May 23rd. A male Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor).

 

Sadly, most of the irises were ruined by yesterday's rain.

 

A pale female Oak Besma moth (Family Geometridae, Besma quercivoraria).

 

May 24th. Just the one Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodius) at the pond east of Route 207.

 

A Great Blue Heron at Cranberry Bog in East Hampton.

 

Not just any Great Blue Heron.

 

This is the one with the stub of its tongue sticking out of its throat.

 

I've seen this bird at Cranberry Bog for four years or more, ever since the wound was fresh and the tongue not shriveled up..

 

No idea how the damage happened.

 

Ther Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) families now spend a lot of time at the barnyard east of Cranberry Bog.

 

The goslings continue to grow rapidly.

 

The two goose families are barely visible at the upper right; the sheep in an enclosure closer to the trail.

 

Back near the pond outlet, Dame's Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) is doing very well.

 

 

 

 

 

Birdfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) just starting to bloom.

 

Best guess - and a very tentative one - is a Cuckoo Bee (Subfamily Nomadinae, maybe Epeolus sp.)...

 

...on a Buttercup (Ranunculus sp.)

 

 

 

Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare). First I've seen this year.

 

 

 

May 25th. White Slant-line Geometrid (Tetracis cachexiata).

 

An "alate" (winged) male Carpenter Ant (Camponotus sp.). Males have more slender heads than females.

 

Same day, an afternoon walk east of Cook Hill Road in Lebanon. Cattle out grazing.

 

 

 

Milking time soon?

 

 

 

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense).

 

 

 

 

 

Clover blossom heads are made up of many tiny flowers.

 

Just starting to open.

 

White Clover (Trifolium repens).

 

English Plantain (Plantago lanceolata).

 

Cabbage White (Pieris rapae), alias the European Cabbage Butterfly as I learned it in the 1950s.

 

Another Cabbage White, on Dandelion (Taraxicum officinale).

 

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera).

 

One of the Hawkweeds (Hieracium sp.).

 

A Syrphid Flower Fly (Toxomerus geminatus) on Buttercup (Ranunculus sp.).

 

It's a male, judging by how the eyes meet at the top of the head.

 

Evening Lychnis (Lychnis alba), just starting to open.

 

A pair of mating Assassin Bugs (Zelus luridus). Female in brown, above, with black backed male below.

 

Below on the stem is a Shining Flower Beetle; Family Phalacridae. As a work-study undergrad at CCNY circa 1967, I once spent an afternoon extracting the male genitalia of way too many of these before learning that they were not the hydrophilid beetles I thought they were.

 

Froth expelled by a Meadow Spittlebug (Philaenus spumarius) as a means to avoid predators and parasitoids.

 

Scraping away some of the spittle reveals the insect nymph.

 

A full grown Eastern Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma americanum). The first I've seen this year.

 

Head at the left.