insects
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As spring follows winter
From this past September, a flashback to Adalia bipunctata.As I was trying to photograph another, this one found its way onto my arm. It readily adopted to my fingers for some photos.
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Bagged
On a young Baldcypress in a still-industrial stretch of Plymouth Street: several of these bag worm cocoons. These are the egg cases of a Psychidae family moth. From a distance they look like cones or some other part of the tree itself. Small twigs are glued onto the surprisingly, or, actually, not so surprisingly, tough…
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Silent Nests
Revealed by the thinning of the leaves, two more Bald-faced Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) nests:Note the differences in the color pattern of the wood-pulp paper between the above nest and the one below. I have some paper that is predominately reddish, but the one above is the usual pattern I see here in Brooklyn. The all-gray…
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Shadow Darner
As November nears, the dragonflies are starting to be very scant above the ground. On Saturday, I saw a single Common Green Darner in Green-Wood. Yesterday, I saw this Shadow Darner (Aeshna umbrosa) at Little Stony Point up in Cold Spring. A new species for me, IDed with help from the Northeast Odonata FB crew.…
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After merely a summer dies the hornet
Unless she’s a queen. A Bald-faced Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata), caste unknown, unexpectedly by the front door buzzer. I rarely see this species, but I know they are neighbors. A local nest was revealed by the fall of leaves a couple of seasons ago. The wood-pulp paper nests are abandoned in the fall and not reused,…
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Locust Borers
…making more Locust Borers (Megacyllen robiniae). This wasp-like longhorn beetle feeds on goldenrod and lays its eggs on Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) trees, into which the larvae bore…
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Yellow Bear Crossing
Yellow Bear caterpillar (Spilosoma virginica), a.k.a. Virginian Tiger Moth. The very long hairs here are key to identifying this species, since they can be quite variable in coloration, starting cream to yellow and darkening with age, some becoming black. We saw a few of the older ones as well on the paved trails at Fresh…
Backyard and Beyond 