Fieldnotes
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Jawbones
Rodent. Which one? Found amid an owl (and other?) pellet bonanza recently.Jaws a-plenty, in fact, but no skulls. The last time I found a good patch of pellets, there were lots of skulls. Some owls will eat the head first, then the body later. Inch scale here.And this one with the long incisor. When I…
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Raptor Wednesday
On a very cold recent Sunday, this Cooper’s Hawk was perched just inside the 5th Avenue gates of Green-Wood Cemetery. There was no sound or feather of another bird nearby.The fat resiny buds mark this tree as a Horse Chestnut. And these eyes mark everything that moves.
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Sappy
Sap wells drilled by… a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, presumably. The birds will lap up the sap and any insects attracted to the slightly sweet liquid. Other birds may gather at such wells to eat the insects that are also attracted to the sap. This insect gathering is, of course, mostly a non-winter habit. This winter, there…
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Bracket
Or shelf. Monday’s mushroom, or fruiting fungal body, was growing out of a stump in Green-Wood. The volcanic cone of old wood, all hollowed out inside, was host to several such ‘shrooms: this was the smaller and fresher looking of them. I know it’s the beginning of the week, but just think of the fungal…
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Listening
Last Sunday, I gave a sermon here in the church of nature that was on the critical side of polemic. Thank you for sticking through the rant. You’re good people. My complaint include the over-worked soundtrack of Planet Earth II. As somebody who has led “listening tours” (the mockery of politicians is intentional here) of…
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Mussel-breaking
This Herring Gull* dropped this mussel on the beach twice, to no effect. The first drop on a parking lot, however, was quite successful. *A sharp-eyed reader caught my initial error in calling this a Ring-billed Gull.
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See Under: Trees
Exploring the shady underbellies of conifers this time of year can reveal some deep… uh… stuff. Yes. there’s quite a lot of excrement, for one thing, although that is by no means confined to the base of conifers. I’ll spare you pictures of the turd-like turds, but here are a couple of interesting byproducts. Not…
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Raptor Wednesday
December 15th. Every bird is unique, but we rarely have the opportunity to study them that closely. But this yearling Red-tailed Hawk has quite a lot of scapular markings, the wide white on the wings. This is broader than general for our local Red-tails (the species is found across North America with lots of variety).…
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Water, Water, Not Everywhere In Winter
Brant (Branta bernicla), geese who visit the region in winter.A trio of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) in the mid-zone for scale. These two geese species share a genus and look superficially similar from afar. This was fresh water rippling out into Jamaica Bay, and everybody was happy to get some. Last week it was…
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Uncommon Common Goldeneye
A male Common Goldeneye, spotted recently off Red Hook.A rare bird for Upper New York Bay. Seen in ones and twos and occasionally threes. Locally, Jamaica Bay is better. I’ve never been this close.Where pop, Cold War, and birding intersect: bird-watcher Ian Fleming’s Jamaica home was named Goldeneye, whence the Bond title (or was it…
Backyard and Beyond 