mthew

Common on Prospect Park Lake, but uncommon on Green-Wood’s ponds. These two were on the cemetery’s Sylvan Water for at least three days recently.

L.C. Tiffany’s lamps are beyond famous, but did you know his firm also made headstones? There are some 60 in Green-Wood Cemetery, which also happens to be where Tiffany and family members are buried. I think people may be surprised about the Tiffany plot. There’s no mausoleum; no stained glass, just some rather simple, elegant…

Mallards are one of our biggest ducks. Occasionally, Sylvan Water gets some other waterfowl. Behold the many manifestations of a male Hooded Merganser:

One bird you are guaranteed to run across, even this winter, is the Northern Mockingbird. They’ll be giving you the eye.

A close view and a sunny day, that’s what makes for the best urban raptor-viewing.

Please! As I noted yesterday, they have been scant this season. This Red-breasted Nuthatch, barely seen, was the first I’d heard in months. The N. Mockingbirds make sure you see them, at least.

The birds in my patch are few and far between this winter. There are very small numbers even of Juncos and White-throated Sparrows, a typical winter’s mob. The strident calls of Blue Jays are rare. When I heard a nuthatch the other day, I realized it was the first in several months.

The local Great Horned Owls weren’t in their usual perching tree. (One at least was in the nest tree.) So I walked under the perching tree, and saw plenty of evidence of fine owl dining.

The Cooper’s pictured with yesterday’s feisty House Finch had already put up with a reception committee of Monk Parakeets: After loudly berating the predator, the flock returned to Green-Wood’s Neo-Gothic pile of a gatehouse. The Coop, meanwhile, stuck around for at least 45 minutes, which is a long time in Accipiter time.