Art Culture Politics
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Maryland Monument Dasher
Two hundred and forty years ago today, the British and their Hessian swine-mercenaries walloped the still-loose conglomeration that was the Continental Army in Brooklyn. There’s a memorial in Prospect Park to the Maryland 400, troops who held the Old Stone House (the existing structure in J. J. Byrne Park is a recreation) down in the…
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Rosamond Purcell
If you dig deep enough into this blog, you will come across a near-surreptitious image of a part of Olaus Worm’s famous cabinet of curiosities. The original print of the Museum Wormianum was published as the frontispiece of the 1655 Worm’s Museum, or History of Very Rare Things, Natural and Artificial, Domestic and Exotic, Which…
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Something to Wash Out The Hate
If you’re still recovering from the shameless exhibition of fear and loathing that was the finale of washed-out TV personality Donald Trump’s grotesque career — that tirade in search of a balcony, that harangue for a meaner, nastier America — then this one’s for you. Two species of bees, two species of wasps, one skipper……
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For Natives, Against Nativism
There’s a perspective that says that native plant advocates mimic the rhetoric and (consciously or unconsciously) the beliefs of the politics of nativism, paralleling the hateful and ugly resurgence of some of America’s most shameful traditions manifested in the disgusting Trump phenomenon. Calling a plant or animal an alien or an invasive is, in this…
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Pet-trade Refugee
One of the many surplus Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) dumped into local waterways. Idiots buy them and tire of them and let them loose. The red “ear” is actually just a mark; on this specimen it’s rather pale; sometimes it doesn’t show at all. I once counted 70 RESs, which are native to the southeast…
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Marine Park Heaven and Hell
Rails are elusive, secretive, reed-habitat specialists, blending in quite nicely in their saltwater and brackish marshes in their thin-as-a-rail way. Clapper Rail (Rallus crepitans) less so than the others. For one thing, they can be quite vocal: their namesake “clap” is more of a “kek.” Recently, we heard several at Marine Park and saw three…
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Peregrine Top
My friend Marion has had fun with the #ViewFromTheMoraine. That’s Mike’s Spike there, a notorious Peregrine perch this past winter. I’ve seen less activity there this spring, which could be accounted for by the fact that up to half of all peregrines at any given time now are currently sitting on eggs or feeding their…
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Enterdale
This is the way to enter Prospect Park: start at Grand Army Plaza and enter on the left, past the statue of James S.T. Stranahan. He was never a military man, so saluting wouldn’t be appropriate, but you should tip your top hat* in his memory. Follow the curving path around the corner of the…
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A Man, A Plan, Stranahan!
Where are my manners? I’m only just getting to letting you know that I’ll be doing a Jane’s Walk tomorrow, starting at 11 a.m. at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park. We meet at the feet of the statue of James S.T. Stranahan, tucked in just to the left of the drive. A…
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What Good Are Birds, Anyway?
Sure they’re cool to look at and some of them are beautiful singers. But why the hell should anyone who doesn’t like or care about birds give a damn about them? I mean, who cares if one or a hundred species go extinct, there are still 10,000+ left, right? As spring migration warms up, let…
Backyard and Beyond 