Fieldnotes
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Chickadee-dee-dee
An energetic Black-capped Chickadee barely pausing in action recently.Poecile atricapillus.One Christmas Bird Count a few years back, not a single one was sighted in Brooklyn. These birds are so familiar, especially at bird feeders, that their absence was disconcerting. Thirty-four were counted at this year’s Brooklyn (Kings Co.) CBC. (This one was, however, spotted in…
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Hunkering Down With Ardea herodias
November 25th.December 8th.December 9th. You will notice that the water is iced over in the last picture, making fishing problematic. With fish and frogs out of the picture, what is this young Great Blue Heron eating? Whatever it can catch, presumably, including birds and small mammals. I wonder if it’s policing the Dell Water for…
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Larix Snack
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) in a larch (Larix) scarfing up… something. It looked like popcorn. It was too big for a seed from the cones, which wouldn’t be white anyway. And besides, the things were also being gleaned from the limbs. I guess they was some kind of larvae. Something that thought they could while…
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Date Plum
Diospyros lotus is in the ebony family of plants. The bark is very similar to its genus mate, Diospyros virginiana, the American persimmon. As are the calyces. The subject of today’s post is the date plum or Caucasian persimmon, which is native to a swath of territory from Spain to southwest Asia. Diospyros, the genus…
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Raptor Wednesday
A screaming Blue Jay, a dark silhouette in the tree. If the bird sits still long enough — no guarantee with the jumpy Accipiters — maybe we can get around to the front end and……see if there’s a bit of color on the front end of the raptor situation. This is an adult Cooper’s Hawk.…
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Beechdrops
Beechdrops or Epifagus virginiana is a parasitic herbaceous plant. It doesn’t have chlorophyll. The plant taps into the roots of a beech to siphon off sustenance. Epifagus means “upon beech.” This is a winter view: these stalks will persist through the season. The small summer flowers are white and purple; they are evidently pollinated by…
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Mammal Monday
This squirrel was first spotted with a mouth full of leaves. It was lining this arboreal snug. The big leafy bundles in trees, sometimes mistaken for bird’s nests, are summer squirrel nests. (Actually, none of our birds build nests of leaves.) In winter, squirrels want something more substantial: a tree hole, an attic…. A squirrel…
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Beech
Looking up at another weeping form.Looking at the spear-like buds packed with spring.
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Hammer and Tongs
In the depths of a Callery pear tree, whose fruit was simultaneously being ravaged by Monk Parakeets, this determined Red-breasted Nuthatch hammered away at nuts ferreted out of a neighboring arborvitae. From food tree to anvil tree, over and over again.While Green-Wood has been awash in White-breasted Nuthatches, a few Red-breasted have been present as…
Backyard and Beyond 