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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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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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Backyard and Beyond 