Fieldnotes
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Spring Cleaning Snails
Three different specimens of our old friend Cepaea nemoralis.The snail’s “foot,” which gave rise to the name for this whole class of Molluscs, Gastropoda, which means simply stomach-foot (and is anatomically incorrect; the stomach is in the portion of the animal that is inside the shell).Just a size comparison with some other snails found during…
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Redbud, Ready to Bud Red
Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) about to pop. The flowers emerge up and down the branches, and the trunk, in advance of the leaves, making the pink-flowered trees look particularly intense.
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Alert
I don’t know about you, but I need a mammal break. Look at those little ears! The Eastern Chipmunks (Tamias striatus) are out and about now that things have warmed up in the Ravine, Lullwater, and Midwood. One of the hundreds of reasons to keep your dogs leashed in those parts of the park where…
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Tulipistan I
I begin to get the whole Tulipmania thing.These are found in the gardens along the Promenade.Right now.
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Arbor Day Redux
This magnificent specimen at the northern end of Nellie’s Lawn is at its peak right now, maybe even slightly past. A few of the petals were blowing off in the breeze, snowflake-like, perfectly encapsulating the briefness of beauty. (As much as we strive for the epic, life is a haiku, my friends.)This is in the…
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Dinosaur Jr. Feathered Out
A little less than two weeks ago, I snapped a picture of a brand new Rock Pigeon. This was the bird yesterday (on the right):They grow up fast, the kids. Still a bit smaller than the adult (both parents were around), but this youngster was furiously flapping its wings, getting used to them, preparing for…
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Young Greens
The Tuliptree’s leaf is quite distinctive, although it looks a tad maplish here in its youthful stage. Liriodendron tulipifera is also known as Tulip poplar, Yellow-poplar, White-poplar, and Fiddle-wood. It is one of the largest hardwoods in North America, and is generally marked by a tall straight trunk. One of the grandest examples in Prospect…
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Two Yellow Flowers
Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris), also known as Cowslip, at Brooklyn Bridge Park, where this perennial was planted along the freshwater gardens and continues to thrive, having survived the salty inundation of Sandy. Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria), growing all over the place, in this case in Prospect Park, where it wasn’t planted but spreads like wildfire…
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Mayapple
Also known as May apple, hog apple, mayflower, Indian apple, umbrella plant, American mandrake, among other names. It is Podophyllum peltatum to the botanists. Each of these plants will produce a single flower, which blossoms underneath the umbrella of leaves. The plant also reproduces asexually, via rhizomes underground, which is why it is often found…
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Ablutions
This Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) was bathing in Brooklyn Bridge Park the other day.Then it preened, in those hard-to-get-to corners.Most of the passerines, of the order Passeriformes — who make up more than half of all bird species — have twelve tail feathers.This bird looks black from a distance, but blues, browns, purples, and greens…
Backyard and Beyond 