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Leaves
Bud-break in the case of the Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is more of a peel. If you look closely here, you can see the first tiny leaves of the year. Also last year’s dried-out fruits, cone-like conglomerations of samaras with a central spike. Here’s another look at a bud with leaf:
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Feeder Birds
This White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) kept flaring its wings in an attempt to scare off an implacable Mourning Dove taking up under half of the feeder space. This is another one of those doves, Zenaida macroura.Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis): the woods were not full of these birds this winter without a winter. No need for…
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Calling Elk Home
And after a long struggle, I finally found a home up here on the Harbor Hill Moraine, which meant I finally found a home for Wendy Klemperer’s plasma-cut steel sculpture of a calling elk. [The rich plum, or, as I like to think of it, the wine dark sea, of this wall does not reproduce…
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Beetlemania
Zane York‘s superb rhinoceros beetle now joins my natural history wall. (This photo was shot through the glass of the frame, so forgive the reflections.) I’ve known Zane for several years and have written here about his work. So there are now two beetles on the wall. A throw pillow with a mass-produced beetle pattern…
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That’s Rough: The Stinkbug is a BMSB
Wednesday’s spike in temperature began the process of bringing the invertebrates back into action. Earlier in the day, I spotted my first butterfly. Later, back in the home office, I noticed this little armored critter on an inside window. I thought at first it was one of the rough stink bugs of the genus Brochymena.…
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Mourning Cloaks
The forest at NYBG was full of Mourning Cloaks over the weekend. Some were butterfly-flitting about and some were perched in the sun.
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Midtown Woodcock
Bryant Park, in the midst of Midtown, is not one of nature’s wonders. It does, however, tend to capture a surprisingly rich assortment of bird life. This is because it’s a trap, a vortex of bright lights and reflections that confuse, a glass cage that stuns those it doesn’t kill outright.One of the park’s typical…
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Whalers, Ho!
During the First World War, whale oil was used to make glycerin for explosives. The irony here is leviathan: huge numbers of whales were killed so that parts of them could be used to slaughter huge numbers of humans. Other fats could be used for glycerin, but the British didn’t want to use these other…
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Springing All The Sudden
This is the time of year when spring rushes in and overwhelms: your blogger ends up with a full heart and full camera and not enough days in the week.Silhouettes of Cedar Waxwings amidst the blooming maple. More Acer.Amongst the many signs (and sighs) of spring, the Eastern Phoebe’s pumping tail surely ranks near the…
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Backyard and Beyond 