Fieldnotes
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You’ve Been Warned
This is a kousa dogwood of some variety, multi-trunked with interesting mottled bark. They say the fruit is edible. I tried one once. Meh. It was very woodsy.For some mammals, though, that’s not an issue. Raccoon scat, if I’m not mistaken.
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Beewings
One the Megachile leaf-cutter bees. A nice look at the bee’s fore and hind wings. Hymenoptera, the “membrane-winged” insects (bees, wasps, and ants) and have four wings. Dragonflies and butterflies would surely agree with the Hymenoptera that four wings are the best, but flies probably wouldn’t. Flies (and mosquitoes) are in the order Diptera (“two-winged”):…
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One Singular Sensation
I have not seen a Monarch caterpillar in New York City since 2010. Now, I haven’t been actively surveying for them, but whenever I see milkweed, I do look closer. Six years is way, way too long a period to go without. As you probably know, Monarch have taken a severe beating from habitat destruction…
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Magic Hour Bird & Feathers
Some bird identification challenges: A.) Spotted at distance about 45 minutes before sunset in Prospect Park two weeks ago.B.) A single feather found in Green-Wood.C.) Also in Green-Wood sometime later, with quite a few others of its kind. Somebody was plucking.
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Question Mark
There are two comma or anglewing butterflies of the Polygonia genus we see regularly here in NYC. You can tell them apart when their wings are spread, but it’s subtle.But they often perch upright. So the namesake comma mark on the hindwing is the tell-all. Of course, this is hard to see in the field!The…
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Frog Saturation
A single frog can lay 20,000 eggs.The low murk of the Dell Water was full of hundreds, if not thousands, of frogs on a recent visit.Boy, are they jumpy! They know you’re coming before you know they’re there. Until you can’t ignore all the plops taking to the water. It was a little H.P. Lovecraftian,…
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Sunset Park Elm
Our mighty elm is looking a little worn-out after a long hot summer of chlorophyll. Man, baby carriage, trash can underneath for scale. There’s just a touch of color in a few leaves yet. Here’s the whole series of portraits of this tree. The cathedral branching.
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The Once & Future World
This is a Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posits), spotted recently in Prospect Park. But it has been a lousy year for damselflies. I’m seeing neither the species nor the numbers I’ve seen in the past, particularly in Green-Wood. There, the “waters” are a mess: Valley Water has had no lilies all season; the Sylvan Water is so…
Backyard and Beyond 