Fieldnotes
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Buckeyes
Alas, they shrivel up and darken, losing these lovely colors and stain-like patterns, in no time. Aesculus flava, or some cultivated form of it, I gather. “Aesculus Flava”, a hip-hop name for the taking.
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Acorn Drillers
As is my wont, I pocketed a red oak acorn recently. Almost a week later I noticed this: a little wormy something was cutting it’s way out! Note the frass pile. Perhaps a Curculio nut and acorn weevil. More here. Not pictured, but this also happened with a shingle oak acorn, which has a much…
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Two Epic Mushrooms
Dyer’s Polypore, as its name suggests, has been used for dyes. Phaeolus schweinitzii is also known as velvet-top fungus. It is, indeed, rather velvety on top. This parasitic fungus is associated with conifers. Berkeley’s Polypore, Bondarzewia berkeleyi on 9/14, with my size 9 boot (8 in Australia) for scale. It was a whole continent of…
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Raptor Wednesday
Merlins above Green-Wood. Two sightings on one day well separated in space: one or two birds? The lush meadow rising above the chapel has attracted sparrows and warblers, which means the bird-hunting falcons, too. Bother Merlins and American Kestrels having been perching on this scaffolding and on surrounding trees. Not at the same time: they…
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Bald-Faced Washing
Bald-faced Hornet licking the stonework. Getting salts and minerals? Also, licking forelegs to groom antennae. Like a cat! The grooming wasp was spotted Saturday in the sun. This nest was seen Sunday, with at least one wasp hanging around still.
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WW
The first Winter Wren I’ve seen since the spring. The unmistakable sawed-off silhouette.
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Cryptus
One of two similar ichneumon wasps I saw yesterday around the trunks of very large trees. I’ve never seen this species before. This is what keeps me looking. I think she’s a Cryptus. Note the long, harpoon-like ovipositor. She is looking for moth larvae to jab her eggs into. She kept moving, but hardly flew.…
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Shells
I am entering observations of animals on iNaturalist with dispatch and alacrity. That includes the structures made by animals, like the shells on this page. All the ones on this post were found last weekend on the shores of Red Hook, Brooklyn. I’m still waiting an ID on the mollusk who made the lovely shell…
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Butterflies Are Free
Recognize this? This was a surprise at the recent Whitman exhibit at the Morgan Library and Museum, where the image for the exhibit shows a famous photograph of the older WW holding a butterfly. Yup, one and the same. (Bigger on the M’s site…) And in that spirit: A full house, Monarchs high.
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Raptor Wednesday
American Kestrel male with prey. Grasshopper, I think. American Kestrel female bossing a Red-tailed Hawk. It was a chilly morning. The small falcon’s cry pulled my eyes skyward. The big buteo was were actually being harried by two kestrels. This female was probably one of them. Several minutes later, I came across her hunting from…
Backyard and Beyond 