mthew
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Summer
You never know what you’ll see out there. Sure, the frying days of summer make it hard to enjoy the brute sun and humidity, but on Saturday we had a respite from the heat tsunami. So off we wandered down to Bush Terminal Park, where lo and behold! Two amazing (and concurrent) sights/sounds. 1.…
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One More Time
Five #BrooklynKestrels outside the window can be overwhelming, even though I’ve never seen more than four at a time. The young ones don’t perch as long as the adults, at least not that I’ve seen. They’re much more, uh, flighty. This is one of the two female fledglings. Why yes, that’s right: she’s got a…
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Continuing KWIR
Apres le bain, the sisters nipped at each other’s feathers, clawed each other, and bit each other’s bills.One was rather vocal, but in a much more subdued way than the parents. Now, another school of thought here is that the bird on the left is the adult female, the mother bird. But I don’t think…
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KWIR
Yesterday, all three youngsters went for a dip in a roof-top puddle. Birds bathe to keep their feathers in good order. Where they bathe is a good question. The water shouldn’t be too deep. There should be some seclusion, since a waterlogged bird is more vulnerable than a dry one. Here’s one answer.I’ve always suspected…
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The Kestrel Week in Review
One of the female fledglings perched on The Perch made famous by her parents.Male fledging sitting. Have never seen the adults do this.Kneeling. Perching on one foot.Walking (a hulking hopping to be more exact).Speaking of perching: when thinking about American Kestrel habitat, always be sure to include plenty of places to perch. These are the…
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The Big Lie
The headline, one of many examples now, reads “Trump blames rising German crime rate on immigrants.” Yes, that’s what he said, so in that sense that is the “news.” Now his legions of the night will repeat it ad infinitum. But the facts are quite different, as is so often the case with the President…
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Go Forth This Fourth
There have been, on occasion, squawks of outrage in the comments here by people upset that I bring politics into the mix along with pretty pictures of nature. How anyone can separate the two is beyond my understanding. This is the Anthropocene: humans are geosystem engineers on an unprecedented level, transforming the planet as we…
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The Perch List
This bare knob of an upright branch at the top of an otherwise leafy London Plane has been the #BrooklynKestrels’ spot for months now. Both male and female have perched here half the year.On occasions, other birds have been spotted on it, too. Starlings and Mourning Doves are somewhat regular. A Sharp-shinned Hawk was quite…
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Mammal Monday
Ondatra zibethicus: muskrat! As busy as the proverbial beaver.Thoreau reveled in calling them “musquash.” (See Geoff Wisner’s collection of HDT on animals.) Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Senator Susan Collins says the President has assured her he won’t be asking his Supreme Court candidates about Roe v. Wade. Two things: 1) Trump’s record…
Backyard and Beyond 