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Pupa Knows Best
Revisiting this pupa of what I think is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in better light and because I find it fascinating. If you look closely, you can see breathing holes on the segments. And the support filament that secures the lower end (or right third in the horizontal view) of the structure to the rock.…
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Sometimes
The light is just right. Red — well, rufus or russet or brick or… — tail, belly band, dark patagial marks on the inner half of the leading edge of the wings. To quote from Wheeler’s Raptors of Eastern North America: the patagium is the “elastic membrane on the front edge of the inner wing…
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Raptor Wednesday
Perched relatively close to each other, an adult Red-tailed Hawkand a juvenile, from the class of ’18. They were not in sight of each other, but they certainly were in calling distance. I wonder if they are teaming up? You can see the difference in tail feathers nicely here, russet for the adult, stripped reddish-brown…
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Blink
Once more, with feeling!Blinkin’ Downy Woodpecker. *** This blog was begun nine years ago very much under the influence of naturalist and dissenter H.D. Thoreau. I’ve written about him here and there over the years. Let me take this anniversary week opportunity to link back to some of the pieces: On his journal. On his…
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Mammal Monday
The raccoons have taken a walloping from canine distemper, but they aren’t finished yet. In honor of the bloggiversary: all the mammals on the blog! And a couple of personal favorites: Eurasian Red in the ice-cream. Muskrat at dusk.
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Anniversary
For the ninth anniversary of this blog, some Great Horned Owl.January 26.February 3. (The hollering Blue Jays abated for a moment.)(But only a moment.)February 10. For three weekends, vocal Blue Jays have pointed their piecing calls to a roosting Great Horned Owl. Different trees each time. Given that 9 out of 10 times, the Blue…
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Gymnocladus dioicus
The distinctive bark of a young Kentucky coffeetree.The branches look dead in winter, bare of twigs, the buds hidden away. The genus name translates as “naked branch.”The high top of this older male tree looked amazingly shrubby.A nearby female was festooned with seed pods.The bark of a mature specimen. Of trees and their memories: there’s…
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Wintersongs
Winter in Green-Wood. A chorus of Blue Jays. Red-bellied Woodpeckers chortling. White-breasted Nuthatches, very Steve Reich. Every tree has one, said a fellow listener, only slightly exaggerating. Much more subtly, the Red-breasted Nuthatches seem to be talking to themselves inside their yews. Guttural Ravens, so emphatic. Canada Geese honking –incoming, duck! Cardinals cheerfully pierce the…
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Raptor Wednesday
A ruckus of Blue Jays, then something large swoops up to land on a branch in the woods. A hawk! But it’s not the expected Red-tailed (Buteo jamaicensis) — one of which was seen just minutes beforehand in the air. This bird calls in a distinctive kee-yar, kee yar! It’s a young Red-Shouldered (Buteo lineatus).…
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Backyard and Beyond 