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What Good Are Birds, Anyway?
Sure they’re cool to look at and some of them are beautiful singers. But why the hell should anyone who doesn’t like or care about birds give a damn about them? I mean, who cares if one or a hundred species go extinct, there are still 10,000+ left, right? As spring migration warms up, let…
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Beach Tiger Beetle
This is a Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle (Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis), seen last week in Virginia. The Chesapeake region is their last holdout. They used to live on Long Island beaches, but no longer. Creatures evolved to beach habitat — others include the endangered Piping Plover — never saw the four-wheel drive coming. This was at Bethel…
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Osprey Galore
Are you old enough to remember when there were a lot fewer Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)? By the 1960s, numbers were grim because of a history of assassination, egg-collecting, and finally DDT, which weakened their eggs so much the birds were actually crushing their own young during incubation. In 1969, there were an estimated 150 breeding…
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Wool Sower
Galls are some of the most fascinating things found on the planet. At least in my opinion. And this is one of the most spectacular. This is created by a tiny gall wasp, Callirhytis seminator, the Wool Sower Gall (-maker). But of course that is a mis-leading statement. The gall is actually created by the…
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But Let’s Not Get Too Sentimental
American Robin nests are the easiest to see, not least because there are so many of them. This one was in Inwood Hill Park. When we walked by again coming down the hill, it wasn’t filled by the parent bird. Sometimes the birds will dart off, but that does leave the eggs vulnerable. The day…
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Home, Sweet Home
A Carpenter bee (Xylocopa) in the wood of a Parks Department sign at Inwood Hill. At top, there are holes for birds at both gable ends, and House Sparrows, of course, have moved in.
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O You’ve Got Green Lores
The space between the eye and nostril of a bird is known as the lore. During breeding season, the lores of Great Egrets (Ardea alba) turn an iridescent green.
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Don’t Know Jack?
Spathe and spadix: Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), a plant with many other names, including Bog Onion. I’ve never come across so many. Unfortunately, they were off the boardwalk, so I could not lift their hoods to check out their engines.
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Squirrel Pile
You didn’t think I was going to let you get away with just one picture of the baby Gray Squirrel Pile, did you?
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Backyard and Beyond 