bush
Past blooming, this Syringa (lilac) is a bit of a mess, esthetically-speaking: shrubby, mildewy, gnarly, clumpy with old fruit. But is it ever jumping as habitat! (Huge lesson here: a garden is rarely habitat.) For one thing, the shrubbery was full of wasps. There was a mud-daubber. A White-faced Hornet. A couple of European Paper…
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More Wasps
This Cicada-killer Wasp was emerging from her nest. She had just deposited a paralyzed cicada inside and, presumably since this is what they do, laid an egg on the cicada. I tried to get a photo of her carrying her progeny-to-be’s food inside, but she was too fast for me. I waited for about fifteen…
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More Cicadas
I’ve seen and photographed more adult cicadas this year than I ever have before. The spent larval husks are easy to find, just look on tree trunks… and leaves. This quartet, plus another that fell by the wayside, were on a single horse chestnut. Of course, most trees I look at don’t have any of…
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More Butterflies
Common Sootywing. A small black skipper, the only example seen on this day in Green-Wood, where all these butterflies but one were seen. Rather better pictures than our last encounter, when there was also only one to be seen. The way the fall of light accents the scaly edges of this particularly brightly-spotted individual is…
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A Bigger Cowbird
I don’t know if this is one of the Brown-headed Cowbird chicks I saw in the last couple of weeks. If not, it would be the third one I’ve sighted this summer. I’d never seen one before this summer. As in the other cases, I heard this youngster calling for food before seeing it or…
Backyard and Beyond 