Fieldnotes
-
Recent Birds
Sometimes they are not so close. Great Crested Flycatcher topside. Sometimes the lens make them seem closer than they actually are. Cape May Warbler. And sometimes they practically land right in front of you. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in molt. More molt. Northern Mockingbird.
-
Citrine Observation
Six years after spotting a male Citrine Forktail at Brooklyn Bridge Park, I spotted one in Green-Wood this week. This is my second record. Ischnura hastata is one the smallest of the damselflies. They like “densely vegetated pond and lake edges, grass seepages, and quiet streams,” according to Ed Lam. The site at Brooklyn Bridge…
-
And It’s Only Friday
A water strider. Talk about pressure! Here’s the full whistleblower complaint about Trump’s illegal attempt to get Ukraine to interfere with U.S. elections. He got away with soliciting foreign interference in 2016, so of course he would try again. It goes both ways: at least 12 governments have made payments to Trump properties since he’s…
-
Raptor Wednesday
A mewling squirrel brought this Red-tailed Hawk to my attention. They were in the same tree, which provided much more protection for the mammal than the open ground. Unsuccessful there, the hawk spent some time on an angel’s wing.
-
Flypaper
A swamp white oak (Q. bicolor) on an industrial block below the tree-line, which is very marked in Brooklyn. Let’s look a little closer. This tree was jumping. The larvae and pupae of Asian Ladybugs were all over it. Hm, but what about those pieces of fly? There were plenty of living flies landing on…
-
Is This It?
I intended this to be a humorous send-off to summer. The Turkey Vultures were cleaning up the day after some jumped-up apes — reader, you know the species intimately — partied on the beach at Croton Point. Species that eat our garbage may be doing ok, but others not so much. God-damn, we are doing…
-
Hairy Nature
Close up, nature starts looking really, really hairy. Take a look at the green shoots of plants, the exoskeletons of insects. Hairs and spines are everywhere.Common Buckeye larva.Bumblebees, it goes without saying.Other bees, too. Look at these bristly thighs, Writes Dennis Paulson in his natural history of Dragonflies & Damselflies: “Because a chitinous exoskeleton does…
-
Nine-Spotted Lady Beetles
Do you remember when the Flatbush Gardener released Nine-spotted Lady Beetle larvae in his native meadow garden? Coccinella novemnotata is the New York State insect, but it is almost non-existent now in the state. In fact, the species is hardly to be found anywhere in the east. Cornell’s Lost Ladybug Project has been working to…
-
Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright
I’m missing the egg stage, but otherwise here’s the run: The first few instars of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail mimic bird droppings. This one was on the nearly horizontal surface of a magnolia leaf, right out in the open. Finally saw one! The caterpillar is green in youth. Or is that middle age? Old age,…
-
Webworm Days
Fall Webworm caterpillars have been everywhere. This one was on a raised bed on the sidewalk next to the local high school last week, with barely a tree in sight. I don’t even remember where this was, back in July. Here’s yet another, along the 5th Avenue Green-Wood fence. Uh-oh! You see, everybody knows the…
Backyard and Beyond 