Brooklyn Bridge Park
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Flying Now
Barely… actually she seems to be doing ok with those chucks missing from her forewings. This is an Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas); a female, with brown wings on the upperside; the male has blue. Wingspan is close to an inch, so about half inch when perched. And the tails made much of in the common…
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Wandering Glider
The Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens) also known as the Globe Skimmer, because it’s found world-wide around the tropics and near-tropics. As its common name suggests, this species is a mover, flying constantly, nearly non-stop, but sometimes it does perch (like at night). This one was hanging out about nine feet up. Nothing is easy about…
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Sphex
For the budding naturalists I met in the park while photographing these wasps, which of course I couldn’t remember the name of. There were about half a dozen on this milkweed, more than I’ve ever seen at once. This is the Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus). The adults, like many of the big wasps, are…
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Uh-oh
Is this going to end like Bambi Meets Godzilla? (Click on the image if you have a tiny screen for the full nailed-claw effect.) Well, probably not, as this is the turtle’s back leg and the reptile may not even be aware of the Pondhawk’s presence. And while Pondhawks are certainly serious contenders in their…
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Black and Yellow
Black and Yellow Mud-Dauber (Sceliphron caementarium). Remember when they spent a winter nesting in the Back 40? And then bundled out of their mud huts after about 9 months entombed in hard mud like ancient Egyptians?
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Dead Wood?
The fence posts in Brooklyn Bridge Park are made from Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), a durable, naturally rot-resistant wood. Of course, like anything in a natural environment, even one as heavily managed as this, it will end up having more than a single, intended purpose.The top, for instance, is a great place for birds to…
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More Odes
Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina). The abdomen is red all the way to the black tip, but that’s impossible to see in this light. Two of these were patrolling the pond aggressively and charging at each other over and over to maintain dominance. They were about 12-15 feet up, and overhead they can easily be mistaken…
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Great Blue Skimmers
Male Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans). 2.2″ long. Note the wing pattern, seen better below; in addition to size this will help you distinguish these from the also blue males of the smaller Common/Eastern Pondhawk and even smaller Blue Dasher. This one is in a classic oblique perch here; the species will also perch horizontally,…
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Slider
A Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) in the freshwater gardens on Pier One. There were two last year. Did this one survive the damage done by Sandy or is it yet another illegal introduction? A species of the Southeast, RES fill our fresh waters because of the pet trade, irresponsible pet owners, and an unfortunate…
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Robber Fly
A robber fly of the genus Diogmites. Superficially wasp-like, but actually in the order Diptera as their common name suggests. Note the rather long and spiny legs, the better for grasping prey with. They hunt bees, wasps, and even dragonflies, no mean predators themselves. The piercing mouthparts are for sucking out the prey’s precious bodily…
Backyard and Beyond 