invertebrates
-
Three Wee Damselflies
Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) male. Tell-tale broken strip on the thorax like an exclamation point. One of the inch-long damsels.And this looks like the female Fragile Forktail.Immature female Lilypad Forktail (Ischnura kellicotti). Just over an inch long. Without binoculars or telephoto, it’s hard to see this gorgeous orange color. And some kind of bluet…
-
It’s Been Awhile
Die, hellfiend, die! Oh, uh, sorry… my usual near-Jainist approach to insects falters when it comes to the ancient enemy. This actually hasn’t been a bad for the little bloodsuckers. So far. I was expecting an onslaught getting to Dead Horse Bay last week, as in the past, but that seems to be a spring/early…
-
Hovering Now
At last! A good look at a Snowberry Clearwing moth (Hemaris diffinis). I had originally thought this was the Hummingbird Clearwing (H. thysbe) but the black line through the eyes across the sides of the thorax, and the dark legs, are distinguishing. Both species look a little like hummingbirds, but are even smaller than our smallest birds.…
-
Flying Now
There are moments when the beauty of the world takes your breath away. Like, for instance, when a Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis) spreads its wings in a patch of sunlight, opening and closing them in quick succession — as if were silently clapping — and flashing this incredible blue iridescence. And then you remember why…
-
Rough Stinker
One of the Brochymena genus Rough Stink Bugs. I think this may be an instar of B. quadripustulata, since it has the four spots or bumps, but the shield pattern isn’t quite like an adult’s (yet). These stink bugs are cryptically colored to blend in with bark, but they really stick out on a leaf.…
-
Sphex
For the budding naturalists I met in the park while photographing these wasps, which of course I couldn’t remember the name of. There were about half a dozen on this milkweed, more than I’ve ever seen at once. This is the Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus). The adults, like many of the big wasps, are…
-
Flying Now
The Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus). A tiny — wingspan is less than an inch — fluttery butterfly, that looks black from a distance, but up close is revealed to be a rich brown.
-
C/CKW
The Cicada Killer Wasps (Sphecius speciosus) are out and about now, collecting pollen at flowers to eat, stabbing cicadas for their young…I’m not telling, but here’s a Dog Day cicada (genus Tibicen), more heard than seen by we ground-huggers.The two wasps pictured above are males. They’re smaller than the females. Here’s a female, scare-the-horses-ginormous, patrolling…
-
Flying Now
Another black and yellow animal for the day. The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). All over the place right now, but hard to get a lens on unless they are feeding. Mostly I see them moving. This is the largest regional butterfly, and pretty much unmistakable, although further north the slightly smaller P. canadensis is…
-
More Odes
Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina). The abdomen is red all the way to the black tip, but that’s impossible to see in this light. Two of these were patrolling the pond aggressively and charging at each other over and over to maintain dominance. They were about 12-15 feet up, and overhead they can easily be mistaken…
Backyard and Beyond 