Fieldnotes
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Golden Hour
Sunset on the Piankatank. No, as they say, filter.A Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus) in the twilight gold. Some of these birds were well into their breeding plumage, others not at all. The tidal Piankatank, a contest between the fresh Dragon Run and the briny Chesapeake, was also host to Common Loons and Buffleheads last week.…
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Accipiter gentilis III
The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds (2000-05) had 130 confirmed Goshawk nests in New York state, with 170 more possible and 54 probable, a decrease from the First Atlas (1980-05). But there are no records of such for the NYC-Long Island area, which lacks the extensive tracts of forest that makes up the species’ usual…
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Accipiter gentilis II
This is a juvenile. Goshawk adults, who settle into their plumage by their third year, have blue-grey backs and gray fronts. They’re unmistakable; I’ve never seen one. These yearlings, on the other wing, look like they could be mistaken for a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk. This is a bigger bird than a Cooper’s, but sizing can…
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Accipiter gentilis I
As promised, a Northern Goshawk. Goshawks are large raptors of northern woods and mountains. It’s in the Accipiter genus, along with the Cooper’s Hawk (A. cooperii) and Sharp-shinned Hawk (A. striatus). Goshawks are rare in general, and practically unheard of New York City.But a juvenile has been spotted in Prospect Park for about a month now.…
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North Forty
Return-a-Gift Pond had one singular sensation of a tree frog last week. I wonder if they emerged early in our warm patch, then beat a hasty retreat in the face of the snow? Because reports are that they’re rockin’ now. On the other side of the pond, something is taking over, covering over everything, and giving…
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Crown
Looks like a crown feather of an American Woodcock to me. Just under an inch long. On the snow in Prospect; it was devilishly difficult to get the warm gold of the edging accurately into digital form!And you can, I think, see these crown feathers pretty well here.
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Suet-like
Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) will come to your hand if you offer them birdseed. Looks like they will also probably come to your hand if you’re dead in the snow…. These photos were taken from some distance, but I assume those are Grey Squirrel remains.It’s a cute-bird-eat-cute-mammal world out there, after all. The omnivorous approach…
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Cardinalis cardinalis
You know how modern, big-money campaigns work, right? Known partisan voters are bombarded with fliers, TV and internet ads, and robocalls. A few people and corporations make a pile of money. The unregistered voters and non-voting registered voters are completely left out of the loop. But door-to-door canvassing was the point of that Harper’s article…
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Raptor Wednesday
Red-tailed Hawks are the Old Faithful of NYC raptors. I see them regularly from my windows, passing parallel to the moraine or swirling over the flatlands below. This was one of two in the same tree in Green-Wood recently. Mating and nesting season is a “go”!Here’s a Prospect Park pair, moments after mating. Note the…
Backyard and Beyond 