Fieldnotes
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Red-tailed Two
Continuing our primer from the other day, we now present a mature Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).Compared to that early sighting, this one look rather larger (even though it was higher up), making me think it was a female. Pairs of hawks should be in the bonding and mating stage in the city now. There are…
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Red-tailed One
Perched near the edge of Green-Wood Cemetery, a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) surveys the scene. One of the classic field marks of this species is the vaguely V-shaped white splotching on the back. The band of darker splotches across the belly is another tell. (In the west, things get more complicated ~ there are some…
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Sunset Park Elm
At dawn. Still at dawn, but with a different filter. These were taken after last weekend’s blizzard.
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The Acrobat’s Red Belly
A Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) showing his generally covert namesake, the kinda-reddish belly, while going for the triple roll. What looks like sweet potato is a peanut butter concoction stuffed into a coconut shell at the feeders in the Ramble.
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Sunset Park Elm
A long-shot from the apartment yesterday morning. The night before, Friday, when the snow started, I was looking out the window about 11pm. It was a white night, the lights of the city bouncing down from the low clouds. A large bird came from overhead, just a story or two higher than my fourth floor.…
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Storm Birds
There’s a surprising amount of bird activity out there. Pigeons are being driven laterally by the wind. An occasional gull is visible in the gull-colored sky. House Sparrows sweep across sidewalks and the gated little yards across the street on the hunt for food. Starlings flocking in a small Chinese Scholar tree gobble the hanging…
Backyard and Beyond 