Green-Wood
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Under the Lilac Bush, Again
Remember the Wasp Lilac? Cicada-killer Wasps and a few other wasp species, but mostly Cicada-killers, were sucking the sap from this one bushy specimen in Green-Wood. Well, more than one lilac, actually, since the one nearby was also being suckled at. A month later, I happened to look again, and now it’s the turn of…
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Recent Birds
Sometimes they are not so close. Great Crested Flycatcher topside. Sometimes the lens make them seem closer than they actually are. Cape May Warbler. And sometimes they practically land right in front of you. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in molt. More molt. Northern Mockingbird.
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Citrine Observation
Six years after spotting a male Citrine Forktail at Brooklyn Bridge Park, I spotted one in Green-Wood this week. This is my second record. Ischnura hastata is one the smallest of the damselflies. They like “densely vegetated pond and lake edges, grass seepages, and quiet streams,” according to Ed Lam. The site at Brooklyn Bridge…
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Raptor Wednesday
A mewling squirrel brought this Red-tailed Hawk to my attention. They were in the same tree, which provided much more protection for the mammal than the open ground. Unsuccessful there, the hawk spent some time on an angel’s wing.
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Cats!
When a body meets a body coming through the… Apiaceae. Black Swallowtail caterpillar fit to pupate. The Asteroid, AKA Goldenrod Hooded Owlet. A reprise of the Common Buckeye caterpillar. Five were seen in the same small patch. The blue spines! Our old friend the Monarch. On the same day, two days ago, a female was…
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Webworm Days
Fall Webworm caterpillars have been everywhere. This one was on a raised bed on the sidewalk next to the local high school last week, with barely a tree in sight. I don’t even remember where this was, back in July. Here’s yet another, along the 5th Avenue Green-Wood fence. Uh-oh! You see, everybody knows the…
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BioBlitz Notes
Birds are hard to capture with phone cameras, the standard way people enter information on iNaturalist. I led two bird groups of Macualay Honors College students on the BioBlitz Saturday. This is the only picture of a bird I put into iNaturalist. We tallied birds seen the old fashioned way, with paper and pencil. Macaulay…
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What Came To Light
Moths spotted during the Macaulay Honors College BioBlitz in Green-Wood cemetery Saturday night: Black-bordered Lemon Moth (Marimatha nigrofimbria). Explicit Arches (Lacinipolia explicata). The Gem, or Gem Moth (Orthonama obstipata). Idia genus. Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda). White-speck (Mythimna unipuncta). Same individual, showing the effects of different light regimes on the subject. Greater Black-letter Dart? Opinions differ…
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Serious Moonlight
As part of the Macaulay Honors College Bioblitz in Green-Wood this weekend, I got to go inside the cemetery after dark. Under a gravid Moon, Chimney Swifts scoured the air. A trio of ultraviolet moth stations were set up around the Crescent and Dell Waters. After sunset, two Common Nighthawks flew into view amidst the…
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An Ecosystem
On Monday, we started with cicadas. I’ve been trying to get a photo of a Cicada-killer Wasp with her six mitts on a cicada. Thrice now laden-wasps have zipped by me, white underside of their prey visible, but I haven’t been quick enough with the camera. ONce they land, the wasps are quite quick into…
Backyard and Beyond 