October 2015
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Pluvialis squatarola Updated
UPDATED, edited, and corrected: An astute eye and excellent photographer, Deb Allen has let me know that this is actually a Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola). The bird is sporting non-breeding plumage, hence the lack of the tell-tale black belly (which, to make things interesting, the American Golden Plover also sports). Sorry about the error, indignor…
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Falco sparverius
American Kestrel, urban raptor.This female was keeping a sharp eye on Bush Terminal Park yesterday. She was molting; perhaps she’s a first year bird. There was a nest somewhere in the area, I’m told, and the park has been a reliable location for these, our smallest raptor.She had just eaten something. She dove low for…
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Blooms and Pods
Smooth Aster Goldenrod. Honeylocust.
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Monarchs
The air above Fort Tilden’s narrow reach was full of Tree Swallows and, to a lesser extent, Monarch Butterflies. The Monarchs were being pushed hard towards the east in the breeze. We saw about a dozen of them. One was quite high, noticed as we watched a Peregrine on patrol way up there.Danaus plexippus. Some…
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Merlin Hunting
A plump silhouette on a dead pine. The first rule of birding is to always look at the anomalies. And hope the sun comes out! Because that, and an old concrete gun platform to lean on, makes for a better photograph.This bird was hunting around these dead pines at Fort Tilden. It perched on several…
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Man Ray’s Sea Horse
After enjoying immensely the Sargent exhibit at the Met, I ran into this Man Ray gelatin silver print of 1930, “Histoire naturelle.” The text panel describes it as a petrified sea horse, at rather larger-than-life scale, supposedly as part of a Surrealist effort to defamiliarize ordinary objects. Simpler times.
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Bombus/Solidago
The cold snap combined with the rain took the bees by storm. They were clustered to various late summer blossoms Friday and Saturday, stunned if not lost. But yesterday, the air warmed, and by afternoon the sun was out. The goldenrods at Fort Tilden were alight with a few of these hardy little beasts. Note…
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The Way of All Flesh
The other day I wondered what our Common Ravens are eating. They are greatly attracted to carrion; but how much carrion is found in New York City? This young Raccoon was gone the next day: presumably staff cleaned it away. The natural process of decomposition had already begun. Scavenger wasps and flies that lay their…
Backyard and Beyond 