Road kill, Flatbush Avenue and Floyd Bennett Field. This raccoon’s jaw shows you the teeth that lets this omnivore eat practically anything, from your garbage to turtle eggs. In our region, cars are the animal’s only “predator.”
Prospect Park
Published February 27, 2012 Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: birds, Brooklyn, Prospect Park, trees, turtles
It’s warm enough for turtles to be basking on the Lake, Lullwater, and Pools. Not many, but a smattering were to be seen soaking in the sun along the water course.
On a birch, this cocoon is more seasonally appropriate, weathering the not very weathery winter. While I’ve been seeing flies all month already, this was the first day I noticed clouds of hovering insects (some other kind of Diptera, I suspect).
Mallard, Northern Shoveler, American Coot, and at least one turtle enjoy this downed tree. Recently, some of the freelance defenders of the park alerted the media to the plethora of snags in the water after a major cutting and pruning operation. But snags are important components of the habitat of, at minimum, bird, reptile, and fish life. 
A classic duck/shorebird pose: bill tucked away back under a wing and balancing on one leg. This is a female Mallard. 
At least one tree is getting that fuzzy look. This American Elm is just starting to bud. Its branches were too high for me to reach. The tree right next to it, a fellow elm, drooped to eye-level, but was not nearly as far advanced, perhaps because it doesn’t get as much sun:
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Another flowering quince in the ‘hood. This one is on the north-facing side of the street, so it doesn’t get nearly as much sun as this south-facing one I photographed at the beginning of the month. 
And the crocuses are popping up. This patch was on Union Street.
It being such a mizzling day, I needed some color. 
Luckily, this kind of weather brings out the vibrancy of the lichens on our street trees.
Air pollution is generally bad news for lichens, as is ozone depletion. Walking through City Hall Park in Manhattan just before I took these shots on Union Street in Brooklyn, I noticed extremely little lichen on the mature trees in the Inner Borough. Brooklyn seems to have a more lichen-friendly atmosphere, although not for lack of cars.
As you may remember from school science, lichen is a composite organism in which a fungus and an alga or a bacterium work together symbiotically. Except for the atmospheric issues, lichen can be found in some of the harshest environments on the planet.
(The actual near-fluorescence of this lichen on dark wet bark is hard to capture. In the last shot, I used the flash.)
The spiky, dried fruits of the Sweetgum tree, Liquidamber styraciflua, often persist on the tree through winter. A strong wind can bring them down to the sidewalk, where the jagged orbs look otherworldly. Each fruit is composed of 40-60 capsules, which are now long since emptied of their seeds. A native tree, and a regular on our sidewalks and parks, the species is more common in the South. Its star-shaped leaves are quite distinctive and can be very colorful — yellow, orange, red, maroon — in the fall.
A Raft of Ducks
Published February 21, 2012 Fieldnotes 4 CommentsTags: birding, birds, Brooklyn, Dead Horse Bay
In Dead Horse Bay, thousands of Great Scaup, Aythya marila, are rafting together.
The sun sets over New York Harbor, New Jersey, and the great darkening mass of the Republic. Photo from Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Don’t Dump Your Turtle
Published February 18, 2012 Art Culture Politics , Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Prospect Park, turtles
One of the search phrases that’s led people to this blog more than once is about “releasing pet turtles in Prospect Park.” People want to know if it’s OK to do so. The answer is: no, it isn’t, and you shouldn’t ~ which is what I hope they learned from the internet.
But, considering that I counted over seventy Red-eared Sliders in the Lullwater in November, the practice certainly continues. The Japanese Pond in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is another dumping zone for Brooklyn pet-owners.
The Red-eared Slider is the common pet trade turtle, often sold in itty-bitty, evidently irresistible (and, if under 4″, plainly illegal) form. But of course, if the animal is lucky — although plenty of them die young — it grows bigger and bigger and bigger. A female can get to be the size of a large dinner plate, the males nearly that big. A native of the southeastern U.S., these sliders have become invasive in our region through releases from people who didn’t realize how big they could get, could no longer afford the increasing care costs (a very large tank is necessary for a plate-sized turtle), got bored with it, or otherwise outgrow it themselves (children are obviously cute-baited by the trade). Besides out-competing native species like the Painted Turtle, every release is a potential biological hazard, since it could introduce disease(s) to local turtle populations.
You are doing no good to the animal or the habitat by releasing it. Instead, search out adoption agencies like Turtle Rescue of Long Island. The mistake was the initial acquisition, so hopefully now, in making emends, you’ll be an evangelist for NOT BUYING TURTLES AS PETS. Let wild animals be.
I’ve seen them for sale on the sidewalk, and not only in Chinatowns. Brisk business was being gone right by Brooklyn Borough Hall not so long ago (no doubt the hucksters made a contribution to the Borough President’s “favorite charity,” wink, wink). Some years ago, I met some people who found a baby turtle in their table centerpiece at a wedding reception (every table had one, it was part of the design; the florist should have been flogged).
If you see something related to wildlife that you think is illegal, for instance the sale of any reptile or amphibian species native to New York State, or any turtles under 4″ being sold on the street, you can call the state’s hot line: 1-800-847-7332 to report it. I wish I’d known this when I saw those schmucks selling them on Court Street.
Possessing any one of the dozen species of native turtles in New York State is illegal.
Check out the NY Turtle and Tortoise Society for additional news, views, etc.
All my turtle posts are here: painted, snappers, diamondbacks, etc., in the wild, where they belong.
Diamondback Terrapin female, Jamaica Bay
Coot
Published February 16, 2012 Fieldnotes 4 CommentsTags: birding, birds, Brooklyn, Prospect Park
The American Coot, dwarfed by a juvenile Mute Swan in both perspective and actuality, is a Prospect Park regular, but never in very large numbers. There were several on the Lake last week, and a surprising dozen plus at the Boat House. Although duck-like, Coots (Fulica americana) are actually Gruiformes, or rails (I saw their cousins the Common Gallinule in St. John). The most notable distinction, besides the very un-duck-like bill, is that they don’t have webbed feet. Their toes are lobed, which helps them move through the water. And they do come ashore, so you can see these interesting toes.
Three Heart-Shaped Leaves
Published February 14, 2012 Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: Brooklyn Bridge Park, trees
Catalpa:
The tree with the foot-long seed pods. Both the Northern Catalpa, C. speciosa, and the Southern Catalpa, C. bignonioides, grow in our region. The ones in Brooklyn Bridge Park may be some kind of cultivar or hybrid.
Eastern cottonwoods, Populus deltoides, growing wild in the as yet uncompleted part of the park.
Note here the flat leafstalk and the warty glands at base of leaf.
Our old friend Paulownia, the tree that grows anywhere, and when it does, its early-growth leaves are enormous. My boot here is for scale, and not intended in any way to suggest trampled hearts on this day of all days, when, instead of buying some generic crap, or roses picked by brutalized workers on pesticide-pounded factory farms, you make something with your own two hands for your dearest leaf-person(s).
