Registrar: Anne Lazarus
Participants: 17
Weather: Sunny, mid-70s with winds to the north at 3.7 mph
Bird Species: 34
On this beautiful late spring morning in Van Cortlandt Park, over one thousand acres of nature and park space in the Bronx, the group saw a nice variety of birds, bugs, and several other animal species, including two types of snakes and an Eastern cottontail. The participants were excited to see the Silvery Checkerspot, one of twelve different butterflies and moths seen on the trip. Ken Chaya, naturalist and the day’s walk leader, also pointed out various interesting beetles, grasshoppers, and other bugs that could easily be overlooked. The bird highlights of the walk were a Scarlet Tanager, a Green Heron, and a perching Eastern Kingbird, which provided a nice photo op for the nature photographers in the group. It was also exciting for the group to see a nest of hungry baby barn swallows being fed, a nice reminder that as spring migration closes, the peak of nesting season for many local bird species is here.
Species List
Birds
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swifts
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
Tree Swallow
Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Song Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Yellow Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Lepidoptera – Butterflies and Moths
Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)
Cabbage White-multiple (Pieris rapae)
Red-banded Hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops)
Banded Hairstreak (Satyrium calamus)
Summer Azure (Celastrina ladon)
Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
Least Skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor)
Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)
Dun Skipper (Euphyes vestris)
Orange-patched Smoky Moth (Phyromorpha dimidiata)
Four-dotted Agonopterix Moth (Agonopterix robiniella)
Odonata – Dragonflies and Damselflies
Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis)
Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita)
Variable Dancer (Argia fumipennis)
Whitetail Skimmer (Plathemis lydia)
Click Beetle (Subtribe Dendrometrina)
Coleoptera – Beetles
Rose Curculio (Merhynchites bicolor)
Horned Passalus aka Bess Beetle (Odontotaenius disjunctus)
Leaf Beetle (Paria sp.)
Lily Leaf Beetle (Lilioceris lilii)
Asian Ladybird Beetle Larva and Pupa Case (Harmonia axyridis)
Hymenoptera – Bees, Wasps, and Ants
Bumble Bee Mimic Robber Fly (Laphria thoracica)
Bicolored Striped Sweat Bee (Agapostemon virescens)
Square-headed Wasp (Cerceris sp.)
Yellow Mud-dauber Wasp (Sceliphron caementarium)
Chestnut Carpenter Ant (Camponotus castaneus)
Diptera – Flies
Robber Fly (Atomosia puella)
Long-legged Fly (Condylostylus patibulatus)
Sepsis Fly (Nempoda nitidula)
Narrow-headed Marsh Fly (Heliophilus fasciatus)
Stilt-legged Fly (Rainieria antennaepes)
Hemiptera – True Bugs
Green Stink Bug (Chinavia hilaris)
Leafhopper (Pagaronia minor)
Four-lined Plant Bug (Poecilocapsus lineatus)
Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula)
Orthoptera – Grasshoppers, Kadydids, and Crickets
Short-horned Grasshopper (Acridoidea Family)
Kadydid (Tettigoniidae Family)
North American Spur-throated Grasshopper (Melanoplus sp.)
Fork-tailed Bush Kadydid nymph (Scudderia furcata)
Neuroptera
Red-lipped Green Lacewing nymph (Chrysoperla rufilabris)
Other Invertebrates
Eastern Harvestman (Leiobunum vittatum)
Reptiles
Common Garter Snake
Red-eared Slider
Mammals
Eastern Gray Squirrel
Eastern Chipmunk
Eastern Cottontail
