Fieldnotes
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NYC Is Wild?
I’ll say! Here’s typical American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) habitat in the city. That rectangular gap in the bracket is the entrance to a nest from which at least two youngsters fledged this year. North America’s smallest falcon species has really taken to such rotting cornices here in NYC: I know of three nests within a…
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British Birds II
Robin (Erithacus rubecula). Yup, looks nothing like ours.The Blackbird (Turdus merula), on the otherhand, is much like our American Robin (Turdus migratorius), an omnipresent thrush.Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula).Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Larus fuscus): we’re seeing more and more of these birds on this side of the Atlantic.Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), the source of the frog-call.Pied Wagtail (Motacilla…
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Everywhere You Look
Found in the salad spinner after washing some organic lettuce. A Histeridae family beetle, also known as hisser or clown beetles, even though they don’t wear much makeup. They eat the larvae of flies.A late-blooming Prickly Pear (Opuntia), one of my favorite local flowers. A very beat-up Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele), a new species…
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British Birds I
On our very first day in Edinburgh, we wandered about the Royal Botanic Garden in a jet-lagged daze. An accipiter profile high overhead was one of the day’s first birds. Sparrowhawk presumably. A Kestrel made an appearance, but more on these anon. And a Buzzard (Buteo buteo) was seen twice, the second time being mobbed…
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Some Recent Sightings
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica): this is a Brooklyn bird, but this is a cosmopolitan species; Eurasian specimens, which I saw most days recently in the UK, have generally longer tails and brighter colors.The clean work of a leaf-cutter bee on Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), one of their favorite plants. If you’re a gardener, you should…
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Jackdaws
The British Isles are rich with members of the Corvidae. The Jackdaw (Corvus monedula), for one, was a species ever-present on our trip, particularly in towns and villages. One of many dialect names for them is Sea-crow and we rarely strayed far from the coast. They are very fond of using chimneys for their nests…
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Lace Bugs
I noticed these tiny, delicate-looking bugs underneath the leaves of a couple of oaks in Brooklyn Bridge Park. They’re new to me, members of the Tingidae family, the lace bugs. Kudos to the Horticulturist for the ID. They feed on the leaves, producing the splotching seen here. Location and the look of them suggest they…
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Mallards
Two families of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) were spotted at Brooklyn Bridge Park the other day. Here’s an attentive mommy and one of her half a dozen cautious-reckless youngsters.
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Razorbills
Razorbills (Alca torda).“Razorbill” has in the past also been used as a name for Puffins and Murres/Guillemots. All of these birds are auks, of the family Alcidae. “Auk” comes from the Old Norse alka. The largest auk was the nearly 3-foot tall Pinguinus impennis, the now extinct Great Auk. Note that binomial: the penguins, Southern…
Backyard and Beyond 