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Swift Feather-legged Fly
Trichopoda pennipes, a parasitic fly of uncommon colorfulness. They lay their eggs on true bugs and have been used as biological control agents against squash bugs and the Southern Green Stinkbug, a crop pest with world-wide distribution. The hairy “feather” on the tibiae of hind legs can be seen here: this is a fringe of…
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The Quest for White Snakeroot
This picture turned out a little artier than I intended, but so be it. White snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) does like shade and flops around in the wind, two photo challenges. The NYC EcoFlora Project has an EcoQuest Challenge this month: documenting the presence of this wildflower in NYC. The project uses iNaturalist, a handy app…
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Autotomy
Lizards can shed their tails to escape predators, including the two-legged kind. This is called autotomy (“self-severing” or self amputation): reptiles, amphibians, spiders, mollusks, even some mammals have various forms of it. The lizard tail situation is probably the best known manifestation of this adaption. There will be some regeneration, as you can see here,…
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Nest
Underneath a pine, probably dislodged by the fierce rain of the day before, summer’s nest. Quite small, about 3.25″ across, but certainly not the smallest I’ve ever seen. That would be the absurdly tiny, lichen-camouflaged nest of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. This is very elegantly made of grasses. Perhaps Chipping Sparrow? A little small for the…
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Autumnal Flowers And Their Familiars
There’s only so much in bloom now.But there are still hungry insects.And insects that eat insects.The goldenrod smorgasbord.
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Mammal Monday: Whistlepig
I’d just passed two woodchuck-sized holes under a tree when the lumbering run of a groundhog-in-the-fur caught my eye. The animal stood up for the best view in front of its burrow. Marmota monax, mammal of many names. Slightly easier to see if you click on this image to make it larger. *** The children’s…
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K is for Kestrel
Richard Hines’s No Way But Gentlenesse is a memoir of the stunting British class system, and his falcons. The first theme definitely grips one’s attention, the second, well, less so for this ornithologically-inclined kestrel-fancier. Hines’s older brother Barry wrote a novel called A Kestrel For a Knave (1968), inspired by Richard’s experience with Falco tinnunculus.…
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Hairy Cs
It seems the Yellow Bear caterpillar is yellow in early instars, but then individuals takes on a variety of colors. Virginia Tiger Moth, Spilosoma virginica. In Green-Wood last week. The pupae overwinter.Hickory Tussock (Lophocampa caryae) named after a favored food (Carya genus), but “expected on almost any woody species,” says caterpillar maven David L. Wagner.…
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Vespa crabro
These two European hornets were locked in mortal combat. Bugguide.net says they’re females. Were they from different colonies, fighting over a food source? This was right next to a compact but rich hunting ground of Buddeleia swarming with butterflies, skippers, and bees.The pair broke up, took to the air, but did not flee. They faced…
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Statue of Butterflies
Under each wingpit, a chrysalis. At the tips of the wings, emptied husks of chrysalises. On the left wing, a chrysalis and brand new Monarch. Harder to see, but way down below the drape of rocky dress, another ripening chrysalis. Pictures from Saturday. Yesterday, I counted two butterflies and half a dozen chrysalises in process…
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Backyard and Beyond 