mthew
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Springing
Trembling aspen. Silver maple. Hoop-petticoat daffodil. American Elm. We had a couple warm days, then it got cold again. Now it’s warming up again. Today is the second day of spring. Let it bloom! Let it boom!
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Passenger
A Song Sparrow with what looks like a tick attached to the side of the eye. There are a few (at least) Ixodes genus bird ticks. I wrote about the “flying zoo” here.
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The Arthropods Are Coming
There are places where the ground is crawling with what I think are thin-legged wolf spiders. Centipede scurrying from the light. Small Milkweed Bug was an unexpected find on a 42F day. Mantis egg case. Found four here.
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Tufted and Chrysalis
The tapping and pecking of various birds in the winter stillness grabs the ears. The woodpeckers, the nuthatches. And in this case, a Tufted Titmouse. I didn’t have time to get focused because the bird dropped its prize, which I first thought might be a peanut, and flew away. But it was a cocoon! And,…
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Raptor Wednesday
A not uncommon sight from the apartment windows this winter. Although the last few weeks have seen scant evidence of this male American Kestrel. But here he was March 8 as the Staten Island Ferry, Big Orange to those of us on the moraine, goes by. Then, last Thursday, March 11, the pair! American Kestrels…
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Timberdoodle Tuesday
The cinnamon belly of an American Woodcock is one of the great delights of the world. Hard to see, though.
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Mammal Monday
In abstentia… Rodent jaws. Coin is an inch across. Same, with the teeth pulled out. They come out rather easily. These were found amid the ruins of some owl pellets. Owls swallow prey whole and then spit up the gnarly bits. Considering how clean these bones are, those are some serious digestive juices. A mess…
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Orwellian Toads
“But Persephone, like the toads, always rises from the dead at about the same moment.” George Orwell’s “Some Thoughts on the Common Toad,” first published in April, 1946, is a short introduction to spring. Good ol’ Bufo bufo; here’s one I saw in Sweden. Times change, we heat up the atmosphere, and the blackthorn was…
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Bald
Look who’s back! I mean, probably. Couldn’t see the bands on this bird’s leg, but assume they are the black rings marked R, top, and 7, bottom. Some call the bird “Rover,” but I don’t think the Adamic naming thing has turned out well, so I pass on naming wild animals. The bird was banded…
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House House
Airy and with a view. I’ve posted pictures of these traffic light support poles before. Practically every single one has a House Sparrow nest at both ends. And the birds are staking their claims over them now, actively! See also yesterday’s post. This was on the long 5th Avenue border of Green-Wood. Along this same…
