-
Milkweed Continues
Large Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) on common milkweed pod. This I learned: a note in Evan’s NWF Field Guide to Insects and Spiders says this species has been used extensively in physiological experiments. Easy to raise, they were also used to test insecticides from the 1940s. Carolina Biological Supply sells them for uses in experiments…
-
Monarch Monday
Two plump Monarch caterpillars on some common milkweed. They looked ready for a transformation, or metamorphosis….Danaus plexippus, Asclepias syriaca.Nearby, an adult female seemed to be laying eggs. Here is one of the tiny things (I think). Will this egg open up to a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly that flies to Mexico this fall? The…
-
Blue-winged Wasp
Putting a little extra sting into your Sunday! This handsome creature is a Blue-winged or Digger wasp (Scolia dubia). The paired yellow spots on the reddish orange abdomen are distinctive for identifying this species, at least around here (as far as I know). “Life style”? They dig into the ground in search of larvae of…
-
Second Magnolia
There’s a tendency in some of these exotic magnolias to bloom again in late summer. Should be a few metaphors in this, wot?
-
Random But Intentional
There are eight million stories in the naked city. Ok, these pictures come from a pair of cities, but… …you never know what you’ll see when you’re looking out for fellow travelers on this hurling space rock. For instance, this escaped parakeet, a Rosy-faced Lovebird, I guess, briefly perched on the balcony. (Photographed through the…
-
Damselflies
One of the Lestes genus spreadwing damselflies.Spotted in Sapsucker Woods. One of the differences between dragon and damselflies is that damselflies rest with their wings closed. Except of course for the spreadwings… I think it’s the Spotted (L. congener), but I’m not a 100% sure on that. I’d never seen it before. Spotted on the…
-
Latte Ducks
These two ducklings, still with stubbs of wings, swam against the flow of tumbling Fall Creek to team up with their mother on another rock.This foam looks a little like the froth atop latte or one of those other coffee products. Good segue to this, then? Caffeine, like other drugs we take, passes through us…
-
Raptor Wednesday
I’ve wrapped up the #BrooklynKestrels season on the pages of the Clapper Rail, the publication of the Brooklyn Bird Club. Check it, as the kids say, out.It’s a double-raptor issue.
-
Birds in the Rain
Yes, the bird has caught a little fish here, one of several seen captured and swallowed with dispatch.This Great Blue Heron flew some thousand feet across Beebe Lake in Ithaca to chase away another Great Blue that had just flown in. I would have thought there was room enough for two.Baby flycatchers?!This Cedar Waxwing posing…
-
Gorges
“Ithaca is Gorges” is awfully good branding. I thought the gorges that sliced away through shales and sandstones at the northern and southern edges of Cornell were gorgeous.Fall Creek in the rain during the morning. Most of this one is seen from above, on the Cayuga Trail. Only disconcerting thing: all the anti-suicide netting on…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Backyard and Beyond 