April 9th: Cabbage White April 9th: Sylvanelater cylindriformis (I think) April 9th: a small mining bee April 9th: another unknown bee April 10: American Lady April 11th: mining bee (species unknown) April 11th: Ichneumonidae wasp April 12th: Cabbage Whites don’t waste time. April 13th: Common Blue Darners, a migratory species, the first Odonata I’ve seen…

See more

There were four or five female Red-winged Blackbirds in this blooming Eastern Cottonwood. Well, it certainly does look delicious. These are the anthers, and yes, they were shedding pollen.

See more

Louisiana Waterthrush Palm Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Pine Warbler Swamp Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Brown Creeper Carolina Wren

See more

See more

Some American Winter Ants/Prenolepis imparis attempting to reproduce. The female is much, much larger than the males. Two or three came down to the ground with her, but only one got to connect: Once her nuptial flight is done, she sheds her wings and goes back underground. The males, called drones, will die soon after…

See more

Though perched on a Red Deadnettle/Lamium purpureum, this Black-shouldered Drone Fly/Eristalis dimidiata is covered in what I think is Dandelion/Taraxacum pollen. Another Black-shouldered on the same patch of Dandelions. Narrow-headed Marsh Fly/Helophilus fasciatus on the same Dandelions. Flesh fly/Sarcophaginae. Look at how pollen-y these field ants are! Pale Field Ants/Formica pallidefulva In Lesser Celandine/Ficaria verna.…

See more

Ten days ago, an American Bittern touched down besides Crescent Water in Green-Wood. I wasn’t there. Today, I was about to enter the 5th Avenue tunnel when a car pulled up and a guy named Chris asked me if I’d seen the Bittern he’d been alerted to. I hadn’t and hadn’t known to look until…

See more

The wing-gap Red-tail has a blue band that seems to read 10 over A. (I’ve submitted details to the Bird Banding Lab…) With sticks for the nest. Which could use a renovation. The mate, I presume the female, in the nest. She was trying to break off some twigs in a nearby tree as well.

See more

While Magnolias certainly are showy, they’re not particularly pollinator-friendly. As some of the oldest flowering plants, they actually pre-date bees, butterflies, and moths. Beetles and flies are attracted to their flowers, and it’s these older insects who pollinate them. However, I’ve never seen much evidence of any insects in the flowers. Most of the magnolias…

See more

Bathing is really important for birds, but the problem is where. From the blog command center, we see birds bathing in roof puddles and what are obviously backed-up gutters. A pond seems like a good possibility, but this one is walled in: the drop off is deep. This Red-tailed Hawk was long considering strategy here.…

See more