Hudson River Park July 27, 2013
Tina and I road our bikes from 151st and Broadway down to Union Square to the Green Market. We stopped at a largely native plants garden planted with a variety of milkweeds, bee balm, black-eyed Susan and others. This garden was located at 27th Street and Hudson River Park.
There were many Northern Golden Bumble Bees, which I found interesting since I had not seen them in other gardens in Manhattan. As I was watching, one of the Golden Bumble Bees left a flower and was apparently buzzing around another Golden, but on closer examination the second bee was being eaten by an immature mantis! The bee was about 1/3 eaten, but still struggling. The first bee watch and adjusted its position a couple times and got very close before leaving.
After visiting the Green Market and heading back north along the Hudson we stopped at an amazing garden in Hudson River Park at 91st Street. I spent about an hour circling the perimeter getting several new species for the summer. In addition to those photographed and posted here, I saw a female Cicada Killer Wasp which did not stop for a photo. There were lots of great nectar producers in this garden so there was a wide variety of pollinators in the area. I was at this spot mid afternoon.