Brooklyn
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Bull
…Frog (Lithobates catesbeianus). And bull! too, to the repulsive display of nativism, racism, ignorance, and unparalleled mendacity at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Stag Beetle
A Common or Reddish-Brown Stag Beetle (Lucanus capreolus) male who didn’t make it. Found on the sidewalk next to Prospect Park. This specimen is about an inch long. Inhabitants of parks, suburbs, and hardwood forests, they’re mostly nocturnal. They feed on sap; those pincer-like mandibles are used to battle other males for territory. Dudes. A wonderful…
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Out of the Sun
A Raccoon (Procyon lotor) was sprawled out on the second story fire-escape of my building’s inner courtyard yesterday. The critter probably found the shade most welcome on a hot day. It’s no tree cavity out there, true, but real estate is a bear in this borough. The animal was snoozing, as they are wont to…
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Nessus Sphinx
Perching covertly: Nessus Sphinx (Amphion floridness). When I first saw it, my thought was Cicada Killer Wasp. The Peterson guide says this day-flying moth is common throughout its range — the northeast to Virginia, across the midwest — but I think this is the first I’ve seen it.
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Ladybugs!
Convergent Ladybugs (Hippodamia convergens) uh, um, converging. This year’s aphid boom needs more lady beetles!Fourteen-Spotted Ladybug (Propylea quatuordecimpunctata).This looks like a variation of the Multicolored Asian Ladybug larva (Harmonia axyridis). These last two were spotted in Flatbush Gardener’s patch during the C-9 release.
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Heather’s Birds
My friend Heather Wolf’s Birding At The Bridge has just been published. This handsome volume detail’s Heather’s adventures watching and photographing birds in Brooklyn Bridge Park over the course of a couple of years. BBP is where I first ran into Heather. She was carrying her long lens, which is what you really need to…
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C-9s Return to Brooklyn
The New York State insect is the Nine-spotted Ladybug, also known as C-9 (Coccinella novemnotata). This was once one of the most common species of ladybug found on agricultural fields across North America. No more. I’ve still never seen an adult. In fact, nobody could find any in New York for more than two decades…
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Weather Vaned
Red-tails, Red-tails, everywhere you look. Yesterday, we saw one on a streetlight surveying the scene on the Belt Parkway. Another was atop the FDNY tower next to the BBG every time we looked up there over the course of nearly three hours in the wedding venue. And, as we come up Flatbush Avenue towards the…
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P. domesticus
Most overhanging stoplights in the city are supported by these t-shaped structures, and most seem to have a House Sparrow nest on each end. (And everybody knows it: we once watched a crow poking its bill into a couple of them, to see if there was anything to eat inside.) Passer domesticus: the House Sparrow’s…
Backyard and Beyond 