mthew
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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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Night Hawk
What do birds do at night? It’s clearly a question people find intriguing. But you probably already know the answer even if you don’t know much about birds. Most birds are diurnal, so like most of us they sleep at night. And like us, they usually tuck themselves away somewhere safe and sound. In the…
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Another Sunset Park Elm
Knots, galls, cankers? Whatever is going on here makes for a massive bole. This is one of a pair in front of an apartment named Elmo…
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Red-tailed Two
Continuing our primer from the other day, we now present a mature Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).Compared to that early sighting, this one look rather larger (even though it was higher up), making me think it was a female. Pairs of hawks should be in the bonding and mating stage in the city now. There are…
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Homeboy Mammal
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: First glance on rounding the corner of a shady tree: I thought this was a hairy cat on the loose. I mean, a big, low-slung hairball, one of those Persians who’s been to Paris, if you know what I mean.Woodchuck. Whistlepig. Groundhog. Land beaver. Marmota monax. In Green-Wood. I’ve…
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Red-tailed One
Perched near the edge of Green-Wood Cemetery, a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) surveys the scene. One of the classic field marks of this species is the vaguely V-shaped white splotching on the back. The band of darker splotches across the belly is another tell. (In the west, things get more complicated ~ there are some…
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Sunset Park Elm
At dawn. Still at dawn, but with a different filter. These were taken after last weekend’s blizzard.
