Colin Purrington

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This is a blog with nature photography, biology-related projects, & geeky tips.

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Recent Posts

Spartan Mosquito Eradicator vs Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech
Welcoming native bees
Gallery of bee hotel visitors
Posts about Spartan Mosquito
GoFundMe campaign
Photo tour of my DIY chicken coop
California ground squirrel begging for food
8-year-old Twinkies
Photographs from Crooked River National Grassland
Does the Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech attract mosquitoes?

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A Houdini fly (Cacoxenus indagator) inside a tunnel at my solitary bee hotel. Females usually lurk several inches away from a tunnel and then zip inside to oviposit after a mason bee exits. The larvae consume the pollen ball, resulting in the starvation death of the resident bee larva. Currently the only way to protect your bees from this introduced kleptoparasite is to use nesting material that can be taken apart and cleaned. If you don’t clean your hotel each year you’ll just end up breeding mainly flies, not bees. Per BugGuide, the first sighting of this species in the United States was in 2011, in New York. I first noticed it in 2019 (I’m in Pennsylvania). Now also established in Washington as of 2020, per @wsdagov. I’m sure it’s in other states, too.

Spotted lanternfly nymph from 2019. They’ll start to emerge in late April, which means you still have a few weeks to find and crush the egg masses. Hildacy Preserve, Media, PA.

Orange hobnail canker (Endothia gyrosa) on a dead beech log. Per the internet, rather common to see this fungus on oak roots damaged by lawnmowers, especially if tree is drought-stressed. For etymology fans, hobnails are large-headed nails pounded into the soles of footwear for increased traction.

Cluster of spotted lanternfly eggs from 2019. The 2020 generation will start hatching in late April, at least in my area (Swarthmore, PA). But in warmer areas they might already be hatching. E.g., somebody found an adult in Davis, California (they’ll find more). If you live in a state that doesn’t have them, that may change soon because egg cases were likely inadvertently transported across state lines during the winter on vehicles, trains, and agricultural goods. If you have them and want tips on killing them I just added a how-to post on my website. Good luck. Willisbrook Preserve, Malvern, PA.

As a follow-up to my previous post, here’s a *male* orchard orbweaver, a much rarer sighting. Males make webs as juveniles but as adults they just wander through vegetation looking for love (hence the longer legs?). I’m not sure whether mature males hunt. Males of some species poach prey from females' webs but, again, I have zero idea whether that happens in this genus. Glen Providence Park, Media, PA.

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