Fieldnotes

I’m not getting out much here in isolation/lock-down/quarantine — all these words are inexact. And is it ever a bummer! For this is a profoundly rich time of year, with life-forms a-popping up all over, just waiting to be ogled. But even in limited excursion mode lately, some of my nature jones is being met.…

What the @#%&! is it? No fooling’.

The pair. The female. The male, at twilight.

An Edgeworthia something or other, with very small flies. These wee gnats or midges have come out in force on warmish days all month, and even back in February. Something Berberis — a mahonia. This was very active with various flies in the park last week. There was one bee-mimic, one honeybee, and a mess…

Through the new year, sightings of Merlins, or at least a Merlin, were pretty regular here from the #ViewFromTheMoraine. Then, after a single sighting in January, nothing until last Saturday in Green-Wood. It could be that I just haven’t spotted any. More likely is that more of them are on the move now and passing…

Saw six on my last excursion out three days ago. As is typical, they saw me first and bolted. Social distance geniuses! Here’s another. A crappy photo, but giving some suggestion of the gorgeous russet belly.

I hope everybody staying inside as much as possible has something to look at outside. If I may say so, the view from here is one of the best damn ones in the city, especially considering its price. I recently wrote about hawk-watching from the living room for the Clapper Rail. But there are also…