mthew

Sylvan Water from a distance: ducks on the edge of the ice. Getting closer… a couple of Hooded Merganser males making ripples away from me. Male Bufflehead, and the two male Hooded bookending a female Hooded. And here’s the anomaly: a female Common Merganser/Mergus merganser. This is the first I’ve seen in Green-Wood. The thick…

What a purple! A couple of Purple-spored Puffballs/Calvatia cyathiformis.

I see Peregrine(s) atop St. Michael’s fairly often. But I’m usually two long blocks away… Sometimes, I manage to capture a quick fly-by. So when this silhouette caught my eye in Green-Wood recently, my first thought was it was too big for a Merlin. Oh my, yes.

It’s been a great winter for White-breasted Nuthatches in Green-Wood. Red-breasted Nuthatch sightings have been a much rarer occurrence. One or two is the most I’ve seen. This feeder has been very reliable for at least one.

A mouthful of sawdust spewed out…

A Red-tailed Hawk was looking for a moaning Gray Squirrel in a thicket below. Two Blue Jays were harrying the hawk. Then this Cardinal flew up to a branch below the hawk and started to twist around in place on the branch. Eye on the hawk much of the time…

More Red-tailed Hawk hijinks. Three were in the air: these two adults (the male is smaller) and a first year bird. The juvenile ventured some squirrel hunting on the ground… … the two adults landed above. This was the scene that had the three squirrels worrying, as seen in yesterday’s post. Half an hour later,…