Two Habitats

1.) A Rufus Hummingbird has been hanging out by the entrance to the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History. This species, Selasphorus rufus, is more generally found in the Northwest and West, so its continued presence in Manhattan since December has been cause for comment. The bird is clearly hardier than you might think for a .21 oz/3.4 g animal, (yes, that was POINT 21 ounces), although our winter has been an almost complete wimpfest so far. The museum — which has a world-class ornithology collection and world-famous ornithologists preserved in formaldehyde — has put up a hummingbird feeder for the zippy little bird. The usual East Coast hummingbird species is the Ruby-throated, which spends the winter far to the south and can generally be glimpsed in the city during migration periods.
2.) An assemblage of found wood, shells, and a tile made by the Federal Seaboard Terra Cotta Corp. of New Jersey. I thought the wood looked a little cobwebby the other day and picked it up to dust. A spider has colonized it.