mthew
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Flower Power
A trip to the NYBG on October 30th gleaned these still-bloomers, which I have hoarded until this cold winter day. Now, isn’t a living flower so much better than a dead one? And look, they’re not covered with poisons, as most of the roses people are buying today will be. Also, these free-growing plants are…
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Tarantula!
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: I think this is a male Arizona Desert Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes), also known as Arizona Blond Tarantula because of the female’s coloring. Our intrepid, and hawk-eyed, guide Jake swerved the van out of the way and then backed up to coax this spider onto his hand. And then, up…
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Owls In Culture
Did you know Florence Nightingale had a pet Little Owl? She rescued it and named it Athena, after the Greek goddess, who was ssociated with owls (so much so that the binomial for this European species is Athene noctua). When Nightingale — the first person named after the English version of Firenza, by the way,…
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Wing Complex
In addition to an entire dead Common Loon on the rocks of the jetty pier at Bush Terminal Park, there was this wing. I looked at it and was at a loss for what it might be. It didn’t hit any of the song bird possibilities, and this time of year those are much reduced.…
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Loon Lost
A Common Loon (Gavia immer) dead on the rocks at Bush Terminal Park. Paul Sweet, of the American Museum of Natural History, was there and showed us the prominent ridge of the sternum, which should have been smothered in fat and muscle. This suggested to him that this fish-devouring diver probably starved to death. Sometimes…
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Ravens, Still
I haven’t been getting out and about as much as I’d like. In the last month or so, I’d only seen Ravens twice. Two separate instances of a single bird. They aren’t always together, but the Bush Terminal birds are usually seen in some kind of airborne proximity. These birds work together well in pairs…
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Day Hawk
Hello!An overcast day, but from a distance a shape in a tree along the edge of Sunset Park attracts the eye.Accipiters aren’t known for perching long. This Cooper’s stuck around long enough for me to go inside and return with my camera. My lens is better than my eyes: the gory remains of lunch are…
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Strix varia
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: A hot tip from someone who wishes to remain anonymous clued me into this Barred Owl (Strix varia) located… somewhere in NYC.I had to agree to be blindfolded before being led to the site; it was either that or ride bundled into the trunk. This close-up shows what looks…
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“Two Octopi”
I’ve seen a lot of John Singer Sargent’s work over the years, but never this delightfully pulsating oil painting of two octopuses of 1875 until very recently. Sargent was about 19 when he painted this, and it’s one of the first oils in his oeuvre. Cephalopods still had a bit of mystique about them in…
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