mthew

A third to half of an Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica) cone. Take off on of the scales… To reveal two of the winged seeds.

A Yew. Screaming Blue Jays. A couple of frozen Gray Squirrels. Plenty of clues…

Long-time readers may know that my most popular blog post ever was about these whelk egg cases. We have two types in the upper Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast. The pinched edges of these capsules mean this it the egg case of the Channeled Whelk/Busycotypus canaliculatus. Here’s one of the capsules separated from the chain. Often…

Phragmites are notorious for taking over and turning everything into Phragmites, leaving little room for other plants and the hosts of other organisms that live with those plants. One exception is whatever it is that attracts Downy Woodpeckers to the winter stalks. Somebody is living in there, and this small woodpecker is determined to chisel…

This is, I think, a Fish Crow/Corvus ossifragus.

Herring Gull amidst Brant. Great Black-backed Gull amidst Herring, Brant, and Ring-billed. Great Black-backed is the world’s largest species of gull. Our triumvirate of winter gulls. From the top, Herring, Great Black-backed, and Ring-billed. Strays and exotica show up, and Bonaparte’s Gull is found off-shore, but these are the three standard gulls of the NYC…

See how that outer tail feather is so much shorter than the central feathers? Coopers have tails usually described as rounded at the tip; this is why. Of note because Sharp-shinned Hawks have a straight edge to their tail fan. I’ve written a new Medium piece… on raptors!

This snaggy perch can be a good place for Merlin, but in this case it’s an adult Coopers Hawk. Ready for some stretching… Oh-oh, stand back! Coop poop.

This scappy specimen may be explained by the damaged foot.