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Lordly Peregrine, Part II, or What the Hey?
Saturday morning, I noticed something on top of St. Michael’s cross. Was it a dead bird, prey of the Peregrine perching there the night before? A slightly closer view from the flank of Sunset Park itself, with no intervening window. (Getting closer to the actual building means descending the hill and losing the overview as…
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Frost
It’s supposed to be freezing in areas north of the city tonight. Our local forecast calls for 36° tomorrow morning. Welcome fall! Here’s a maple to keep you warm.
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Lordly Peregrine
Since moving to Sunset Park in late August, I’ve kept an eye out for birds on the top of the local landmark, St. Michael’s RC Church on 4th Avenue at 42nd. The cross on the steeple seems like a perfect perch for raptors, making them the lord of all they survey. For until this century,…
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Hopper, Cricket
Good sand-colored camouflage here.Here, not so much, but then crickets are usually tucked away someplace, heard much more often than seen. Grasshoppers and crickets (and katydids, etc.) are in the order Orthoptera, the “straight-winged.”
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Pluvialis squatarola Updated
UPDATED, edited, and corrected: An astute eye and excellent photographer, Deb Allen has let me know that this is actually a Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola). The bird is sporting non-breeding plumage, hence the lack of the tell-tale black belly (which, to make things interesting, the American Golden Plover also sports). Sorry about the error, indignor…
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Early Autumn
The view towards Storm King Mountain.
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Falco sparverius
American Kestrel, urban raptor.This female was keeping a sharp eye on Bush Terminal Park yesterday. She was molting; perhaps she’s a first year bird. There was a nest somewhere in the area, I’m told, and the park has been a reliable location for these, our smallest raptor.She had just eaten something. She dove low for…
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Blooms and Pods
Smooth Aster Goldenrod. Honeylocust.
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Monarchs
The air above Fort Tilden’s narrow reach was full of Tree Swallows and, to a lesser extent, Monarch Butterflies. The Monarchs were being pushed hard towards the east in the breeze. We saw about a dozen of them. One was quite high, noticed as we watched a Peregrine on patrol way up there.Danaus plexippus. Some…
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Backyard and Beyond 