Fieldnotes
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The Perch List
This bare knob of an upright branch at the top of an otherwise leafy London Plane has been the #BrooklynKestrels’ spot for months now. Both male and female have perched here half the year.On occasions, other birds have been spotted on it, too. Starlings and Mourning Doves are somewhat regular. A Sharp-shinned Hawk was quite…
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Mammal Monday
Ondatra zibethicus: muskrat! As busy as the proverbial beaver.Thoreau reveled in calling them “musquash.” (See Geoff Wisner’s collection of HDT on animals.) Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Senator Susan Collins says the President has assured her he won’t be asking his Supreme Court candidates about Roe v. Wade. Two things: 1) Trump’s record…
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Manhattan Kestrels
The Wild Bird Fund animal rescue center in Manhattan tweeted out a picture this week of the eight fledgling American Kestrels they have in-house (!). Most were evidently found on the little island itself. I can’t say whether or not any came from the three nests I’m aware of, one which is in Manhattan. Our…
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Train
Ardea alba, the Great Egret.These long breeding plumes, known as aigrettes, were one prized by the fashion industry. (An industry as ugly in the 1890s as it is now.) Great Egrets were slaughtered wantonly for their feathers; since these feathers are breeding plumage, the birds would be shot during breeding season, condemning the next generation…
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Asclepias
Butterfly weed (A. tuberosa). My favorite.Purple (A. purpurascens). Other people’s favorite. “It would be naive to depend on the Supreme Court to defend the rights of poor people, women, people of color, dissenters of all kinds. Those rights only come alive when citizens organize, protest, demonstrate, strike, boycott, rebel, and violate the law in order…
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The Class of 2018
The nation might be on the cusp of something horrible, but we’ve still got American Kestrels across the street, so full falcon ahead! It looks like there are two females (one is above) and one male in this year’s fledglings from the bodega nest down the corner.All the festooning paraphernalia of Brooklyn’s rooftops…As always, clicking…
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One Guess
The American Kestrel puppies are flying fast and furiously around the city. On Sunday, at least one had fledged successfully from the Park Slope cornice. He’s on the roof right above his natal cavity. There was a male in the ailanthus in the backyard as well. Not sure if it was the same one. Yes,…
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Monday Kestrels, Of Course
Portrait of an American Kestrel.This is the male of the local pair. He’s missing a ragged chunk of feathers from his breast. Molting? Wear and tear? He’s always been a fierce gnawer when he grooms his front; he has frequently looked double-breasted, with cleavage, for want of a better word, right down the middle. This…
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More Baby Kestrels
You’re darn right there are more baby Ks! Let’s start with more pictures of the 5th Avenue birds, taken on Thursday, two days after the images posted yesterday.The bird on the right, clearly more mature, kept an eye on the south-bound B63 bus as it rumbled to a stop below. I don’t know if there…
Backyard and Beyond 