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Red-backed Salamander
I’ve known about salamanders in Brooklyn for a while now, but this Eastern Red-backed (Plethodon cinereus) I ran into this week was the first I’ve seen personally. What is the story here? How have they managed to survive in the midst of all this? True, this one was in as woodsy a place as you…
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Seasonal Colors
Nyssa sylvatica. Toxicodendron radicans. Schizachyrium scoparium. Fraxinus americana, Autumn Purple cultivar. Sassafras albidum.
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Recent Birds
So you got twice your recommended daily natural supplement yesterday because I accidentally scheduled two posts for the same time. Guess I’m going to pile on this morning…This foot looks like it may be infected. Tiny piece of wet grass on a tiny bill. Hunting so intently didn’t mind me sitting nearby. Tombstones are closer…
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Persimmon Attractants
Insect life is winding down. But on a brisk Saturday morning, I spotted some activity around fallen persimmon fruit. Blue Blowflies and Vespula yellowjackets… Downy Yellowjacket. (First one for me, and my fourth Vespula species in Brooklyn.) German Yellowjacket. Green-Wood’s tiny grove of American persimmon took a hit in the big storm, losing some substantial…
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Raptor Wednesday
This is, approximately, what the chapel looks like from the road. The point here is that the female American Kestrel up there saw a two-inch long grasshopper on the road and swept down to pluck it right up. She flew back up to the chapel top to dispatch it. Same bird, nearby. Further afield in…
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Finches
American Goldfinch. Purple Finch. Check out that touch of pink in the throat. Not seen in this one. (That’s a sunflower seed-still-in-shell, not a tongue.) Pine Siskins, and more sunflower seeds. Bit of a challenge for these fine bills, but the Siskins are swarming around the feeders in Dell Water. It’s an extraordinary year for…
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Fall Galls
You may be-galled out, but I’m certainly not. All of the above were gleaned from under a great white oak, the mother (?) of galls, on October 10. Five species of gall wasps are represented here. Pea Gall (Acraspis pezomachoides). Philonix nigra. Round Bullet Gall Wasp (Disholcaspis quercusglobulus). Andricus wendi. Clustered Midrib Gall Wasp (Andricus…
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RBN
At least two Red-breasted Nuthatches were in the magic wych elm with all of yesterday’s birds. Usually whacking away at nuts, these birds weren’t about to let an invertebrate hatch-out go to waste.
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Feeding Frenzy
A wych elm, a lot of tiny gnats (or something Diptera-y), and a mess of birds. To be continued tomorrow….
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