Yesterday Mike Fialkovich sent news that it’s a big year for boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittata) where he works in New Stanton, PA.
Huge numbers of box elder bug nymphs, New Stanton, 23 July 2024 (photo by Mike Fialkovich)
There was a big gathering of Boxelder Bugs at my workplace today. Most were nymphs but a few adults were present. I noticed the adults were numerous recently on the side of the building but today the numbers of nymphs were impressive.
— email from Mike Fialkovich, 23 July 2024
I was a little surprised to see the swarms on non-native winged burning bush (Euonymus alatus).
Boxelder bug nymphs on winged burning bush, New Stanton, 23 July 2024 (photo by Mike Fialkovich)
As their name suggests, the boxelder bugs’ host plant is the box elder tree (Acer negundo), which is both native and abundant.
Large box elder tree along the trail at Duck Hollow, Pittsburgh, July 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)Box elder leaves, Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Soon these nymphs will become adults that look like this … and the bug pictured at top.
John English saw this spotted lanternfly adult outside his window on 17 July 2024
18 July 2024
They’re back. Well, actually, they never left but they haven’t looked like this since last fall. Up until now spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) in western Pennsylvania have been present as egg masses or nymphs.
Yesterday a winged adult lanternfly landed on John English’s window feeder in Homestead. This is the first report I’ve received that adults have emerged.
Their population will follow a well known arc. A smattering in mid July, lots more in August, an invasion in September.
Have you seen an adult spotted lanternfly yet? Leave a comment and let me know when you saw the first one.
p.s. I just got back from a week in Virginia where I learned that spotted lanternflies are indeed in Virginia wine country. They are really bad for grapes. Yikes! Here’s the 2024 map from New York State Integrated Pest Management and Cornell University.
Male ebony jewelwing, Frick Park, 2 July 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
17 July 2024
Bug season brings pests but also beauty. One of my favorites is this delicate damselfly, the ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata), named for the males’ black wings with metallic blue-green edges. Their bodies are shiny blue-green, too.
The females are less flashy, darkly colored with white spots at the tips of the wings. When a female flies in the forest gloom the white tips are all you see.
Female ebony jewelwing, Frick Park, 2 July 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Ebony jewelwings prefer wooded habitats near creeks and streams where they flit from leaf to leaf. In early July in Frick Park we saw males and females courting and jostling for territory. When they mate they form a heart shape with their bodies.
Yesterday in my sister’s backyard in Tidewater Virginia we watched about a hundred green beetles flying rapidly in wide circles over the grass. They moved so fast that we couldn’t see their features but we could tell they were big, 1/2 to 1 inch long. None of us had ever seen this phenomenon before.
Green June beetles are members of the scarab beetle family, same as the dung beetles of Africa, sacred in Ancient Egypt. Though these are called “June” beetles, July and August are the adults’ most active time. Males fly around seeking females. Females fly low over the grass looking for a place to lay eggs. So that’s what we were seeing.
When the eggs hatch the larvae tunnel underground and emerge at night to travel on their backs, waving their legs in the air. This sounds like odd and hazardous behavior.
North Carolina State Extension says the third instars “produce a secretion that binds soil particles together and enables them to form a protective case in which they overwinter in the soil.” The beetles pupate and emerge as adults in the summer.
Their dirt ball reminds me of the dung beetle. The photo shows one open with pupa inside.
Though we saw a lot of bugs yesterday it may not turn into many down the road. The grubs have many predators so North Carolina State Extension’s residential recommendation is: “If there is no indication of turf damage due to tunneling by the grubs, no action is really necessary.”
Green June beetles occur in Pittsburgh, even in Schenley Park, though not often (click here and here to see two iNaturalist entires). I have never noticed their courtship behavior in Pittsburgh.
Their occurrence map indicates that green June beetles are much more common in Virginia.
Though they eat the plant they don’t like getting stuck in milkweed sap so they limit their exposure to it by purposely draining the veins.
(video of a red milkweed beetle cutting milkweed vein to reduce/stop latex pressure before feeding beyond the cut, embedded from Wikimedia Commons)
Other expected milkweed insects have not made an appearance yet. I have seen neither large nor small milkweed bugs. I usually find them on milkweed pods but the plants are only in the leaf growth and flowering stage right now.
Large and small milkweed bugs (photos by Kate St. John and John English)
Meanwhile, friends who grow milkweed to attract monarch butterflies are concerned that they have not seen any monarchs yet. Was last week too early? Steve Gosser photographed this one in July 2014.
Monarch butterfly on swamp milkweed, July 2014 (photo by Steve Gosser)
Have you seen monarch butterflies this month in southwestern PA?
Powdered dancer damselfly, Duck Hollow, 7 July 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
8 July 2024
Eight of us gathered yesterday morning, 7 July, to look for birds at Duck Hollow. Alas, I forgot to take a group photo.
It was hot.
We stuck to the shade and saw two fly-by ospreys and a host of juvenile songbirds. We also saw a Best Insect — the powdered dancer (Argia moesta) damselfly pictured above — and a Best Mammal sighting of two juvenile muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) swimming in Nine Mile Run creek.
We learned about the immature plumage of northern rough-winged swallows (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) when several perched on a wire and one turned its back. Through binoculars you can identify immature birds by their reddish-brown wing bars. Click here to see.
Juvenile northern rough-winged swallow, Duck Hollow, 7 July 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
We also saw two juvenile northern mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) — a first for me.
Juvenile northern mockingbird, Duck Hollow, 7 July 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
In 90 minutes we tallied 23 species. It was hot and getting hotter so we went home.
Duck Hollow, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, US Jul 7, 2024 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM 23 species
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 30 — Youngsters w adults. Adults flightless. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 6 Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 1 Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 15 Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) 1 Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) 1 Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) 1 Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 1 Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 1 Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) 2 Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) 1 Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) 1 Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 3 Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 6 Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) 14 — At least 3 immatures Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 3 Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) 4 — Two juvenile birds American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 12 American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 6 Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 3 Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius) 1 Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 5 Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 4
Germander in bloom, Duck Hollow, 4 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
6 July 2024
Flowers, insects and birds were active this week though the end of the week was so humid that it felt like the tropics. Here’s a trail of photos from Duck Hollow, Aspinwall Riverfront Park, Schenley Park and my own neighborhood.
Don’t forget to check out the two photos at the end: A mystery match-the-leaves moth or butterfly and some amazing bird behavior.
Deptford pink, Duck Hollow, 4 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Chickory in bloom, Aspinwall Riverfront Park, 2 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
With false sunflowers (Heliopsis helianthoides) at their peak in Schenley Park, the red aphids are out in full force.
Aphids on false sunflower, Schenley Park, 5 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Wineberry is already forming fruits.
Wineberry, fruit forming, Schenley Park, 5 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
I found a moth or butterfly that I could not identify at Duck Hollow. It was impossible to get close for a photo so this is the best I could do. Perched on Japanese knotweed. Can you tell me what it is?
What species is this insect? Duck Hollow, 4 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
And here’s some bird behavior I’ve never seen before: Two red-tailed hawks are perched on the hoist rope of this enormous crane on O’Hara Street near Thackeray on 29 June. This crane spends five days a week moving back and forth. I’m amazed that they decided to test it on a Saturday. Can you see them? If not, click here for a marked-up photo.
p.p.s. See Karen’s comment below in which she identifies it as a Bad-wing moth (Dyspteris abortivaria). So my next question is, Why is it called a bad wing? –> And see J’s comment with the answer!
Last instar of the spotted lanternfly, Pittsburgh 14 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
2 July 2024
In late June friends of mine wondered why they hadn’t seen any spotted lanternflies this year. Are the invasive bugs gone? Not at all! The nymphs are present but they can’t fly yet. Last weekend I saw the first warning that we’re in the last days — a week, maybe two — before the spotted lanternfly invasion begins. I saw a red nymph.
Spotted lanternfly red nymph, Schenley Park, 30 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
The first three instars are black while the fourth and final one is red, an early warning of things to come. Here’s a red nymph morphing into a winged adult.
Expect to see the first flying adult by mid-July. Let me know when you see your first one.
The invasion will ramp up slowly, explode in September, and then we’ll have to wait for winter to kill them.
p.s. It’s been 10 years since spotted lanternflies were first recorded in PA. Now the bugs are in every county in southern PA and all of the eastern border counties. Greene County, the last holdout in southwestern PA, crossed the threshold this year. Read more about their 10-year siege in this article from WESA.
By all accounts this has been an extraordinary firefly season in Pittsburgh. Since we don’t have a backyard my husband and I went to Schenley Park last night to see them. Beautiful and peaceful.
Firefly season will end in mid-July as scissor grinder cicadas (Neotibicen pruinosus) take over.
Scissor-grinder cicada, Schenley Park, July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Cicadas live most of their lives as nymphs in the soil under trees. When they’re ready to become adults they crawl out of the soil, climb up a tree, hang on and emerge from their exoskeletons.
One of many yellow poplar weevils outside my window, 19 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
20 June 2024
Do you have these odd looking bugs on your windows? On your porch furniture? On your car? I had not seen yellow poplar weevils (Odontopus calceatus) for several years when John English posted a photo of one on Facebook yesterday. There were none over here in Oakland and I could honestly say, “See no weevil.”
Hah! Six hours later my windows hosted 24 of them. Welcome to weevil mating season.
Yellow poplar weevils are harmless to humans. Up close — very close — they’re kind of cute.
Closeup of yellow poplar weevil on my window, 19 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Some people think they’re ticks. How can you be sure they aren’t? Weevils have three things that ticks don’t have: 6 legs, a long snout, and wings. Ticks can’t fly.
Yellow poplar weevil is not a tick (photo and markup by Kate St. John)
Learn more in this vintage article and amaze your friends.
p.s. You might hear these called “billbugs” but yellow poplar weevils (Odontopus calceatus) are not the same as billbugs (Sphenophorus genus), though both are “snout beetles” (Curculionidae family).
