On May 20th, five days after this photo, there were at least two American Robin chicks in this nest.

See more

Dozens of ornamental cherries were recently planted in Sunset Park. They’ve already lost their blossoms, so they’re back to their eleven-months-of-the-year uselessness. P. subhirtella ‘Autumalis’ and P. serrulata ‘Kwanzan’ do nothing to little for the ecosystem or biodiversity. I find it hard to imagine how, in 2024, the parks Department could be so foolish.

See more

One of the metallic sweat bees on the tiny flowers of Rhus aromatica. Somebody has eaten a chunk of this Quaking Aspen leaf and then tucked itself into the fold of the leaf. This is a sawfly larvae, NOT a caterpillar. Caterpillars, the larvae of moths and butterflies, have five or fewer prolegs; sawfly larvae…

See more

Yes, it’s this one again, the wing-gapped male. Here he is atop St. Michael’s stupa-esque tower, the highest point around for many blocks. This is more generally the perching place of local Peregrines.

See more

Warblers, amirite?

See more

I’ve seen a lot of abused tree pits in this town: bricked up, rubbled up, garbaged up, shitted up. Turned into parking for two-wheeled-vehicles of various sorts, with long chains around the tree. I’ve seen ’em treeless and I’ve seen ’em completely filled up with a rectangle of horizontal tree growth, like roots come to…

See more

Packard’s Wave/Cyclophora packardi Faint-spotted Angle/Digrammia ocelinata Citrine Sallow/Pyreferra citrombra Now for some moth larvae: Spongy Moth/Lymantria dispar on Northern Red Oak. This chewed up, crumped up Northern Red Oak leaf had a small caterpillar inside: Maybe a member of the Tortricide Leafroller family. When I opened up the leaf shelter, it hurriedly escaped, dropping quickly…

See more

Remember those American Robin eggs from May 4th? At that time, there was no parent around. Here’s the view on May 15th. (I’m not getting close enough to flush the bird.)

See more

I would have been hard pressed to figure out what this was if a parent bird hadn’t been foraging and chipping nearby.

See more

Narcissus Build Fly/Merodon equestris Common Eastern Bumblebee/Bombus impatiens This weekend I’ll be doing two of my Bugging Out walks for Green-Wood Cemetery. Details on the Tours page. Nomada genus bee, maybe N. luteoloides.

See more