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Scat Hill
Rat scat if I’m not mistaken. Scatologists, what say you? Found at the top of the taller of the two new hills on Governor’s Island. Seventy feet above sea-level according to the marker. A panorama from the height. In the distance from the left: Jersey City, Manhattan, Brooklyn. (Click for a larger version.) You can…
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Aster Apotheosis
This is the time to see these Symphyotrichum asters. Above is a low-growing, smaller flowered version called “October Sky.”Here’s one of the bigger ones, both taller and larger-flowered. And there are still pollinators — bumblebees, honeybees, and some flies — working them over for the last of the nectar and pollen. The bumblebees are slow…
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Mushroom Monday
All the ‘shrooms had come out to play! Here’s some of the charismatic mega-fungi I spotted yesterday. This beast was 16″ across.An this was the largest gill-type mushroom I’ve ever seen at about 8″ across.in the same patch. There used to be a tree here.The mycelium don’t forget.I guess I finally solved this mystery. Puffballs.…
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The Trouble With Tibbles
Tibbles is right up there in the roll of famous cats, along with Hodge, who has a statue in Gough Square; Mrs. Chippy; and Unsinkable Sam, originally Oskar, who abruptly abandoned the Kriegsmarine for the Royal Navy and then proceeded to survive two more ships going down. Tibbles was the pet of Lyall the lighthouse keeper…
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Perch
Female Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera).Male Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella)
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Savannah Toes
The touch of yellow between eye and bill here is telling, but did you know that Savannah Sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) are also notable for their long toes? Those nails look a little long, too. What do you think?
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Rambur’s Forktail
I’ve spotted another Brooklyn damselfly species, bringing my NYC list up to nine species. This is a male Rambur’s Forktail (Ischnura ramburii). Approximately 1.25″ long. He was flitting about the edge of Green-Wood’s Sylvan Water among a fair number of Familiar Bluets.This is a pair of Familiars (Enallagma civile) in the mating grip: the male…
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Red-breasted Nuthatches
A good number of Red-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta canadensis) have been seen in the region this migration, an irregular occurrence for this tiny species of song bird. I heard some a few weeks ago at Green-Wood, but I hadn’t seen any in the feather until Sunday at Jamaica Bay. Two of them were wheedling pine nuts…
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Ocola Skipper
Note the long forewings here, which certainly makes it stick out of the common storm of skippers. This is an Ocola Skipper (Panoquina ocola), a butterfly of the southeast (and down to Paraguay) that occasionally gets as far north as Canada. It’s a “regular stray” up here according to the Kaufman guide. This is a…
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Backyard and Beyond 