November 2014
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Can’t Get Enough Kestrel?
A week after spotting an American Kestrel male perching in Green-Wood I found another not so very far away. Or is this the very same bird? Mayhaps: they don’t have huge territories Check out the bird’s under and over grip on the tippy-top of the tree. And those false eye-spots on the back of the…
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VLB in BBP
Two of the gardeners at Brooklyn Bridge Park showed me the evidence of Viburnum Leaf Beetle that they were hunting down. The pits in the twig are egg cavities, dug into the tree by the mature beetle. The tiny larvae can just be seen. The destructive invasive beetle is rampant through most city parks, but…
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Coop
A Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) in Green-Wood on Saturday. This is an immature bird. An adult will have a russet-tinted breast and red eyes instead of yellow. From the back, against the light. Note that long tail, a characteristic of the Accipiters. While perched, the bird threw up this pellet. Once she — the bird…
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Colors
A White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis). This bird had just lived up its name: wedging a seed into the bark of this tree, the bird hammered the seed with its chisel bill. Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) showing itself capable of standing up to this fall’s magnificent colors.Monk Parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus), excellent raptor food.Another colorful exotic, Japanese Maple…
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Black-capped Chickadee
Poecile atricapillus. On the side of a road in Hastings-on-Hudson. Perhaps hit by car?
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Kestrel
This male Kestrel (Falco sparverius) made two fruitless passes at the noisy scrum of Monk Parakeets at the Green-Wood gate. The parakeets are a little longer in body-length but have shorter wingspan than these small falcons, so I wonder if they ever succumb to attack. Certainly the parakeets provide food for raptors; I’ve found their…
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Still Hanging On
In early November, I found four adult Two-spotted Ladybeetles (Adalia bipunctata). And without looking very hard. I just stood under the tree and looked up.
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Zane York: Curious Remnants
Zane York at work. He’s having a solo show tonight through Dec. 14 at Causey Contemporary, 29 Orchard St. NY NY.The opening revels are from 6-8. I’ll be there.
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White Oak
The pale underside of some Eastern White Oak (Quercus alba) leaves found on Mt. Taurus.This is another specimen of the tree, two weeks later, in Green-Wood. It’s been a spectacular fall. Same tree, with some Hedgehog Galls. I also explore these fuzzy galls a little more here.
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Bärenfähigkeit
On the liturgical calendar, today is St. Martin’s Day. In the late Middle Ages, “Martin” was often the name given to bears abused and belittled in circuses and other equivalents of side-shows. This is not coincidental, Michel Pastoureau shows in his fascinating The Bear: History of a Fallen King. The Church waged a long war…
Backyard and Beyond 