Fieldnotes
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Four Sparrow Marsh-opedia
Almost everything you wanted to know about Four Sparrow Marsh, but were afraid to ask: Four Sparrow Marsh is located at the NE intersection of Flatbush and the Shore Parkway (the blue pin). “Four Sparrow Marsh Preserve contains several types of habitats besides salt marsh, including low brush; deciduous forest consisting mainly of cherry, elm,…
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Winter I
This is the season of potential. All around us in natural nooks and crannies are the seeds, eggs, and larvae of the spring’s renaissance. These are egg masses, I presume of some kind of insect. Another nearby mass was wrapped with a leaf. Ha, that old trick!
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Owl Week: Owling
The best way to see an owl is to follow the birders. Owl sightings, especially in the city, are rare, exotic, and spectacular. As such they attract crowds. This can be a problem, since during the day, which is of course when we see best, owls sleep. Crowds can keep the animal awake and stress…
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Owl Week: Great Horned
So far during Owl Week here at B&B, we’ve seen some of the smaller owls, which are rare for Brooklyn per se. But today we have the Great Horned owl, Bubo virginianus, which is big and bold and most definitely living here in Kings County. This picture is from two winters ago. Unfortunately, the nest…
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Owl Week: Saw-whet
The Northern Saw-whet owl, Aegolius acadicus, being owly in a conifer, the only trees that provide cover during the winter months. Nocturnal animals, owls sleep and rest during the day either in cavities or deep within the protective branches of trees. This photo was taken in the New York Botanical Garden two winters ago. The…
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Owl Week: Screech
A Eastern Screech owl, Otus asio. These photographs were taken at a raptor demonstation at the Queens Co. Farm Museum a couple of years ago. Such birds are partially rehabilitated rescuees who can’t be released back into the wild The Screech owl comes in three forms, or morphs: gray, brown, or red, as here. It’s…
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Another beach
The Common slipper shell, Crepidula fornicata, a.k.a. boat shell, a marine gastropod, or snail, pilled up at the Jetties on Nantucket. A not particularly rocky area, the island’s surrounding waters present less than enough bases for these snails to attach onto, so they often attach to each other, in chains. The species name comes from…
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Snake!
“There are m$%#er-f@!*ing snakes on this outwash plain?” Why, yes, there are. Contrary to urban myth, St. Patrick did not chase them all from the city back in the day. I found this one at Fort Tilden a couple of mosquito-ridden summers ago. Jamaica Bay and Staten Island have been other places I’ve seen snakes…
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Sea duck washed ashore
A female Common eider, Somateria mollissima, dead on the beach, one of several in a mile or two of walking. These eiders are found close off-shore of Nantucket Island through the winter. The males of this large sea duck species are boldly patterned in black and white. Eiders are the source of eiderdown, soft inner…
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Down the Shore
During last month’s spring tide, we went down to the end of Flatbush Avenue to wander along Brooklyn’s shoreline at Dead Horse Bay. Spring tides, which occur just after full moons, result in unusually high high tides and unusually low low tides. The water level was the lowest I’ve ever seen it out there. (Note…
Backyard and Beyond 