March 2019
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More Spring
Red maple flowers. Eastern Phoebe.These are wind pollinated trees, so early spring emergence isn’t predicated on insects.An early arriving migrant, this bird is dependent on insects.Speaking of which, beetles and flies are emerging.A millipede in a leafy liverwort. Interesting similarity of shape…And here’s a frog-sex teaser. There’s some amplexus in the water…
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More Whitman
“Nature marches in procession, in sections, like the corps of an army. All have done much for me, and still do. But for the last two days it has been the great wild bee, the humble-bee, or “bumble,” as the children call him. As I walk, or hobble*, from the farm-house down to the creek,…
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How To Bathe, Part 4
And repeat: P.S> the 55 Water Street Peregrine nest camera is back on. (Two eggs yesterday.)
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How To Bathe, Part 3
You have, I hope, noticed this.This Red-tailed Hawk has a single red tail feather. The bird is less than a year old, and with luck will celebrate its birthday this summer. Right now, it’s maturing, a process that includes losing its old tail feathers and growing new and rather different ones. By its first birthday,…
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Incoming
With Coney Island’s iconic Parachute Jump and Kingsborough Community College’s architectural folly in the background, a trio of American Oystercatchers reveal their presence.No subtly with this boldly-patterned species. Plus that long red bill, so cartoon-like, and their rackety vocalizations.Around the corner on the tidal flats, another one sported red leg-bands. It was too far away…
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How To Bathe, Part 2
Birds may bathe everyday, and some passerines have been recorded bathing five or more times a day. In winter and in arid locations, access to water can obviously limit this frequency. “In order to make the flow of water efficient, the movement of the feather tracts is combined with other movements in the following sequence:…
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Heralds
From Dead Horse Bay to Marine Park to Green-Wood. From the top, springtime is icumen in: American Oystercatcher, Osprey, Killdeer, Pine Warbler, Golden-crowned Warbler.
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How To Bathe, Part 1
First of all, the water can’t be too deep. You have to be able to wade in (and out).Frankly, there are only limited places you can do that in Green-Wood.The Dell Water has lately been overflowing it’s banks on one side. So that looks just right…
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Concrete
If there’s a “they” in the distant geological future, they’re sure going to wonder about the layer of concrete surrounding the world. Maybe they’ll think we worshipped it. They’d be right, wouldn’t they? Check out this hypothesis on the locking-in of atmospheric carbon in equatorial mountain building/limestone production, which these authors suggest led to the…
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Kestrel Action
This silhouette: large-headed, full-bodied, longish tail. This is the local American Kestrel female. She’s larger and rounder than the male. The pair are mating now. They’ll do this multiple times a day. They can do it hundreds of time a breeding season.More falcon silhouette: long tail, arch of wings, nearly boomerang-like. She was moving from…
Backyard and Beyond 