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Unwrapped
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a large Bald-faced Hornet nest being whipped around by the wind way up a tree overlooking the Dell Water. More recently, I looked up and saw nothing. A clump of hornet paper stuck on a bush was my first clue. I scanned the ground up the slope with…
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Lichens
This is the first printed image of a lichen. 1542: Leonhart Fuchs’s De historia stirpium commentarii insignes… (and the title keeps going, as they were wont to). This copy is from the special collections department at the LuEster T. Mertz Library at the NYBG. This book and several others were on display during a recent…
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On Denialism
Did you see Trump’s Coal Ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft, say she believes “both sides” of the science on climate change? She and her husband, the Kentucky coal king, are major contributors to Trump’s campaign and inauguration. They also funnel money into his hotels, one of the major conduits of corruption flowing to the…
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Hooded Merganser
A female Hoodie hanging out on the Sylvan Water with some Mallards and Canada Geese. She was not nearly as tame as the other waterfowl. One of the Mallards was hollering. The Hoodie made some horse grumbly-grunty noise as well. It may have been because of the Red-tailed Hawk perched high up on the southeastern…
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Amber Jelly
Under two mature oaks, one red and one willow. Windfall branches from the canopies after a recent rain-snow storm. (Over-exposed coin just over an inch across for scale.) Both trees’ branches were sporting this jelly raisin-like stuff. It seems to be Amber Jelly Fungus (Exidia ricsa). I’ve never see this at eye-level or below, only…
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Raptor Wednesday
At Floyd Bennett Field, a male Northern Harrier, a bird known as the Grey Ghost for obvious reasons, surprised me by rising out of the grasslands. I almost always see females or juveniles, who look quite different. Not that I see them very often. Last year, I spotted one in a migratory raptor wave rolling…
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Lingering Phoebe
Last winter, an Eastern Phoebe was a regular around the Dell Water. This year one has been reported there as well. (Ok, I guess it’s still technically fall.) This one was at the Sylvan Water, Green-Wood’s largest waterbody, last week. Same bird? Another? Clearly finding something to eat, although the pickings must be slim indeed.…
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Parakeet
Monk Parakeet, Myiopsitta monachus. What is a “parakeet” but a little parrot? As far as I can tell, the members of the family Psittacidae get called parakeet or parrot based on size and tradition, not biology.
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Migratory Restlessness
Of course the Germans have a word for it: Zugunruhe. Migratory restlessness is best known in birds, but other animals have it as well. In spring and fall, these animals feel the need to get a move on. Hormones trigger it. Here’s Melville making an analogy in Pierre, or, The Ambiguities, published in 1852: “So…
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12th Month Insect
Diptera are the only things out and about now, and just barely. This fly was on the Dead Horse Bay beach the other day. A gnat landed on my nose yesterday as I walked down the street. Flies are hard to ID when they are not in hand. Out of a total of 80 iNaturalist…
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Backyard and Beyond 