-
Maps
Hornaday and Gannett’s Map Illustrating the Extermination of the American Bison, 1889. (A digital version here.) They were on the eastern side of the Appalachian chain in the colonial period.One of the sheets of Harold Fisk’s Ancient Courses [of the] Mississippi Meander Belt, 1944. (More detail here.) 6000 years of sinuous riverine movement. That beast’ll…
-
Some Birds
Migration is thickening. Here a few recent sightings:Yellow-rumped Warbler.Palm Warbler.Blue-eyed Vireo.
-
Flicker-esque
Northern Flickers are often seen on the ground, foraging for ants and other arthropods.These two were doing a more typical woodpeckery thing on the arboreal verticals. Note, especially in the first image, the tail feathers pressed down against the bark. Woodpeckers have stiffer tail feathers than perching birds.These are both females, by the way. No…
-
City Nature Challenges
The City Nature Challenge starts tomorrow. Are you in? Here’s a good description of it: “Cities around the world will be competing to see who can make the most observations of nature, find the most species, and engage the most people.” The event measures how many people enter observations, and how many observations individuals make,…
-
Raptor Wednesday
American Kestrel male way up there looking for lunch.Ditto this Merlin. Even higher, for this bird is near the top of the reputed tallest tree in Green-Wood, a tuliptree (yellow poplar). Same day as the kestrels above and below.This is the local #BrooklynKestrels male.He has prey.The pair cache prey on this roof, under the solar…
-
Pipilo erythrophthalmus
Eastern Towhee, often more heard than seen because they like the shadows of the shrubs and the woodland floor and the thickness of the scrub. “Pipilo” comes from the Latin for to peep or to chirp. This is a male, seen in Green-Wood.In the southeast, you can find them with white eyes. Up here they…
-
Earth Day
This beat-up skull comes courtesy of a Great Horned Owl. The owl chomped this down and then spit it back up after the bird’s battery acid stomach had a go at it. I think these might be the remains of a Grey Squirrel skull. Found with plenty of grey hair smushed into the cavities. Cleaned up…
-
Some Outtakes
As you can imagine, I take more pictures than I ever use here on the blog. Common Grackle gathering nesting material. These birds like to build their nests in thick pines, often with others of their ilk nearby in the same tree. Brown Thrashers are more often heard than seen. They don’t spend much time…
-
Tree & Butterfly
In late December, I came across this fine, puzzling tree with a thick bole and garly bark. Here’s what I posted on the bark. Several people were intrigued, so I put up some more photos. Now comes the reveal. Talk about sprung! Looks like Yoshino cherry (Prunus x yedoensis). And fluttering amongst the flowers while…
-
Bombus griseocollis
One of the few flying insects seen at Morris Arboretum recently. The Brown-belted Bumble Bee. Probably a female, who has overwintered and is getting ready to start a new colony.The second most common Bombus species in the mid-Atlantic but scarcer further north. Note that the animal is using two of its legs to scrape across…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Backyard and Beyond 