Fieldnotes
-
St. John Birds II
Last year on Virgin Gorda, the Green-throated Carib was the hummingbird species we saw everyday. The island’s other hummingbird, the Antillean Crested, waited until our last morning to put in an appearance. This year, on St. John, the Antillean was the omnipresent species. GTCs were around, but nowhere in the same abundance. The Crested is…
-
A Wetlands Strategy
The New York City Wetlands Strategy document is available in a draft for public comment. I hope you’ll give it a look and perhaps even submit your thoughts about it: the comment period ends on Feb. 18th. Comments can be sent to planyc@cityhall.nyc.gov. (A tip of my Panama here to the excellent A Walk in…
-
Arthropods of St. John Part I
An antennae-span of nearly three inches to greet the early risers.When this moth flew into the veranda, everyone thought it was a bat with it’s 4-inch wingspan.Katydids, part of the night chorus, could usually be found lazing around during the day. This one was caught in a brief rain shower.Saw the same species on Virgin…
-
St John Birds I
Small islands are tight confines for birds, particularly when the mix of habitats (dry and moist forests, mangrove, salt pond, shoreline) on them is only a portion of the whole. There are just a handful of resident songbird species on St John. [See under: mongoose.] The ubiquitous Bananaquit is one:Its whistle songs enlivening mornings and…
-
Mongoose Dem
Off the Reef Bay Trail is a short sidetrack to a waterfall and pool with petrogylphs carved into the water-smoothed rock. The carvings are thought to be 1100 years old, the work of the Tainos who originally inhabited the Caribbean before the twin plagues of Caribs and Columbus. Another invader is the mongoose, introduced to…
-
St. John
I spent last week on St. John, in the United States Virgin Islands. I had a wonderful time, but not without some ambiguity. Future posts will celebrate the naturalist wonders to be found by this bug-savaged (some kind of no-see-um made the mosquitos look like pikers) amateur naturalist, but this introduction attempts a wider view.…
-
Neighbors
A paper nest made by Bald-faced hornets, Dolichovespula maculata. Found a block down the street from the Back 40. It’s quite empty this time of year. Next year’s already mated females are somewhere nearby, tucked into over-wintering nooks, hoping to become queens of new colonies/nests. They will not reuse this nest. Here’s a these Bald-faced…
-
Not as plain as all that
The London Planetree is one of most common street trees in New York City. It is easily distinguished by its pale, smooth, and mottled bark. Rain-slicked, this bark looks something like tropical camouflage. The fruit balls are also distinctive. Of course, when I say “easily distinguished,” I ignore the American Sycamore, which is quite similar,…
-
Winter Bright
House Finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, in Prospect Park. This is the colorful male; the female is drably stripy. The species is native to southwestern North America. The birds were sold on the East Coast by the pet trade as “Hollywood Finches” until dealing in wild songbirds was made illegal in 1940. Pet store owners, an appalling…
-
Borough of Trees? Since When?
The Greek Revival wooden colonnade connecting these four townhouses on Willow Place in Brooklyn Heights is a wonderful window into the au courant style of the 1840s. But this isn’t an architecture blog. What I want to share with you is the trees. When Berenice Abbott took a picture of this row on May 14,…
Backyard and Beyond 