Fieldnotes
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Raptor Wednesday
A winter trip to Croton Point Park up in Westchester Co. has become a regular thing for Backyard & Beyond. Last week I took a group from Brooklyn Brainery up to see the Bald Eagles. It was the annual Teatown Hudson River EagleFest: there were volunteers with scopes stationed at the boat landing south of the…
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Cling On
It was a very chilly day. FYI: There was such a demand for my Brooklyn Brainery Where the Wild Things Are NYC class that we’re doing it again on February 28th at 6:30.
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Barking Mad Monday
The distinctive bark of Beech (Fagus), its typical smoothness broken up by age.Hackberry (Celtis). On the young trees especially, these nobby, layered, butte-like protuberances are characteristic. The red hairs of a Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) vine find them a good place to anchor.This is a mature Carolina Silverbell (Halesia carolina).And this strange stuff is Fetid…
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Wooly Bear
Our old friend the Banded Wooly Bear caterpillar, bearishly larval stage of the Isabella Tiger Moth, Pyrrharctia isabella. This was found behind a large piece of bark, which was put back. Have you heard the one about judging winter’s length/severity by the amount of black and/or orange on the animal? Turns out that the colors…
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Signs
Another Saw-whet pellet from our owl experience last weekend.In fact, once I started looking down, there was evidence that this owl and/or others having been hanging around a while. Such pellets can be dissected to discover which little mammals the little owls of the Bronx eat. More evidence. While pines are often gooey with resin,…
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Thoreau Thursday
All biographies end. And, of course, the ending is always the same. Nearing the literal and figurative end of Laura Dassow Walls’s magisterial life of Henry David Thoreau, I suddenly found myself not wanting to go on. I didn’t want him to die. Not right now. Not during our political upheaval. I started reading “Wild Apples” to…
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Raptor Wednesday
It is not easy being a large hawk. They’re slow, obvious, and nobody likes them. A case in point: this young Red-tail (Buteo jamaicensis) was being hassled by several Blue Jays, who screamed and shouted in alarm. They were pressing the advantages of the many smaller against the larger one. Even a bold Black-capped Chickadee…
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Sourwood
The dried five-part fruits of Oxydendrum arboreum, fallen from the tree. This is a great tree for fall colors, both the leaves and the fruits. One guide I have says its range is from NJ south. There are a couple young ones in the Native Flora Garden at NYBG and a stellar oldster in the…
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Superb Owl Sunday
Joined David Burg of WildMetro and others for a Superb Owl walk today. Here’s one of a pair of nesting Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus). The mate was quite close by in a vine. There was also a Saw-whet (Aegolius acadicus) way up a White Pine. The ground beneath was littered with evidence, including white…
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American Hazelnut, Sweet Yellow Buckeye
Corylus americana, an unexpected discovery in Brooklyn. I didn’t know there was a native filbert. This is a shrubby, colonial plant of the understory. No leaves this time of year, of course, but behold the nut and those glorious dried bracts. I understand these were planted by staff. I’ve been thinking about species lately. Life…
Backyard and Beyond 