On May 8th, I spotted a female Baltimore Oriole beginning a nest in a London Plane. I returned a week or so after that first sighting, but could see nothing. But then this past Monday, June 5, the wind was kicking up and I spotted what looks like a full nest. A male singing atop…

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Dogwood Twig Borer Bumble Flower Goldenrod Leafminer Larinus something False Darkling Beetle family member Strangalepta Flower Longhorn Beetle Peach Root Weevil (Tortoise beetle on window, from the inside, because by the time I got outside it was gone…) Stropenron hamata Gambrinus Flat-headed Apple Tree Borer… …one of the Jewel Beetle family. Don’t we all wish…

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I saw more than two dozen beetle species last week in a yard and along a nearby street. Plum Curculo above…you might have to take a seat here, this is going to continue into tomorrow… Oak Leafrolling Weevil One of the numerous Agrilus species Kuschelina vians Rove beetle Six Spotted Tiger Wrinkled Soldier Agrilus cyanescens…

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At the Kestrel Communications Center… With the female out and about, I expect any youngsters in the nest are close to fledgling. * News on our awful, awful air, filled with smoke from Canadian wildfires. It’s akin to a thick fog at 8pm Tuesday; can’t see NJ, can barely see some of the barges on…

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This was seen in Staatsburg. I haven’t seen one in NYC in quite a while, but they are definitely found in all five boroughs.

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This Ichneumon wasp, perhaps Therion circumflexum, is trying to jab a caterpillar with one of her eggs. Wasps, both parasitic and social, take down a lot of caterpillars. Dark Paper Wasp laying eggs and provisioning the larvae to come. The eggs are the off-whiteish spheres. The food is more globular and clearer or even golden.…

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It was raining caterpillars in Dutchess County this past week. You could hear the frass, the poop, dripping down from the leaves—I found more frass than ticks on the dog—while silk-suspended larvae dangled everywhere. A selection: (Shh, I’m a twig!) (This one had just been jabbed by a parasitic wasp.) (A twofer) All this meat…

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This is the competed Mediterranean Potter Wasp nest I watching being built on May 24th, just before leaving town for a week. I didn’t get to see it completed then. When I got back to NYC this past Thursday, I returned to the scene of the pot-making. The nest, as you see, is now capped.…

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Saturday night, dog-sitting. Take the dog out around 10pm. There’s a loud noise coming from the barely visible pond area down at the beginning of the driveway. First I’ve heard this sound. I record it. I listen to several frog songs online. Ah: Gray Treefrog/Hyla versicolor. The next day I can hear a few more…

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Eastern/Gray Ratsnake Complex (Complex Pantherophis alleghaniensis) And another, rather bigger. But with a rather abbreviated tail.

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