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Ground-nesting
The majority of our wild bees — as opposed to honeybee farm animals — are ground-nesters. Here’s one in the ground between some hex pavers. She wouldn’t emerge as I stood there. Nobody really likes paparazzi. Some wasps are ground-nesters too. This one was excavating with seemingly no concern for my presence. Anacrabro ocellatus, I…
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Wasps and Caterpillars
This Euodynerus hidalgo wasp was digging into this old rudbeckia (or maybe it’s a coreopsis). For almost nine minutes. This European Tube Wasp (Ancistrocerus gazella) seemed interested. Ah-hah! Caterpillar! From deep inside the flower. I think it’s Homoeosoma genus. The Tube Wasp did not steal this prize. The wasp flew her prey off to her…
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Raptor Wednesday
On Sunday morning, there were five American Kestrels on and off the solar building, which is about one-third of the way down the block from here. Two males, three females. In this pic, there’s a male on the left. There are two females on the chimney, and another female on the far right pipe. On…
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Squash Vine Borer Moth
Wow! Nectaring on common milkweed, this moth is just a little bigger than a Western Honeybee. Have you ever seen one? I never had until Friday. You might know them from your zucchinis. The caterpillars of Melitta curcurbitae love to eat summer and winter squashes, but if this is your reward, perhaps a little homage…
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Raven
With inner eyelid close, the eyes of this young Raven look blue. In addition to being harried by a Northern Mockingbird, the Raven was also hassled by this male Baltimore Oriole, who let up a non-stop calling. When the Raven finally flew away, the Oriole followed. And was joined by a female Oriole. They both…
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Tuliptree
Last year’s fruit, found like this, split right in half, with one of this year’s in the background. The leaves were glistening in the hot sun, sticky with honeydew. Aphids were at work. Assuming these are Tuliptree Aphids (Illinoia liriodendri). Some kind of leaf-spotting fungus And turn a leaf over. Hugging the center: a tree…
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Another Very Special Edition of Raptor Wednesday
I was worried. It’s late June. Shouldn’t I have seen these fledglings sooner? In truth, they don’t look like they came out of the nest yesterday. I suspect they’ve been out and around for a few days now. She scrunches down before lift-off. There was actually a young male up there, too. I’d heard somebody…
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A Very Special Edition of Raptor Wednesday
Yup, it’s Thursday, but yesterday morning an American Kestrel caught my eye because it crossed the bow of the apartment windows and landed in a tree. It was where it landed that was out of the ordinary. Usually, the #BrooklynKestrels pair land up near the top of the tallest London Plane tree bordering the park.…
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Raptor Wednesday
Two young Red-tailed hawks of the class of 2020 were screaming their heads off the other day in Green-Wood. Because they were so close to the big pine nest, I presume that’s where they came from. Opposite corners here. As far as I understand it, the young raptors were demanding meat. One of the parent…
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Backyard and Beyond 