December 2017
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Raptor Wednesday
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: Ran into a family of four Bald Eagles at Mt. Loretto on Staten Island. Haliaeetus leucocephalus: this is one of this year’s youngsters. The white head and tail feathers come in fully by age 4 or so. The bird was making a racket, calling its parents for food. Big,…
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Spreadwings
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: I have not come across any of the spreadwing damselflies in Brooklyn. These Lestidae family insects are the exception to the rule that damselflies rest with their wings folded back above their abdomen, in contrast to the dragonflies who don’t fold their wings at all. This year I caught…
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Turtles Galore
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: A foot bridge connects the mainland of Jamestown Island with the original settlement of Jamestowne, the first permanent English colony in North America. On a recent visit we barely made it across the old tar and pitch swamp. Because down below in the muck were four species of turtles:…
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Vespa Crabro
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: The last two summers, I saw solitary examples of a very large, yellow-abdomened wasp in Green-Wood. They moved constantly, never staying still long enough to be photographed. Last summer I identified them as European Hornets, Vespa Crabro; the species has been in North American since at least 1840.This summer,…
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Accipiter gentilis I
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: As promised, a Northern Goshawk. Goshawks are large raptors of northern woods and mountains. It’s in the Accipiter genus, along with the Cooper’s Hawk (A. cooperii) and Sharp-shinned Hawk (A. striatus). Goshawks are rare in general, and practically unheard of New York City.But a juvenile has been spotted in Prospect…
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Fist and Hat Pinholes
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: Partial solar eclipse viewed indirectly through fist and straw hat.
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Snow Hat
Within a short distance of the 25th St. entrance to Green-Wood, there are five of these big Bald-faced Hornet nests.A pair in neighboring trees. And yesterday, I found some of the paper of one of them strewn about. Now that’s what I call wrapping paper!
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Twas the Night Before The Argument
Rock Doves in the rain, through a dirty window and screen. Ready to do combat with pig-headed or worse (oh, much worse) relatives for the holiday? Here's some social science to mull over: A brief explanation of why facts — like, say, about global warming — do nothing to convince people. (It was a religious…
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All Melted Since
Big Carbon knew they were causing global warming in the 1970s. But they, and their sociopath plutocratic allies, started funding PR campaigns to attack science and scientists who said so. The denialists were born, and they successfully took over the reactionary Republicans with their base in angry ignorance. Now these extremists have grown into a…
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The Spider Who Stayed Out in the Cold
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: This large Araneus diadematus orb-weaver has been living outside a Bronx living room window for nearly three months now. That included the last of summer, when a large window fan blew out towards her, making the web bounce like a trampoline. The web spans the breadth of the window.…
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