Suddenly last Thursday it warmed up and up. The bees started to emerge. This Brown-belted Bumble was going after the nectar of Japanese Andromeda. Sometimes the brown belt is readily apparent. That tongue!

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The Solar Building downhill used to host the local American Kestrels. Plenty of other birds have alighted on it in the past, but this was the first time that I can recall a Common Raven on it. Yum! Something scavenged, something good. Anyway, the big bird attracted a couple of American Crows who yelled and…

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Flies don’t get much credit for pollination, but there’s Veronica pollen on each of these.

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This heavily-marked Red-tailed Hawk was trying to break off a branch for nest material as a lone Blue Jay registered a complaint.

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Turkish Hazel/Corylus colurna *** In other news, I suspected Oppenheimer would win a bunch of Oscars in the industry’s own award-itself-fest, so I delved into the history in more detail.

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Sad. This was a mighty Quercus alba. Half way down the slope, so one of its branches nicely aligned with naturalist’s level at the top of the hill. I documented half a dozen gall wasp species on this grand old tree, plus handful of other lifeforms. That wasn’t even a drop in the bucket.

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The female on the look-out. She dropped down to the ground and then flew up to another perch with one of the local Northern Italian Wall Lizards. The first time I heard of lizards in NYC was when I saw a photo that was making the social rounds: this showed an American Kestrel carrying one…

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Across the bay, a mural in Jersey City reaches up 20 stories. (Closer view & details here.)

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