Fieldnotes
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Hermits
I believe these are Eastern Mud Snails (Ilyanassa obsoleta), which look like rocks until you look closer. There are quite a few of them in Jamaica Bay. And some of them were moving much too quickly. They were, in fact, hermit crabs, who use found snail shells for their own.Hermits don’t have protective shells like…
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On Plumb Beach
Plumb Beach is off the Belt Parkway between Sheepshead Bay and Flatbush Avenue. The Parks Dept.’s website calls it Plumb; Parks Dept. signs on site call it Plum; it is supposed to be named after Beach Plums (Prunus maritima). It has a unexpected history, although perhaps not for Brooklyn’s wild edges, capped more recently by…
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Tomorrow’s Beach
Masses of these tiny clams were on their way to becoming Plumb Beach.
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Weeper
The amazing thing about this city is how every single block is different. Architecturally, socio-economically, you name it, you never know what you will discover. This goes for the plants and animals, too. Parallel, almost back-to-back, in fact, to the block with the giant American Elm is this big, shaggy Willow (Salix). Another great yard…
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Young Night-herons
A pair of Yellow-crowned Night-herons (Nyctanassa violacea) nested on Governor’s Island this year, a first — in ages, at least. I haven’t seen the nest, but I did run into this youngster over the weekend at Bush Terminal Park. No idea where the natal spot was, of course; YCNH also nest in Jamaica Bay, and…
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Lizards
New York State has three native species of lizard: Northern Fence, Five-lined Skink, and Coal Skink. And one introduced species: the Italian Fence Lizard (Podarcis sicula). P. sicula evidently spread out from a release in Hempstead in 1967. The first time I ever became aware of them was when a photo of a Kestrel taking…
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In Da Bronx
Franklinia in bloom. What a scrumptious flower! And the bees agree. (All of today’s trees are descendants from seeds collected by William Bartram in the 1760s. The plant is unknown in the wild.) On the mammal front, Cottontail and Chipmunk and Gray Squirrel.In addition to the frog, a Garter Snake crossed our path, and a…
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Two Butterflies
Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades).Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos); this one was particularly attached to this pebble.
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Forms
The immature cones of Arborvitae (Thuja).An unknown mushroom, past its prime.Fruit of Ascelepias physcocarpa/Gomphocarpus physocarpus, Balloon Plant Milkweed, also known as Family Jewels and, wait for it, Hairy Balls.Bonus paper wasps in that Arborvitae. Genus: Polistes.
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Hedgehog Galls, Ladybug
According to my own personal memory device, this is the third year I’ve noted these hedgehog galls on this White Oak (Quercus alba) in Green-Wood. This year there is a bumper crop of them.A Multicolored Asian Ladybug (Harmonia axyridis) on the galls.
Backyard and Beyond 