Painted Beauty American Lady Black Swallowtail male Pipevine Swallowtail male Eastern Tailed-Blue Summer (presumably) Azure Clouded Sulphur Common Sootywing

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I have been on the lookout for Dogbane Leaf Beetles/Chrysochus auratus. They can potentially be found anywhere Hemp Dogbane/Apocynum cannabinum is found, for they eat the stuff. They’re known in NYC, including my subdivision thereof (Brooklyn). But it was only this past weekend that I finally came across several, including at least three mating pairs.…

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Marthalicia Matarrita’s Grey Hawk at 500 W. 135th St., part of the Audubon Mural Project. Spotted in Upper Manhattan recently, just before seeing two vocal no, three! no, four! Peregrine Falcons overhead. (Was in the car, couldn’t photograph.) Must have been a whole family above the avenue. Wow!

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The presence of several spider webs suggested that even on the 21st floor, there was good eating. I saw two moth species, two beetle species, a caddisfly, flies, and quite a few mud-dauber wasps, although most of them weren’t stopping on the windows. This, like the second picture above, is a Yellow Poplar Weevil/Odontopus calceatus.…

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One gets to be a little myopic living in a place. For instance, I was not even aware there was an Eastern Fox Squirrel/Sciurus niger out there. They’re found in most of the eastern half of the country, excepting New England and New York/New Jersey, the places I’m most familiar with. I spotted these in…

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You were probably wondering, during Milkweed Madness earlier this week, where the Monarchs were. Me too. I haven’t spotted any larvae yet. Adult above is slurping up some Butterfly Milkweed/Asclepius tuberosa nectar. This male was going for Common Milkweed/A. syriaca. I tend to see more activity on syriaca than tuberosa. Tuberosa is more photogenic, and…

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An inland sea: Lake Michigan from Saugatuck Sand Dunes State Park, Michigan. I’d seen this water body from Chicago, but it’s been a while, and never from this vantage point, which is looking westward. South. North. Look at those dune heights in the distance! Or right behind me. Now, looking back over the water. I…

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Saw some new Odonata, damselflies and dragonflies, while traveling. American Rubyspot above. Dot-tailed Whiteface. Dusky Dancers. Stream Bluets. Ebony Jewelwing. Not a new species for me, but I see them rarely. Blue-fronted Dancer: another species I don’t see in Brooklyn. This one was next to the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh. I think this is another…

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The edges of the Grand River in Grand Rapids were dominated by Red-winged Blackbirds. And it was fledgling season. Who’s the boss? These bruisers have drawn blood from a friend, but I’ve found Northern Mockingbirds and, especially, Arctic Terns to be more in your face when it comes to protecting their own.

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The Grand River is now mostly rapid-less, quite a let-down to those like myself hoping that Grand Rapids would live up to its name. But every day, we saw Osprey hunting over the river. The photos above are from the 21st floor. It’s not often I see Osprey from the top! (Through rather dirty windows…

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