3 June 2023
The flurry of birds in May has given way to a flurry of insects in June.
On Thursday I heard the first daytime droning/whirring bugs of the year and saw big-eyed bugs mating at Frick Park (at top). Glenn Koppel identified these as golden-backed snipe flies (Chrysopilus thoracicus). Click here for a nearly identical photo of a pair mating in West Virginia.
The bug shown below is a ladybug nymph, seen at Betty Rowland’s in Squirrel Hill. (Thank you, Lisa Ann Simpson, for identifying this nymph. Click here to read about them.)
Many insects were in a flurry of mating, swirling in stacks over Nine Mile Run.
Thanks to readers’ helpful comments I now have IDs for the insect photos!
And on a bird note: I’ve noticed low numbers of swallows this spring compared to years past. Who will eat the flying insects? Are you missing swallows, too?
(photos and video by Kate St. John)
The nymph is one of a lady bug.
Thank you, Lisa Ann!
Maybe the swallows have moved south. I’m in Piedmont North Carolina and for the past two years we have nesting tree swallows in our backyard field. Never had them before. They took over the bluebird box!
I’ve seen many posts on various birding sites asking where are the birds.
Have quite a few photos of different insects besides butterflies and moths – from Fork-tailed Katydid to a Great Golden Digger Wasp that used to frequent my button bush and Mountain Mint. Mostly orange with a little black—–I have a few photos of it entering the hole it made in the ground—they aren’t interested in humans, just nectar and tiny things, etc.
Barn swallows have nested in a building at work, the first time they’ve done this in the 30 years I’ve been there. There have always been a bunch in the area, but the nest seems to have chased the others away. The usual amount until the nest showed up. Always fun to watch their flying antics when I should be working.
Chimney Swifts fly dawn to dusk over 2nd Ave in hazelwood near Tecumseh Street, I have seen up to eight or nine at one time. Hard to get an exact count-They fly fast .