It’s the white on the face of these Dolichovespula maculata that give them the common name “Bald-faced Hornet.” They’re not hornets, by the way. Hornets strictly speaking are in the genus Vespa. They’re “Aerial Yellowjackets,” the common name of the Dolichovespula. But for a black and white wasp, this is not very helpful, either. The…

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An American Lady/Vanessa virginiensis on Ironweed/Vernonia. Clouded Sulphur/Colias philodice on asters/Symphyotrichum Lot of orange here, so I think an Orange Sulphur/Colias eurytheme on Ironweed. Eastern Tailed-blue/Cupido comyntas. Another American Lady, this time on Groundsel/Saltbush/ Baccharis halimifolia.

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Two male American Kestrels, one Northern Flicker, and, briefly, a small group of Cedar Waxwings were in the top branches of this tree at the same time. *** I want to extend my thanks and gratitude to several readers who have donated to maintaining this blog and and fixing its main engine (i.e. my camera).…

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A nice fat instar absolutely devouring the leaves of Common Milkweed. Big caterpillar, big poop. Anyway, I photographed this caterpillar and its frass on Friday. The animal was still there Saturday for my Bugging Out group. I also saw this one on a neighboring Common Milkweed on Friday. It was there Saturday… and, thankfully, on…

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A male feasting on Blazing-Star/Liatris

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One of the Ravens was on St. Mike’s a lot yesterday. Two days earlier, two where up there together. With their South Brooklyn Marine Terminal warehouse nest site gone, I wonder if they’re scouting out the inside of the church tower? Stay tuned.

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My first Common Buckeye/Junonia coenia butterfly of the year, spotted yesterday. I didn’t see a single one of these last year. I wondered if this was because of the removal from Green-Wood of the butterfly-crack Buddleja plants at Valley Water. Butterfly Bush is very appealing to adult butterflies, but as a non-indigenous species it does…

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A Fraternal Potter Wasp/Eumenes fraternus has captured a small caterpillar. She’s in the process of paralyzing it with her stinger. She’ll stuff it into the small mud pot nest she’s made for her young. Last year, I observed the related Mediterranean Potter Wasp/Eumenes mediteraneus, recently introduced to our parts, build her nest.

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There are still spaces on my Saturday Bugging Out tour at Green-Wood, and my Sunday Bugging Out for Kids tour on Sunday. The weather looks good. We’ll definitely see some of the above, Bald-faced Hornets, and the fabulous paper they make for their arboreal nests. A number of readers/subscribers/viewers very generously helped finance the purchase…

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