Fieldnotes
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Downy Heron
One of a trio of young Green Herons (Butorides virescens) on a snag in the Lullwater this week. This one was sitting: I’ve never seen a heron sit before. It was a month ago that I saw this fledgling Green Heron in Green-wood. That bird looked a little older. I wonder if this trio is…
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Watching (and Weeping?)
Lost Ladybug Project. Monarch Watch. Dragonfly Pond Watch. Bumblebee Watch. Firefly Watch. Noticing a pattern? These citizen-science projects are concerned with dwindling numbers of particular insects, micro-studies in population decline and disappearance. Start putting them together and you realize that the recent study in Science which found a 45% drop in invertebrate populations over the…
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Hanging the Night
This Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) was parked just off the path around 730pm, so I think it was roosting for the night. The black markings looked velvety in the light.This is a mature male. If you counted the white spots, too, he would be a twenty-spotted skimmer. To matters more confusing, this species used to…
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Events and Calls to Action
I’ll be leading these tours in the next few weeks: August 27 and Sept 4, 9pm: Prospect Park ~ Night Listening with Brooklyn Brainery. Join us as we listen to the night. Register at the link. $5 (Updated: 8/27 is full, but there are still spots for 9/4.) September 3rd, 6pm: Brooklyn Bridge Park ~…
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Woodchuck
Who doesn’t need some whistlepig every once and a while? Old-ivory yellow teeth and all: a defining characteristic of the Rodentia are their pairs of continuously growing upper and lower incisors.Gnaw, gnaw!
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One Froggy Morning
Green-Wood’s Valley Water, filled with tadpoles earlier in the spring, is now full of young Bull Frogs (Rana catesbeiana). At least, that’s what I think they are. The crowd including this frogpole, not yet completely transformed into an adult.The lily pads spluttered as these little ones hopped, skipped, and splashed away, sometimes hitting several pads…
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USDA Prime
Not only does the Multicolored Asian Ladybeetle (Harmonia axyridis) come in multiple colors, they’re also found with a variable number of spots. Or none at all. That’s me in the reflection of those high-gloss elytra. (Post title refers to the first release of the species in the U.S., which was done by the USDA. Subsequent…
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Harbor Heron Cruise
What could be better than being on the water of the NYC archipelago on a summer twilight? NYC Audubon’s Harbor Heron Cruises go up the East River tidal strait, passing under the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, 59th Street, Triboro/RFK, and Hell Gate bridges to check out the local rookeries. (A century and more ago, a rookery…
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“As Big As A Lear Jet”
A couple of years ago, I saw Cicada Killer Wasps (Sphecius speciosus) tunneling nests in two different tree pits in my neighborhood. One of those pits is again a nesting site. It’s notable on the block because it’s the only pit that has a good expanse of bare soil. This wasp was patrolling one of…
Backyard and Beyond 