mthew
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Buteo
The broad-winged hawks of the genus Buteo are named after the Latin name of the Common Buzzard. If that sentence doesn’t open up a can of Annelida, I don’t know what will. Buteo simply means “hawk.” There is a North American species called the Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus). Here in the U.S. “buzzard” is another…
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O Canada
A herd of about fifty were ambling across one of the Green-Wood roads; when there are that many, and they’re relatively used to people, it does feel like a herd, of small long-necked and somewhat lumbering dinosaurs. Who hiss.
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Sympetrum
Insects are becoming fewer and far between now that autumn is upon us. One of the last dragonfly species to be seen are the Sympetrum Meadowhawks, red-bodied and small.There were a few active at midday on Friday at the NYBG.
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Sunset Park Elm
Broader than taller, with a giant limb that trifurcates into prongs that sweep down low.
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Not At All Sour
This fall, my favorite tree is Nyssa sylvatica, the Blackgum or Black Tupelo. The colors are amazing. This was a giant specimen at NYBG on Friday, from a distance and then underneath. N. sylvatica is also known as Sourgum. Sourwood, on the other hand, is another species entirely. Oxydendrum arboreum also makes for some spectacular…
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Halloween!
Once upon a morning clearly, while I pondered light and shadow…. Cue Gothick pile, hemlock reaching into the frame, and, atop the parrot-haunted spire, a lone Raven loudly proclaiming its freakin’ raven-ness. (Another birder photographed three Ravens up there about a month ago. I happened to catch this more recently, but only with my phone…
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Sharpie on the Prowl
A Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus), eyeballing everything that moves above, before, behind, below. Waves of song-birds were stirred up by this slim raptor, the smallest hawk species in North America. This may have been the same bird I saw on three more separate encounters that day, racing after prey.Sharpies, as they are affectionately known, are…
Backyard and Beyond 