Fieldnotes
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Toxicodendron radicans
There are few finer things in this universe, at least the very small but opulent patch of it that I know, than the gloss of new poison ivy leaves.
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Beech Sproutling
This curious thing is what you get when a beechnut sprouts. Considering the number of beechnuts dropped by a mature tree, these aren’t commonly seen. Does the parent tree’s shade and/or chemistry suppresses upstarts?
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Daily Raptor
The male was eating. He holds the gobbet of meat. Probably bird, although last week I saw he was munching on a small mammal, a baby rat or a mouse. (Photo through screen window.) And then, on Monday evening, the female was eating a lizard! I first became aware of Italian Wall Lizards because of…
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Some Flower Flies
Margined Calligrapher (Toxomerus marginatus) Mating Eastern Calligraphers (Toxomerus geminatus) Variable Duskyface (Melanostoma mellinum), male I think. Variable Duskyface female. Pollen-dusted Black-shouldered Drone Fly (Eristalis dimidiata) Dandilions and henbit deadnettle the flowers here. Plus, as an extra bonus you also get this recent march fly observation: Bibio genus something. Check out that beetle-like head.
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No Regrets For Egrets
This documentary on Jamaica Bay from a few years ago is available for free until the end of the month.
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Poor Fish
Fishes, actually, because this Great Egret was a remarkably effective hunter. Plucking them out of the water. This pond, by the way, has also been feeding the Belted Kingfisher who has been around since the fall. Missed this toss…but caught it on the way down. *** Some “endangered” species may be extinct. When do you…
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Lake Larvae
Larval… …something, or other. Many of them, in fact. I think these might be lake midges, in the family Chironomidae. And most of them seem to be just the larval husks, the exuviae, of the larval form. The westerly breeze pushed them all to one part of the Sylvan Water. There were a heck of…
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Raptor Wednesday
A Red-tail on the roof. Same building. We call it the solar building because of the solar panels on the roof. The female American Kestrel, on the left, is vocalizing. She’s noisy. In real life (vision), they’re tiny on this drain pipe housing. Even this is telephoto and cropped. A little closer, across the street.
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Eggs & Memories
Slug eggs! I think. Quite small. I didn’t notice them at first, as I was photographing this beetle under a log. Some beetles are shy. Only later did I see the spheres in the photograph. I’ve been delving into the archives to see what else has turned up in early Aprils past: 2018: Brooklyn Kestrels!…
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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Sapsucker sap-sucking. Previously tapped holes. And even more previously tapped ones seen further to right on this old yew. And this yellow belly we hear tell of? Subtle, and not shown to advantage in this under-tree light. The bird was named with corpse in hand, as used to typically be the case. Sharp-shinned Hawk, anyone?…
Backyard and Beyond 