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Superb Owl Sunday Extra Point
Blue Jay points the way. Or, more accurately, calls “jay! jay! jay!” to the way.I heard the Jays from afar. Couldn’t see anything in the tree, so I walked underneath it to look for owl sign (whitewash or pellets) or feathers from a raptor kill. Nothing but cones and raccoon poop. Well, Jays do yell…
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Superb Owl Sunday Halftime Show
Some large owl pellets spotted recently in the Borough of Kings.Considering I previously saw a Great Horned Owl in this tree, it’s a good bet these belong to that critter, although I saw no sign of the bird when I found these.To recap, owls gobble their food whole or in chunks — bones, fur, feathers,…
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Superb Owl Sunday Kick-off
On the next to last day of 2018, we saw three Saw-whet Owls in Central Park.I’ve been saving them for today, international Superb Owl day, which transforms something toxic and commercial (“Superbowl”) into something delightfully non-corporate and much, much shorter.It’s been a bumper winter for Saw-whets here in the city, but in a sad way:…
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Groundhogs!
You will not, I suspect, be surprised that I think the idea of hustling groundhogs out from their cells for the cameras in the name of a stupid tradition is a form of animal cruelty. Please enjoy groundhogs/woodchucks/whistlepigs responsibly. Here are a few highlights from the archives: Windfall apples! Teef. The earliest encounter.
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The Flow
The initial sign. Seven days later. About right on time (see last year).
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Raptor Wednesday
Last week, we espied a Cooper Hawk with prey inside a yew. This week, we’re inside an arbor vitae. These hawks do like their cover.This could be the very same mature bird. This time, lunch was one of those white “doves” which are actually homing pigeons.This was the plucking site, under some nearby yews. Jays…
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Winterized
Look up, look down, look all around. This surely must be the mantra of the naturalist. I was looking at an American Kestrel way in a big willow oak; it had been flying from tree to tree and antenna, too, on the border of Green-Wood. But now the lighting and distance were not conducive to…
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Mammal Monday
Usually raccoons sleep off the night’s revels in a conifer, as here in Green-Wood, but when in Rome….Someplace, for instance, where the evergreens are in short supply, as in this section of Pelham Bay. A sharper eye than mine pointed out that this hammock is fundamentally made up of poison ivy vine. In the news:…
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Gendering Birding
Here are some very interesting thoughts on bird names by Rick Wright. In fact, Wright’s blog is full of the fascinating history of birding naming. Yes, fascinating, because names are how we understand the world. So who gives those names is important. Yup: as in all human endeavors, that means politics. Along these lines, Wright…
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Backyard and Beyond 