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Urban Wildlife Guide: Summer Azure

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Sunday, July 12, 2015. The summer azure butterfly, Celestrina neglecta. Click to enlarge. Note the handsome black and white striped antennae. Summer azures are in the butterfly family Lycaenidae, famously studied by Vladimir Nabokov and commonly called "blues." Although I stood for an hour with my shutter poised, these little ones were too busy to linger with their wings open so I did not get a single shot of the blue surface. Here is a poem I like that has a blue butterfly in it. That made us laugh.

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Urban Wildlife Guide: May 2015

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Sunday, May 31, 2015. I took this picture of my local American robin on the first day of spring this year. Click to enlarge. We had come through a very cold winter. Like some robins in these parts, this one stayed north. I fed him raisins. There were days when it was so cold that he'd take a raisin and hop away into a place sheltered from the wind to eat it. He kept his feathers puffed up for insulation and often hunkered down so his legs were covered by his belly feathers. And he is not alone! Yesterday...

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Urban Wildlife Guide: January 2015

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Sunday, January 25, 2015. I wrote about bird droppings a few years ago. You can read that blog by clicking here. Since then, and entirely by accident, I photographed two more birds to add to that group of photos. Above is an immature peregrine falcon, Falco perigrinus. And below - -. An American Robin, Turdus migratorius. Sunday, January 18, 2015. John Steinbeck wrote: " What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. Sunday, January 11, 2015. Picking up a snack. I hav...

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Urban Wildlife Guide: March 2015

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Sunday, March 29, 2015. Despite the cold (32 F and windy in New York City) I saw these flowers today where last week there was snow. Some day soon this year's interesting insects and baby birds will come. Click to enlarge. Sunday, March 22, 2015. I took this photo on Saturday, yesterday, the first full day of spring. That's three inches of fresh snow. Click to enlarge. In anticipation, here is a quote from the Song of Solomon, 2:11-12. Sunday, March 15, 2015. The ruddy duck, Oxyura jamaicensus. Is one cu...

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Urban Wildlife Guide: April 2015

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Sunday, April 26, 2015. I just spent a week in the pine lands of southern New Jersey. Chipping sparrows there started singing at dawn and kept on until the sun set. I saw dozens of them. This one was gathering material for a nest. The chipping sparrow, Spizella passerina. Is easily identified by its red cap, gray face, black stripe through the eye, and white eyebrow and throat. Click on the photos to enlarge. Spring is slowly waking in the woods. Click here to hear the chipping sparrow sing. Barnes and N...

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Urban Wildlife Guide: Milkweed Bugs, Large & Small

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Sunday, August 18, 2013. Milkweed Bugs, Large and Small. Last year I wrote a blog about the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus. Which is also called the large milkweed bug. It's the kind I usually see on milkweed stems and leaves or sunning themselves on objects near milkweed. ( Click here for that blog. Large milkweed bugs, Oncopeltus fasciatus, sunning on a fence rail. Adults sport a bright pattern of two black spots and a wide black band on an orange-red background. Also called the small milkweed bug.

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Urban Wildlife Guide: July 2015

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Sunday, July 26, 2015. A while ago I wrote a blog about the fly pictured above. I'd caught it in the unlikely act of blowing a bubble. Click on it to enlarge. ( Click here to read that blog. So imagine my surprise when I enlarged this photo, which I had taken casually and only because I didn't recognize the insect. It turned out to be an invasive species of bee called a punctate masked bee, Hylaeus punctatus. Labels: bubble blowing insect. Sunday, July 19, 2015. The red milkweed beetle's genus and specie...

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Urban Wildlife Guide: A Four-toothed Mason Wasp

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Sunday, August 2, 2015. A Four-toothed Mason Wasp. The solitary wasp, Monobia quadridens. Commonly called the four-toothed mason wasp, it's black and white and about an inch long. Click to enlarge. August is a great month to look for interesting wasps and bees. All you need is a sunny day, flowers, patience, and luck. If you take a camera you might capture a great moment. Labels: four-toothed mason wasp. September 21, 2015 at 7:03 AM. September 28, 2015 at 3:59 PM. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom).

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Urban Wildlife Guide: Red Milkweed Beetle

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Sunday, July 19, 2015. The red milkweed beetle, Tetraopes tetrophthalmus. The red milkweed beetle is another nice summer insect. It's a longhorned beetle, in the family Cerambycidae. Check out its extreme antennae. Click to enlarge and check out the antenna with an eye on each side. Red milkweed beetles are among the few things that can eat the toxin-containing plants of the milkweed genus, Asclepias. The ones with a broad black band across the back are called large milkweed bugs, Oncopeltus fasciatus.

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Urban Wildlife Guide: Happy Independence Day!

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Sunday, July 5, 2015. Just a photo today. I'm rushing off to yet another summer barbecue. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). View my complete profile. Here is a link to my book's webpage. Click on the book to read more. Amazon.com link to the book. Barnes and Noble link to the book. Arizona: Beetles, Bugs, Birds and more. At the Edge of the Wood. Brooklyn Bridge Park - News Feed. Julie Zickefoose on Blogspot. Out walking the dog. The Metropolitan Field Guide. The New York Squirrel. Tweets and Tree Frogs.