Brooklyn
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Three Wee Damselflies
Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) male. Tell-tale broken strip on the thorax like an exclamation point. One of the inch-long damsels.And this looks like the female Fragile Forktail.Immature female Lilypad Forktail (Ischnura kellicotti). Just over an inch long. Without binoculars or telephoto, it’s hard to see this gorgeous orange color. And some kind of bluet…
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River of Milky Jade
Signs of life in the Superfund Gowanus, which has a weird milky jade color (and, oy, the stink!) this time of year.
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Hovering Now
At last! A good look at a Snowberry Clearwing moth (Hemaris diffinis). I had originally thought this was the Hummingbird Clearwing (H. thysbe) but the black line through the eyes across the sides of the thorax, and the dark legs, are distinguishing. Both species look a little like hummingbirds, but are even smaller than our smallest birds.…
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Shorebirds
Breeding season over, shorebirds are heading back south as the migration pendulum swings the other way. Here are a few of the species I saw this week along Brooklyn’s shoreline:Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola). Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) and American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), which looks like it’s got a Blue Mussel (which shouldn’t be that hard,…
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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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Flying Now
There are moments when the beauty of the world takes your breath away. Like, for instance, when a Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis) spreads its wings in a patch of sunlight, opening and closing them in quick succession — as if were silently clapping — and flashing this incredible blue iridescence. And then you remember why…
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Meet the Herons
Members of the family of Green Herons (Butorides virescens) in the Lullwater. The youngsters are yammering at each other, one of the parents is on the left. Now, let’s get some more details of one of the streaky-necked juveniles:A little neck-scratching, a little crest-spreading. Love the eyes, which a human like me reads as “intense.”…
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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…
Backyard and Beyond 