Green-Wood
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Still Under the Lilac
Joining the wasps under the lilac were three species of sap-happy butterfly. A couple of Red Admirals quietly suckled. But it was the Polygonia genus butterflies that were really stealing the show. This is a Comma (P. comma). More views of Commas. Here we have both a Comma, lower left, and a Question Mark. These…
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Under the Lilac Bush
Past blooming, this Syringa (lilac) is a bit of a mess, esthetically-speaking: shrubby, mildewy, gnarly, clumpy with old fruit. But is it ever jumping as habitat! (Huge lesson here: a garden is rarely habitat.) For one thing, the shrubbery was full of wasps. There was a mud-daubber. A White-faced Hornet. A couple of European Paper…
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More Wasps
This Cicada-killer Wasp was emerging from her nest. She had just deposited a paralyzed cicada inside and, presumably since this is what they do, laid an egg on the cicada. I tried to get a photo of her carrying her progeny-to-be’s food inside, but she was too fast for me. I waited for about fifteen…
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More Cicadas
I’ve seen and photographed more adult cicadas this year than I ever have before. The spent larval husks are easy to find, just look on tree trunks… and leaves. This quartet, plus another that fell by the wayside, were on a single horse chestnut. Of course, most trees I look at don’t have any of…
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A Bigger Cowbird
I don’t know if this is one of the Brown-headed Cowbird chicks I saw in the last couple of weeks. If not, it would be the third one I’ve sighted this summer. I’d never seen one before this summer. As in the other cases, I heard this youngster calling for food before seeing it or…
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Swallowtails
Mating Black Swallowtails. Papilio polyxenes. When I first saw this, I though it might be a hanging dead butterfly, all torn up from the vicissitudes. Always double-check the anomalies!Interestingly, this pair attracted another male, if not more than one over the ten to fifteen minutes I was there. (Black Swallowtails are all over.)The second male…
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Raptor Wednesday
There is no mistaking a mature Red-tailed Hawk, at least in this part of the country. And there is no mistaking the sounds of song birds upset by the presence of such a hulking predator. Four Northern Mockingbirds were fidgeting in this tree around the hawk. On a nearby obelisk — cemeteries! — a Chipping…
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Genus Ardea
Two juvenile Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) and a Great Egret (Ardea alba) were hanging out at the same “water” in Green-Wood recently. Ardea is Latin for heron, herodias is Greek for heron. Alba is white. The egret was scarfing down small fry with abandon. Never saw either of the herons make a strike. (“Heron”…
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How Now, Cowbird?
A late season chick. But what species?Here comes a parent… oh-oh. Chipping Sparrow.And Brown-headed Cowbird. Brown-headed Cowbirds are brood parasites. They lay their eggs in the nests of other species. The hatchling may kill off the hosts’ own offspring. I’ve never seen this in action. BHC’s lay their eggs “in 220 species of birds. Recent…
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Butterfly Madness Continued
Red-banded Hairstreak. This generally has a more southeastern range from the Carolinas down. They obviously can get further north, and presumably, as our temperature gets more southern, we’ll see them more often. Pearl Crescent. Another specimen with very frazzled wings.Common Sootywing.Eastern Tailed-blue.A rather more worn Eastern Tailed-blue. Female, I think. Small, rapid fliers, flashing blue…
Backyard and Beyond 