📜 EwA Week Highlights: Getting Buggy for the Summer

[Mike McGlathery]

EwA Highlights June 2, 2024 Hello everyone! Thanks for reading the June 2nd EwA highlights. This week, let’s dip back into the realm of bugs, which is still getting more lively by the day. 📸 EwA Buggy can give an excellent view into what our naturalists are observing in the world of arthropods right now. EwA Buggy’s most-observed arthropod group in May was “bees, wasps and sawflies” (all belonging to the order Hymenoptera, which also includes ants). It’s hard to miss the activity from this group of arthropods if you’re spending any time around wildflowers right now. Kristian observed these two mating bees from the genus Hylaeus on Tuesday. EwA Buggy Record (© kristiandemary · Middlesex Co., MA · May 28, 2024)  Close behind the previous group were the butterflies and moths (order Lepidoptera), and of course their larvae (caterpillars) as well. If you’re looking for great caterpillar observations on Buggy, Kat has you covered. This great photo of an American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) caterpillar is from Tuesday. EwA Buggy Record (© kathleenshea · Middlesex Co., MA · May 28, 2024)  EwA’s most observed species on iNaturalist this week was the zabulon skipper (Lon zabulon), which is quite common in the Boston Basin around the beginning and end of summer. While this lepidopteran has a somewhat moth-like appearance, it is actually a butterfly. Elise took this photo of one last Saturday. EwA iNaturalist Record (© eiw5 · Stoneham, MA · May 25, 2024) 📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 1,256 observations of 574 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 192,788 observations of 11,077 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