Brooklyn
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C/CKW
The Cicada Killer Wasps (Sphecius speciosus) are out and about now, collecting pollen at flowers to eat, stabbing cicadas for their young…I’m not telling, but here’s a Dog Day cicada (genus Tibicen), more heard than seen by we ground-huggers.The two wasps pictured above are males. They’re smaller than the females. Here’s a female, scare-the-horses-ginormous, patrolling…
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Lilypad Forktail
Lilypad Forktail (Ischnura kellicotti) male damselfly on a lily pad. The location was a big clue to identifying this small damselfly (a fair number of damselfly species are electric blue), which spends its life on and around waterlilies. The downward bending of the abdomen tip when it poses is also characteristic of this species. The…
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Carolina Wren
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) on a chessboard. Usually more often heard than seen, for this little bird has a big, big voice that rolls through the woods.Here using its tail feathers woodpecker-style, for support against the vertical as it goes about gleaning for insects.
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Flying Now
Another black and yellow animal for the day. The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). All over the place right now, but hard to get a lens on unless they are feeding. Mostly I see them moving. This is the largest regional butterfly, and pretty much unmistakable, although further north the slightly smaller P. canadensis is…
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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 