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Last week, they took down the old warehouse at South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. With it went the long-time Common Raven nest. Ten days earlier, I saw two Ravens from nearby Bush Terminal Park. The area between the park and 1st Avenue is also slated for big developments, in this case a move/TV studio. Early yesterday…

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Four-toothed Mason Was/Monobia quadridens. Prey: small moth caterpillars. Great Black Digger Wasp/Sphex pensylvanicus. Katydids. Great Golden Digger Wasp/Sphex ichneumoneus. Katydids. Parker’s Thread-waisted Wasp/Prionyx parkeri. Grasshoppers. Yellow-legged Mud-dauber Wasp/Sceliphron caementarium. Spiders. Hump-backed Beowulf/Philanthus gibbosus. Ground-nesting bees. Hidalgo Mason Wasp/Euodynerus hidalgo. Moth caterpillars. Ammophila pictipennis. Moth and skipper caterpillars. Noble Scold Wasp/Scolia nobilitata. Scarab beetle larvae.

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American Sand Wasp/Bembix americana. Here’s another. The most frequently seen wasp on these flowers at Bush Terminal. There’s a good bit of sandy soil around, which is what these nest in. They feed their young flower flies. Not maggots, adult flies. Bicyrtes ventralis. This is another sand wasp (Bembicinae), a hunter of true bugs. First…

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Amidst the general chaos and despair of Bush Terminal Park, ecologically speaking, this strip of Pycnanthemum has been bringing all the pollinators to the yard. I think it’s Narrowleaf Mountainmint/P. tenuifolium, one of a several species of this pollinator-magnet, and this is its first year. Various bee and butterfly species were feasting on these tiny…

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Osprey Edition

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At the Calvin University Ecosystem Preserve and Native Gardens in Grand Rapids, I spotted an Appalachian Brown/Lethe appalachia, although to be honest I first thought it was another of the rather similar Lethe species.

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