September 2010
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Dragonflies
Brooklyn Bridge Park is now open at its northern end, in the shadow of the great bridge. Here small pools and streams, part of the park’s landscaping and drainage system, are newly planted with a host of plants. And what freshwater body is complete without dragonflies? Recently, under a hot sun, I watched twelve-spotted skimmers,…
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Munch, munch, munch
Friends, gardeners, farmers! I come to praise the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, not bury it. You, on the other hand, may be quick to go snicker-snack! That I leave up to you and your conscience. I had been wondering why my sweet frying pepper, a first time plant for me, had not made any fruit…
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Waste spaces
A differential grasshopper, Melanoplus differntialis, on some kind of smartweed. This clump of waste space-favoring weed was found on a downbeat block of Pacific Street in Boreum Hill, and just goes to show what happens when you look closely at even the commonest things.
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Elegy for phytoplankton
It’s too bad the microscopic organisms that make up phytoplankton don’t have faces. These creatures live in both fresh and salt water and are the basis of aquatic food webs. There are numerous types, and there are bejillions of them. The trouble is that there used to be even bejillions more of them. According to…
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On The Raunt
Recently, we ran into a fellow birder at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’s East Pond. He alerted us of a rare marbled godwit located at “the Raunt.” In late summer, the JBWR is the place to go birding if you’re in the city. Migrating shorebirds heading south stop by by the dozens, hundreds, and, for some…
Backyard and Beyond 