-
The Eagle Has Taken Off
I saw the Bald Eagle in the white oak twice this week. I guess the bird saw me, too. Eagle Power! The silver band is a federal marker. I didn’t see the more readily readable state band on the bird’s left foot, but I’m assuming this bird is marked R over 7. Some have dubbed…
-
Beauty and Slime
This was too high up, on a dead part of a big red oak, to get a better photo, but damn, isn’t it amazing? The Asian Beauty (Radulomyces copelandii) fungus is a recent introduction from Asia, with the first East Coast records in Massachusetts only from 2011. It seems to be moving fast. The Japanese…
-
Falcon Twilight
Last night, as sunset approached, I noticed something atop St. Michael’s at 4th Avenue and 42nd St. It was a Peregrine falcon. At the same time, I saw something on the closer large antenna at 5th and 40th: it was another Peregrine! Double trouble, indeed! But it got better. The antenna Peregrine flew off and…
-
More Eagle
This bird is just so majestic I’m going to put up more pictures. Sounds like the best electoral turnout since 1900, with 66%. So approximately one-third of the nation opposes democracy since they voted for someone who stated, in advance, that he doesn’t want all votes counted if they’re not for him. And wow, their…
-
Raptor Wednesday Come Hell or High Water
Well, well, well, look what I saw on Election Day. In George Orwell’s 1945 essay “Notes on Nationalism” he makes the point that “Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism.” No fucking way that a bunch of eagle-killers get to be called “patriots.” This post was set up hours before polls closed Tuesday, hence…
-
Emergency Nature
The patch of red peaking out! The white patches on this one! Who says all birds (of a species) look the same? One more Golden-crowned Kinglet today from a patch of three four six, it was hard to tell. “Kinglet” for their crowns, but also, it seems to me when I see them come leap-flying…
-
11/3/20
As this is a referendum on autocracy, I voted against fascism. People who vote for Trump after four years of Trump are voting for vicious, corrupt, irrational, monstrous authoritarianism. They are, through Fox-infected stupidity and/or white supremacist malignity, announcing themselves as fucking monsters enabling the dismemberment of American democracy. People who vote for a third…
-
The Cache
For days now, a Red-bellied Woodpecker has been heard in the London plane tree across the street. The distinctive “quirrr!” announces his bird. But he doesn’t stay long. I hustled to the window with the camera a couple of times before just staking out the situation to catch these images. The bird is caching acorns…
-
Some Moths
This pandemic year, I have spent an inordinate amount of time chasing little flutters arising erratically from the grass. By “chasing,” I mean inadvertently flushing a moth and then watching where it lands, usually close by. Above is a Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth (Anticarsia gemmatalis). The ubiquitous Green Cloverworm Moth (Hypena scabra), posed against some Orange…
-
Legendary
Woooooooooooo… Green-Wood’s Headless Hawk is said to only fly on All Hallow’s Eve… mostly because every year it bumps into a tree limb and doesn’t work up the courage to do it again for another year. *** Nobody has said it for a while, but I have had people here say “don’t do politics, I…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Backyard and Beyond 