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Woodland Aster
There isn’t much of a concentration of trees in Green-Wood, as opposed to grand old specimen trees, but the tiny patch of woodland overlooking the Sylvan Water is host to these little asters, a burst of autumnal blooming. The reddish-orange parts have already been pollinated, the yellow not yet. Both bumblebees and flies were observed…
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Raptor Wednesday
On a recent afternoon, I had the pleasure of experiencing the Brooklyn falcon trifecta. It all started in Green-Wood: the distinctive shape of one of the small falcons tearing through the air in the distance, met by the rough chorus of outraged Monk Parakeets stirred up by its cousin. (Yes, falcons are more closely related…
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After Barely A Summer Dies the Bee
This goldenrod was chock-a-stem with bumblebees, carpenter bees, and honeybees, moving slowly if at all on a cool day. You could pet them if you liked. This is the last hurrah for the bumbles and carpenter bees, except for already mated queens, who will soon find a place tucked away in leaf litter for the…
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Autumn Meadows
Fat grasshoppers and noisy crickets. Bumblebees built for cooler weather. Darting moths stirred up by our presence. Palm Warblers absent the rufus polls of springtime, but their tails as derrick-like as ever. A falcon shoots by, too quick for us. We curse the god-damned helicopters, a constant curse over the island.And a few days later…
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Shelter From The Rain
On the edge of the storm, a beetle clings to the outside of the kitchen window.Slick wet glass, mind you. Last seen heading further up to the frame. Early October, Brooklyn. Should I submit this to bugguide.net to see who can identify it from this angle? Or would that be cruel? Actually, we have a…
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Nothing Against Mars Per Se, But Earth First!
The technological cheerleaders, much the same crowd who have facilitated the increase in inequality, diminishment of democracy, and general all-around debasement of society, are awfully excited by prince Elon Musk’s plan to remake human civilization… on Mars. Frankly, it looks as optimistic as a Popular Science cover from the 1970s, but publicity is the key…
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Caterpillarpoop
This is that lone Monarch caterpillar I saw a few weeks ago. I saw it again the next day, along with this little green pellet. Some quick research revealed that it was exactly what you’d think it was. Something of what goes in must, after all, come out.
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McCarthy on the Roof, With Wildflowers
Tomorrow night, Michael McCarthy will be speaking at Kingsland Wildflower Roof in Greenpoint, right next to the egg-shaped digesters of the sewer facility. McCarthy’s The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy is just out from NYRB. I intend to write further about the book soon, but suffice for now to say that it is a most…
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Feasting
Late afternoon, under an elm and its satellite Redbuds, these little flies were thick in the air, and in the ear and eye, too. Many birds were feasting on the tiny things, including a Red-breasted Nuthatch, lots and lots of Palm Warblers, a noisy Black-throated Blue Warbler, several Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Downy Woodpecker,…
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Fly Bird
Perched on the edge of the dry moat surrounding Fort Jay, this Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) was one of several to be seen the other day darting around the old defenses hawking insects out of the air.This juvenile — note the touch of yellow on the belly — was on the Crescent Water in Green-Wood.…
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Backyard and Beyond 