March 2019
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Hatchin’ Still
We began the winter with White-breasted Nuthatches, and as we near the end of it… three of them were working over this old horse chestnut, whispering amongst themselves. This one kept finding tidbits in this tree cave. On an hour’s walk in very chilly Green-Wood recently, I came across around a dozen of these nuthatches,…
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Mammal Monday
Curling up on a roof on a cold winter day. For two days, this raccoon spent daylight hours up here on a neighboring roof. The gutter, and poor roof drainage, provided water from the recent snowfall. It disappeared just a few minutes before sunset the first day. I thought it might be a goner, for…
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Dogs of Prospect, Again
I used to spend so much time in Prospect Park! It’s farther away now, but that’s not the reason I’m there so infrequently now. Half a dozen Red-winged Blackbirds were burbling with Spring there the other day. A Song Sparrow was singing, tree buds were clearly on the edge of bursting, mosses waved their tiny…
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Foxy
A trio of Fox Sparrows were kicking up the good stuff along with a couple of White-throated Sparrows.Both species are usually under cover of shrubs and bushes. The leftover snow had probably set them foraging out in the open.
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Pupa Knows Best
Revisiting this pupa of what I think is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in better light and because I find it fascinating. If you look closely, you can see breathing holes on the segments. And the support filament that secures the lower end (or right third in the horizontal view) of the structure to the rock.…
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Sometimes
The light is just right. Red — well, rufus or russet or brick or… — tail, belly band, dark patagial marks on the inner half of the leading edge of the wings. To quote from Wheeler’s Raptors of Eastern North America: the patagium is the “elastic membrane on the front edge of the inner wing…
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Raptor Wednesday
Perched relatively close to each other, an adult Red-tailed Hawkand a juvenile, from the class of ’18. They were not in sight of each other, but they certainly were in calling distance. I wonder if they are teaming up? You can see the difference in tail feathers nicely here, russet for the adult, stripped reddish-brown…
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Blink
Once more, with feeling!Blinkin’ Downy Woodpecker. *** This blog was begun nine years ago very much under the influence of naturalist and dissenter H.D. Thoreau. I’ve written about him here and there over the years. Let me take this anniversary week opportunity to link back to some of the pieces: On his journal. On his…
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Mammal Monday
The raccoons have taken a walloping from canine distemper, but they aren’t finished yet. In honor of the bloggiversary: all the mammals on the blog! And a couple of personal favorites: Eurasian Red in the ice-cream. Muskrat at dusk.
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Anniversary
For the ninth anniversary of this blog, some Great Horned Owl.January 26.February 3. (The hollering Blue Jays abated for a moment.)(But only a moment.)February 10. For three weekends, vocal Blue Jays have pointed their piecing calls to a roosting Great Horned Owl. Different trees each time. Given that 9 out of 10 times, the Blue…
Backyard and Beyond 