insects
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Home, Sweet Home
A Carpenter bee (Xylocopa) in the wood of a Parks Department sign at Inwood Hill. At top, there are holes for birds at both gable ends, and House Sparrows, of course, have moved in.
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Bugs At Last!
You’ve been waiting patiently all winter long for some serious insect life to liven things up. This was the week! Two color variations of the Spotted Lady Beetle (Coleomegilla maculata).These are in the Coccinellidae family of ladybugs, but clearly not the usual rounded shape of the classic VW. Sure are spotty, though: another common name…
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Azures and Beauties of Spring
A tiny butterfly with lovely blue wings — on the inside, anyway, meaning you only see the color when they fly.Here’s a pair making more. Quite a complicated taxonomy, evidently. So that was last week. This week I saw only a few of the Azures flitting about. That precious blue! But this week, there were…
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Cloak and Dagger
Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) in the flowers of an early blooming crab apple (Malus). Actually, on second viewing, this seems to be a cherry (Prunus). The butterfly’s long tongue, rather like an oil derrick, or a dagger, plunging into the heart of the nectar. Seems like a good year for Mourning Cloaks. Note that this…
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That’s Rough: The Stinkbug is a BMSB
Wednesday’s spike in temperature began the process of bringing the invertebrates back into action. Earlier in the day, I spotted my first butterfly. Later, back in the home office, I noticed this little armored critter on an inside window. I thought at first it was one of the rough stink bugs of the genus Brochymena.…
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Mourning Cloaks
The forest at NYBG was full of Mourning Cloaks over the weekend. Some were butterfly-flitting about and some were perched in the sun.
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Here Come the Magic Cicadas Again
Through the magic of the social networks (thanks, Xris and Erin), I’ve learned that there will be a nearby emergence of 17-year cicadas this year. Brood V of Magicicada genus cicadas will be emerging on Long Island, as well as into Ohio and Virginia, this spring. Brooklyn may be on the western end of Long…
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Nymphalis antiopa
My first butterfly of the year, the not unexpected Mourning Cloak, soaking up the sun in Green-Wood Cemetery today. The velvety wings dotted with blue/purple spots and edged in gilt are a most welcome sight.This may be our longest-lived species of butterfly, 10-11 months as an adult. They tuck themselves away somewhere to overwinter —…
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Honey Bee
Spotted my first Honey Bee of the year on the sidewalk by the bus stop, on the sunny side of the street. (Shadow provided by me for better definition in the photo.) Crocuses are out and willows have cracked open their buds to reveal the fur within. You don’t need a Farmer’s Almanac to tell…
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Stump Flies
If you look closely at yesterday’s pictures of recently stumped trees in Green-Wood, you’ll see a fly on one of them. Here are a few more. Saturday got to 60 degrees or so, but these photos were taken earlier in the day when it was perhaps 50. There didn’t seem to be much in the…
Backyard and Beyond 