August 2014
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Not So Fragile Forktail
This female Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) has captured a just-emerged damselfly of unknown species. She is eating it, as these serious inch-long predators will do. The teneral damselfly, meaning one that has just emerged from the exuvia, is ghostly pale; its exoskeleton has not yet hardened and it’s coloring/patterning has not developed. This is when…
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Fragile Forktails
A mature female Ischnura posita. An immature female. Inch-long damsels, these. Eat more mosquitos, ladies! A mature male. The exclamation mark on the shoulder is tell-tale for this species, but it can fade with age.
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Oyster Toadfish
Last night as I watched the sun tuck behind the embankment of New Jersey, a fisherman beside me on the end of Pier 5 reeled this fish out of the dark water. He thought it was a Sea Robin, but I didn’t. It wasn’t that weird. Some research reveals it to be an Oyster Toadfish…
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Downy Heron
One of a trio of young Green Herons (Butorides virescens) on a snag in the Lullwater this week. This one was sitting: I’ve never seen a heron sit before. It was a month ago that I saw this fledgling Green Heron in Green-wood. That bird looked a little older. I wonder if this trio is…
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Watching (and Weeping?)
Lost Ladybug Project. Monarch Watch. Dragonfly Pond Watch. Bumblebee Watch. Firefly Watch. Noticing a pattern? These citizen-science projects are concerned with dwindling numbers of particular insects, micro-studies in population decline and disappearance. Start putting them together and you realize that the recent study in Science which found a 45% drop in invertebrate populations over the…
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Hanging the Night
This Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) was parked just off the path around 730pm, so I think it was roosting for the night. The black markings looked velvety in the light.This is a mature male. If you counted the white spots, too, he would be a twenty-spotted skimmer. To matters more confusing, this species used to…
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Events and Calls to Action
I’ll be leading these tours in the next few weeks: August 27 and Sept 4, 9pm: Prospect Park ~ Night Listening with Brooklyn Brainery. Join us as we listen to the night. Register at the link. $5 (Updated: 8/27 is full, but there are still spots for 9/4.) September 3rd, 6pm: Brooklyn Bridge Park ~…
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Woodchuck
Who doesn’t need some whistlepig every once and a while? Old-ivory yellow teeth and all: a defining characteristic of the Rodentia are their pairs of continuously growing upper and lower incisors.Gnaw, gnaw!
Backyard and Beyond 