Locust Borer Beetle

A locust borer beetle, Megacyllene robiniae. 

Locust borer beetles can be found on goldenrod flowers now. You might take one for a black and yellow wasp if you look too quickly. Closer inspection will reveal their exceptionally long antennae; locust borer beetles are members of the family cerambycidae that are called"long-horned" beetles because of them.

They spend their larval stages on black locust trees. When they are not busy eating goldenrod pollen, the autumn adults can be found on locusts tree trunks, mating or looking for good places to lay eggs. The larvae hatch before winter and spend the cold months under the bark. When the weather warms, they'll burrow into the trunk and pupate. They emerge as adults in late summer and early fall and begin the cycle again.

The adult eats goldenrod pollen. Note that the third yellow stripe on its back is shaped like a W. 

One of the prettiest insects ever! 

Picture-winged Fly

This is Delphinia picta, a picture-winged fly. Click on the photo to enlarge. The fly gets its common name from its striking wing pattern; it has two white triangles on the leading edge of each wing and a few decorative white swirls on a shiny brown background. Very attractive!  

Head-on, the fly looks like it is wearing a tiny gas mask. As it walks, it  moves its wings in  a rowing motion. 

Picture-winged flies lay their eggs in rotten vegetation. The larvae spend a few weeks feeding there, then pupate for a few weeks, and then emerge as adults. When the weather cools, late season larvae crawl into the ground and become quiescent for the winter. They following spring, they wiggle upward, pupate, become adults, and start the cycle again. 

I saw numerous picture-winged flies sunning themselves on benches in Brooklyn Bridge Park this summer (I'm assuming they were sunning, but maybe they were speed-dating). The next generation is surely sleeping under the grass now, not to be seen again until next spring . 

A Walk in Maine

One day last week I took a walk in Maine -- on the nearly mile long breakwater to the lighthouse in Rockland Harbor. 

The Rockland Harbor Breakwater Light.

The breakwater that leads to the lighthouse is made of large stone blocks with cracks between them. You have to watch your footing! 

Looking back along the breakwater to the land.  Phew! 

On both sides of the breakwater, double-crested cormorants, Phalacrocorax auritus, were diving for fish. 

Herring gulls, Larus argentatus, were swimming among the lobster buoys. This is an adult in winter plumage.

Click on the photos to enlarge. 

Chipmunks were running around in the little park where the breakwater begins. This is the eastern chipmunk, Tamias striatus. 

Autumnal Equinox Today

The autumn equinox occurred at 4:44 this afternoon, EDT, giving us 12 hours of daylight and 12 of dark as the sun crossed the celestial equator. Summer ended. Autumn began. Here are pictures of some of the last of summer's butterflies (and one lovely moth) taken in my Brooklyn neighborhood during the last few weeks.

Cabbage White, Pieris rapae. Click to enlarge. 

Buckeye, Junonia coenia. 

Sachem, a skipper butterfly, Atalopedes campestris. 

Ailanthus webworm moth, Atteva aurea. 

American Lady, Vanessa virginiensis. 

A haiku written by the Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa in 1814:

are you aware 

that autumn has dawned?

meadow butterfly

First Winter Herring Gull

A young herring gull, Larus argentatus, flying with a crab in its mouth. Herring gulls are common on both American coasts in winter. Click to enlarge.  

Herring gulls take four years to acquire their adult plumage, molting into different sets of feathers, each with a distinctive appearance, each summer and winter. The bird pictured above was born this year and is in its first winter plumage now in September: mottled brown all over, patterned wings, slightly paler head with a dark eye, a mostly black bill, and pink legs.

Walt Whitman, the poet, also stopped to watch gulls. He might have been thinking about herring gulls when he wrote this in his poem Crossing Brooklyn Ferry:

 ... seagulls -- I saw them high in the air, floating with motionless wings, oscillating their bodies, I saw how the glistening yellow lit up parts of their bodies, left the rest in shadow, I saw the slow-wheeling circles, and the gradual edging toward the south. 

Flesh Fly

A flesh fly in the family Sarcophagidae. They typically have three longitudinal stripes on the back and a checkerboard pattern on the top of the abdomen. Click to enlarge. 

Flesh fly larvae (maggots) feed on corpses and carrion, and sometimes on the wounds of mammals, hence their common name. They are also found on excrement and decaying organic matter. Adults feed on sugary liquids like nectar, sap, and fruit juice. But sometimes they just sit in the sun casting tiny shadows.

The one I photographed, above, was grooming itself on a yellow sign. It reminded me of this haiku from the Japanese poet, Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828):

Don't strike

the fly! He wrings his hands! 

He wrings his feet! 

Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge

Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is only 25 miles from New York City in Vernon, New Jersey. It's a great place for a day of strolling and wildlife spotting. There are duck blinds, roads and trails, wildflower fields, and boardwalks over marshes.

Wood ducks and eastern bluebirds are some of the wildlife rock stars that breed in the refuge. On a recent walk I saw a mother wood duck steer her flock of seven teenage ducklings deeper into the brush and away from my prying eyes.

If you pause on the boardwalks and look carefully at the marsh vegetation, frogs, birds, snakes, and dragonflies will come into focus.

Check the lily pads for bullfrogs; there are lots. 

This bullfrog had a tail! It was in the last stages of transformation from tadpole to adult. 

A milk snake posed for a photo while being moved from a parking area to a safer place. 

Painted turtles bask by the boardwalks.