brewster’s linnet . com

So we have a passerine with a brownish back and a bright yellow belly. Taking into account the bill and general shape and posture, we can say it’s a flycatcher. The brown color and yellow belly lead us to genus Myiarchus. Among the Myiarchus, Massachusetts has Great Crested as a common breeder and Ash-throated as [...]

So we have a dragonfly. By the apparent large size, striped thorax, spotted abdomen, and vertical hanging, it’s one of the darners. We can eliminate Common Green and Comet by the lack of a solid thorax, Springtime, Harlequin, and Taper-tailed by date. Swamp and Cyrano have a more ringed appearance. Spatterdock has bright blue eyes. [...]

So, it’s clearly a moth. General shape and pattern led me to the genus Idia. Scanning through the MPG plates, I presumed it was the American Idia (Idia americalis). With some assistance on Bugguide, that was confirmed based on the exact shape of some of the lines. See the photo there for details. It appears [...]

Whoops, once a week somehow turned into 3+ months. But since I’m sitting around with nothing to do while the Red Sox play, it’s time to get going again on this. So we have a funky looking bird. Based on the short tail, the streaking on the body, and the oversized head, we can guess [...]

This week we have a bird that’s clearly on the small side. It’s mostly gray but has a reddish patch on the wings and some streaking. With the streaking, sparrows are about the only things that come to mind. Of the larks and pipits and other possibilities, they’re all a little thinner, so a sparrow [...]