Green-Wood
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Migrating Gliders
You may wait a long time before one of these gliders comes to a stop. Both the Spot-winged (Pantala hymenaea) and Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens) dragonflies seem to spend their whole working day in the air. These are the constantly moving yellow to golden dragonflies that are now being seen above our meadows and grassy…
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Stump
When I spotted Brian Nash Gill’s Woodcut recently, I was intrigued. A few days later I came across this character-laden stump in Green-Wood. Of course, this isn’t a print, it’s just a picture with the “Noir” filter on my iPhone camera.
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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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Pet-trade Refugee
One of the many surplus Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) dumped into local waterways. Idiots buy them and tire of them and let them loose. The red “ear” is actually just a mark; on this specimen it’s rather pale; sometimes it doesn’t show at all. I once counted 70 RESs, which are native to the southeast…
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Night Singing
The other day, I heard an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) singing at 4:09 a.m. Another night-singer you might hear in our parts is the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), pictured here in full diurnal aria. What you definitely won’t hear here is the “Blackbird singing in the dead of night” of the Beatles, because that’s Turdus…
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Eastern Amberwing
Our smallest dragonfly species, the Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera). This is a male. A female was also seen dipping her abdomen down into a lens of water atop a waterlily leaf, depositing her eggs. Blue Dashers, Green Darners, and Black Saddlebags were also about, but we certainly haven’t yet hit peak dragonfly.
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Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
The insects are definitely out and about. I had half a dozen mosquito bites Saturday night, all inside the assumed safety of my well-screened apartment. But let’s highlight some living invertebrates this week, starting with the always stunning Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). Unmistakably big and yellow, right? This is a female, with much more…
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Solar Power
Great Heron (Ardea alba) and Green Heron (Butorides virescens) on the Crescent Water rotator-thingie (I think it churns up the water to get oxygen in there). The egret has just swallowed a golden fish. Check out those toes.A salute to solar energy, the basis of all life.
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Baltimore O
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) males don’t get their full, distinctive black and orange plumage until the fall of their second year of life. Which explains why this guy is only half way there. It’s too early, after all, for this year’s crop. According to Cornell’s All About Birds, this not-quite-dapper plumage doesn’t necessarily prevent them…
Backyard and Beyond 