A while ago I wrote a blog about the fly pictured above.I’d caught it in the unlikely act of blowing a bubble. Although no one knows why flies blow bubbles, theories range from concentrating liquid food by evaporation, to aerating to reduce some kinds of microbial activity, to fly sickness, cleaning the mouthparts, cooling off […]
Author: Julie Feinstein
I am a Collection Manager at the American Museum of Natural History, an author, and a photographer. I live in New York City. I recently published my first popular science book, Field Guide to Urban Wildlife, an illustrated collection of natural history essays about common animals. I update my blog, Urban Wildlife Guide, every Sunday.
Red Milkweed Beetle
The red milkweed beetle is another nice summer insect. It’s a longhorned beetle, in the family Cerambycidae. Check out its extreme antennae. The red milkweed beetle’s genus and species names are derived from Latin and mean four-eyed. Many species in the longhorned beetle family have antennae that originate close to the eyes, some so close […]
Summer Azure
Summer azure butterflies are all over Brooklyn’s flowers right now. The place is teeming with them. But they are small and often overlooked. Their wingspan is about an inch, so the one pictured above is just half an inch tall. They are white underneath and usually hold their wings closed over their backs. It is […]
A Walk in Central Park
Last week I led a nature walk in Central Park for the American Museum of Natural History’s Membership Department. Even though I got rained on twice, there was a lot to see. Here are some of the wild creatures that were in the park on Wednesday. Turtles were basking in The Lake. Red-eared sliders are […]
Lost Ladybug
The two spot is one of three species that the Lost Ladybug Project is hoping to hear about from ladybug spotters like me — and you. Basically, the ranges of some native ladybugs are shrinking and the group is trying to find out why. They encourage everyone to take pictures of local ladybugs (all of […]
Milk Snake
I saw this milk snake, Lampropeltis triangulum, being moved from a dangerous parking lot into the woods at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in northern New Jersey last year around this time.
Spring Robins
I took this picture of my local American robin on the first day of spring this year. 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 […]
Turtle Day
A turtle haiku from Kobayashi Issa, 1825 – “short summer night – in the field turtles cavort”. May 23rd was World Turtle Day, a day for celebrating turtles and tortoises. To raise awareness of them and to help protect their disappearing habitats, I am reposting photos from all the blogs I’ve written about turtles. This […]