-
Under the Lilac Bush, Again
Remember the Wasp Lilac? Cicada-killer Wasps and a few other wasp species, but mostly Cicada-killers, were sucking the sap from this one bushy specimen in Green-Wood. Well, more than one lilac, actually, since the one nearby was also being suckled at. A month later, I happened to look again, and now it’s the turn of…
-
Recent Birds
Sometimes they are not so close. Great Crested Flycatcher topside. Sometimes the lens make them seem closer than they actually are. Cape May Warbler. And sometimes they practically land right in front of you. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in molt. More molt. Northern Mockingbird.
-
The Corporate Killers
Over and over again, industry has attacked science to further the profitability of… killing. The paradigm is Big Tobacco: cover up your own evidence and fund obfuscation and denial. The oil and gas oligarchy has followed that playbook: they knew about global warming decades ago; they knew pumping carbon into the atmosphere would heat the…
-
Citrine Observation
Six years after spotting a male Citrine Forktail at Brooklyn Bridge Park, I spotted one in Green-Wood this week. This is my second record. Ischnura hastata is one the smallest of the damselflies. They like “densely vegetated pond and lake edges, grass seepages, and quiet streams,” according to Ed Lam. The site at Brooklyn Bridge…
-
And It’s Only Friday
A water strider. Talk about pressure! Here’s the full whistleblower complaint about Trump’s illegal attempt to get Ukraine to interfere with U.S. elections. He got away with soliciting foreign interference in 2016, so of course he would try again. It goes both ways: at least 12 governments have made payments to Trump properties since he’s…
-
Untitled
The latest climate report on the oceans is very grim. Your children’s children will be living — presuming they’re living — in a radically reconfigured world geographically. The coast lines we know will be gone by 2100. We can’t stop the water’s rise, we can only work towards retreating, preparing, and ameliorating. Yet the forces…
-
Raptor Wednesday
A mewling squirrel brought this Red-tailed Hawk to my attention. They were in the same tree, which provided much more protection for the mammal than the open ground. Unsuccessful there, the hawk spent some time on an angel’s wing.
-
Flypaper
A swamp white oak (Q. bicolor) on an industrial block below the tree-line, which is very marked in Brooklyn. Let’s look a little closer. This tree was jumping. The larvae and pupae of Asian Ladybugs were all over it. Hm, but what about those pieces of fly? There were plenty of living flies landing on…
-
Is This It?
I intended this to be a humorous send-off to summer. The Turkey Vultures were cleaning up the day after some jumped-up apes — reader, you know the species intimately — partied on the beach at Croton Point. Species that eat our garbage may be doing ok, but others not so much. God-damn, we are doing…
-
Climate at B&B
A special Climate Strike edition: All my climate-themed posts are here. These are some of the highlights over the years: On the history of warnings about climate change. Authoritarian carbon democracy. And even worse: climate behemoth. Frankenstein’s Planet. The last time humans saw a two degree global temperature change, it was the other way, and…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Backyard and Beyond 