mthew
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The Genius of Birds
Birds can see more of the light spectrum than we can; they can re-generate their hearing while we lose ours as we age; some of them have acute senses of smell that helps them find food, and home. Jennifer Ackerman’s new book is a synopsis of recent scientific discoveries about birds. If you are not…
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Buckeyes in Bloom
Common Horsechestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), a species originally from SE Europe/Asia, now widely cultivated. Note that some are yellow inside, some pinkish-red; the latter have already been pollinated. Red Horsechestnut, a hybrid of Horsechestnut and Red Buckeye, Aesculus X carnea. (Unless it’s a hybrid of Red Buckeye and Yellow Buckeye, Aesculus X hybrida.) The above two…
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Tuliptree Flowers
Liriodendron tulipifera: these are usually so far up these tall trees that they’re hard to see.But not all of them. Blooming now. They smell like some childhood candy I can never place…
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Blighted! But…
One of the American Chestnuts (Castanea dentata) planted in Prospect Park a dozen years ago has succumbed to the pathogenic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, the dreaded Chestnut Blight. This is in stark contrast to the tree right next to it, which is long with leaf now. But the death was inevitable: these were non-resistant trees. There…
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Mystery With Distraction
So I’m trying to figure what this little warbler is hopping along the side of the road near the grave of Peter Cooper and family in Green-Wood. Female something, right? It flies out of my binocular vision, so I glance away from the glasses and see:A Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) just hanging out on a…
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Trillium, Herb Robert, Hawthorn
Trillium grandiflorum.Geranium robertianum, growing in the crotch of a tree. As with above, in the Native Flora Garden.Crataegus…The ringer of the trio. Native hawthorns have white flowers. This looks like the English Midland Hawthorn, C. laevigata, perhaps the cultivar “Crimson Cloud.”
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CYT
Photographing songbirds is a challenge when you don’t have a long lens and flash. Warblers, especially, are little, quick, and often at the top of a tall, leafy oak tree. But we do what we can with the tools at hand. I happened to catch this Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) male, easily distinguished by his…
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Hatch Out
The alates, or reproductives, of a termite colony, swarming in advance of flight. These “hatch-outs” fill the air with these four-winged, weakly fluttering critters. Keep your mouth closed… The alates are one of three castes in a termite colony, the others being workers and soldiers. But they’re not ants (Hymenoptera), they’re in the same order…
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Least Bittern
The news went out via twitter and emails yesterday afternoon that a Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis) was up a tree in Prospect Park. Unusual: the birds’ habitat is typically the reedy edge of water bodies, and it is generally very elusive. It’s our smallest heron, smaller even than the Green Heron. I’ve only seen one…
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Sunset Park Elm
It’s been a month since I’ve last updated you with a picture of the local American Elm.
Backyard and Beyond 