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Spreadwings
I have not come across any of the spreadwing damselflies in Brooklyn. These Lestidae family insects are the exception to the rule that damselflies rest with their wings folded back above their abdomen, in contrast to the dragonflies who don’t fold their wings at all. This year I caught a glimpse of a spreadwing —…
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Deep Maps
William Least Heat-Moon’s PrairyErth is an close exploration of the place now called Chase County, Kansas. The book is large and sprawling. I read it over several months, usually just a few chapters at a time, letting the details build up like the old prairie soils. Much, as he notes near the end, has been…
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Current Lepidoptera
And even more butterflies. This is a Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus). Mostly southern, but makes forays as far north as New England. First spotting of this species for me, in Green-Wood.Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) caterpillar. This is the one that gets on your parsley; the earlier instars or stages are black with a white splotch in…
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Painted Ladies
There were more Vanessa cardui butterflies around the Green-Wood Buddleja planting than I’ve ever seen in one place in New York City.Really nice to see so many individuals of slightly different sizes and color intensity.What is up with this hanging out on the stone or tarmac?
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Raptor Wednesday
A Bald Eagle coasts across Beaverdam Park in Gloucester County, VA. We only spotted one of these enormous birds this trip; in April we had 22. But the Osprey didn’t disappoint. Counted 17 on the way back, mostly at the Frances Scott Key and Potomac Bridges. Post-breeding season, many still perch on nest sites. As…
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Wing Bands
The Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) is a dragonfly rarely seen perched. But sometimes you get lucky.The “saddlebags” = the dark coloration of the hind wings. This could be an immature male or a female. The yellow spots on the abdomen are the ambiguous tell: a mature male won’t have these.A closer look to examine the…
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Sceliphron caementarium
What the well-dressed mud-daubing wasp is wearing: black and yellow.The Black and Yellow Mud Dauber builds a mud nest. Trypoxylon politum, the Pipe Organ Mud Dauber, is almost all black and builds pipe organ-like nests.Here’s another gathering mud. Her left antenna is broken off. She does not seem to get much mud per trip. This…
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Franklinia
A late summer bloom. Isn’t the flower rather reminiscent of a camellia? In fact, the Franklin tree (Franklinia alatamaha) is in the same family, Theaceae, as the camellias, along with as its fellow natives Stewartia and Gordonia.. But this North American native is presumed extinct in the wild; it hasn’t been spotted since the early 19th…
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Muskrat Dusk
This is how I first noticed this young Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) in the Bronx recently. What, I asked myself, was that? The critter, the size of a small cat, was quite unconcerned about me, although when a human father and son, who chose not to follow my example, got too close it scurried away. But…
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Cicada Killer
Every August you’re practically guaranteed to see poor soul someone jump and shout in terror when they see a Cicada Killer Wasp. Sphecius speciosus are big; over an inch, and tend to fly low when they’re not scouting out trees for cicadas to capture.You need a big wasp to take home a big bug. It’s…
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Backyard and Beyond 