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Breeding Season
Common Grackle and Baltimore Oriole chase a crow. Looks like the Grackle made contact!
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Ravens, Continued
Food for the fledgling… only the fledgling had to come and get it, which the bird could not do while we were there. Gutter-water break for the parent. Lots of calling.
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Ravens, Continued
Parent Raven was making a lot of noise with the youngster in the tree when we arrived on Sunday. A feral cat down below might have been the issue.
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Raven Wednesday
We interrupt our regularly scheduled Raptor Wednesday with news of a newly fledged Raven. On Sunday, we found one of the four Raven puppies out of the nest, in the only clump of trees in this industrial, parking lot zone. Called by one of the adults, who had food, this youngster could fly across the…
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Mimicking Fly
At first glance, this looks like a parasitic wasp. But that’s a very Diptera head, with the eyes next to each other and the little Y-shaped antenna. Also, there are only two wings, which is what Di-ptera means. (Wasps, like bees, have four wings.) This is Xylomya pallidifemur, a wood soldier fly. I haven’t found…
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Monarch Monday
A centimeter-long Monarch caterpillar. Spotted on Saturday at the patch of Common Milkweed where I found six Monarch eggs two weeks ago. I also spotted an adult on Saturday, unexpectedly flushing it from a lawn-like part of Green-Wood. Twas too quick for a photo.
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Ravens Getting Ready
Two days ago, on Friday: the four nestlings are getting too big for their britches.
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First Monarch
May 11, 2025. So far, first and only adult Monarch spotted. That same day, however, I spotted an egg on the underside of a Common Milkweed. I was in a hurry to meet some people, so I came back the next day to look for more. I found five more eggs on this patch of…
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Backyard and Beyond 