Nature Walk, Insects + Pollinators, June 19th 2024

Red Milkweed Beetles, photo: Jay Holmes

On our June Nature Walk, Jay Holmes from the American Museum of Natural History joined us for an informative tour where we explored some of McGolrick Park's best-kept secrets: pollinators!

Here at McGolrick Park, we have a plethora of native species and landscapes that provide the perfect opportunity to get up close to our pollinators, all while smelling sweet summer blooms. 

Brown belted Bumblebees with buckets of pollen… photo: Jay Holmes

We looked for all our favorite pollinators during this hour-plus jaunt and found monarch butterflies, brown-belted bumblebees, and honeybees among other species. Jay also discussed how pollinators help contribute to our community and how important they are to our ecosystem.

Some other insects discovered on our walk were aphids, wasps, flies of many species, and Flower Flies (calligraphers mostly).

Monarchs!! photo: Jay Holmes

Jay also brought along a variety of his bug specimens (including beetles and lantern flies) and microscopes for up-close viewing!