Fieldnotes
-
Owlets
Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus).GHO are said to have the greatest diversity of prey of any raptor, diurnal or nocturnal. Mammals, mostly, but also birds, including other raptors. They will also eat insects, reptiles, fish, and carrion. And you know these Muppets are ravenous. By the way, is that down on their eyelids? Meanwhile, in…
-
-
Naturalist Notes
Viola canadensis, a native violet.It was cool, so this Robin (Turdus migratorius) was hunkered down on those blue blue eggs.A Red Velvet Mite of the family Trombidiidae. Predators of the leaf-litter zone, as large as a blood-gorged tick and, being mite-y, rather looking like one.So many vocal White-Throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) in the Ramble!And a…
-
Roof Bird
Pavo cristatus, the Indian Pea Fowl. Big bird, helluva big voice. The only places I’ve run into these beasts (you should see their spur claws!) in NYC is in Prospect Park, where several boom from the zoo, and occasionally get loose, and on an old estate on Staten Island, near Princes Bay, where you can hear…
-
Raptor Wednesday
The all-Merlin (Falco columbarius) edition. In Green-Wood. This falcon, seen here on two different perches, was one of two by the Crescent Water at the same time. The other flew into a nearby tree — but the photography possibilities were not worth posting home about. The second bird took off, followed by the first.…
-
Bush Terminal Park
Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) on the fence.Female Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus).Carpet of little Brassicas.American Wigeon (Anas americana) and Eurasian Wideon (Anas penelope) drakes lined up for comparison’s sake. If only they’d been a little closer! Eurasian, as name suggest, is out of range; but we get a few in local waters most winters.
-
Blooming
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica).Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides).Toothwort (Cardamine).Trillium.Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense), unrelated to ginger root (Zingiber).
-
Bubulcus ibis ibis
A Western Cattle Egret has been hanging out in Penn South, a co-op complex in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. There are damn few cattle thereabouts, but these birds, who in their original range (Africa, Middle East, Southern Europe) follow migrating ruminants who kick up a storm of bugs, are adaptable enough to get bugs and…
-
Atalantycha bilineata
Two-lined Leather-wing, also known as Two-lined Cantharid. One of the soldier beetles. This is one of the earliest Cantharids to emerge in the spring, evidently. Found from Nova Scotia on down. This one spotted in Virginia three weeks ago, where/when not too much else was flying. According to Wikipedia, soldier beetles (Cantharidae) were called such…
-
Avenue U
On the Q Line. Jason Middlebrook, “Brooklyn Seeds,” 2011. Did you catch the results of Kansas’s special election on Tuesday? In a heavily Republican district, the Democratic candidate did quite well. Not enough to win, but damn close. In dozens of GOP-held Congressional districts, a similar swing would simply drown the rats. And this guy…
Backyard and Beyond 