📜 EwA Week Highlights: Blooms & Bee Mimics

[Mike McGlathery]

EwA Highlights June 9, 2024 Hello everyone! Thanks for reading the June 8th EwA highlights. The fact that it’s pollinator season means there are lots of bee mimics to find out there.  📸 One bee mimic you might see often this time of year in the Boston area is the narcissus bulb fly (Merodon equestris), observed here on Wednesday. This fly is native to Eurasia and has been introduced to the United States. It is synanthropic, meaning it benefits from human settlements and environmental modifications, as it is often found in landscaped parks and gardens. EwA iNaturalist Record (© mamiles · Acton., MA · June 5, 2024) Our naturalists on EwA Pheno Lite are still tracking the seasonal phases of many plants this time of year. Lots of plants are going through the most conspicuous of those phases right now: flowering. Jill saw these little flowers of the mapleleaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) in the Middlesex Fells last week. EwA Pheno Lite Record (© jillbrogan · Middlesex Co., MA · June 3, 2024)  The zabulon skipper (Lon zabulon) was the most-observed species by EwA’s iNaturalists this week. Kristian captured this picture of two of them hanging out at the Somerville Community Growing Center on Tuesday. EwA iNaturalist Record (© kdemary · Somerville, MA · June 4, 2024)  📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 990 observations of 524 distinct species. If you’re curious about the records from this week that have been validated by the iNat community so far, you can find them » here. 🏆 Running tally: To date, we have recorded 193,848 observations of 11,117 distinct species! Check out our EwA umbrella project, see the details per site/observer, and more » here. 📅 EwA Upcoming Public Events Ewa Field Events » Check the EwA Summer [ Event details and registration » ] Don’t miss some great opportunities to follow the rhythm of the season in our local habitats and in the local wildlife! Space is limited for all our field events. Wildlife ethics is important to us and we seek to avoid putting the pressure on natural habitats which large gatherings unavoidably do. We are asking our audience to register-and-commit (or cancel when you know you can’t come) to avoid no-shows. EwA Fieldwork (and Resources) It’s a great time to join our monitoring programs. Check EwA’s Volunteer Program Calendar 📅  to know when things happen. And if a session is of interest to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to get the rendezvous location. 📅 EwA Sites Map | 🌱 Site Protocols and Guides · Field Rosters · Field Notes » All here! | ℹ️ More about EwA’s Citizen Science Program » Here ❓ Do you have any questions? Don’t be shy. Just email me or reply to this thread.  That’s all for this week—hope you have a good one! -Mike