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Come Walk With Me
I started this blog in 2010: here’s my very first post from March 3rd. Five years! In the internet’s split-second, ahistorical frenzy, that must be like half-a-hundred in dog-years. To celebrate, I will be taking a walk in Prospect Park and Green-Wood on Sunday, March 1st. You, my faithful readers, are invited to come along…
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Midway or More
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, ché la diritta via era smarrita. Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte che nel pensier rinova la paura!
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The Goldfinch
A European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) was hanging around the feeders in Prospect Park yesterday, snacking at the thistle favored by American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis). In the colder regions of their Old World range, the E.G. migrates to warmer climes. Here it is probably rather confused. This one is doubtlessly an escapee from some local cage.…
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Raptor Wednesday Outtakes
I am of course pleased when I can present a fine photograph of a living creature, but this blog has never been about photography per se. I think of my photos as illustrative and educational tools. I’d like people to think they too could take such pictures, right outside their door or not too far…
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Winter Work
A bare patch in the snow finds Starlings, Robin, and White-thoated Sparrow rooting in the leaf litter. Snow cover definitely makes it harder to find seeds and invertebrates.Here’s one of the White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis). This species comes in two forms: this is the white-striped, with the strong white stripe along the forehead. This is…
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The Bear and Me
I wrote this essay for Humans and Nature on the resonances of William Faulkner’s “The Bear” right here in Brooklyn, a long way and a long time since the “big woods” of the south. But there are actual remnants of those lost big woods just down the street from where I live, which got me…
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Foxy
A couple of Fox Sparrows (Passerella iliaca) were out from under the usual undergrowth they like to kick up in. The species visits us in winter, but not in great numbers. Their russet red plumage is a nice contrast to other sparrow species, and quite tell-tale. This was an overcast day, and you really want…
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Twilight’s Last Gulls
This was a recent sunset over Governor’s Island. It was cold there on the edge of the water, colder than anywhere else around, but the sight was worth the bone-chill of time. But even when it’s not a technicolor spectacle — and this one reminded me of the many-initialed Turner — sunset on New York…
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Beautiful
Sometimes in the shit-storm of bullshit that so overwhelms us, we just need to stop and look at the world. Given that it’s February and all the roses are imported from horror-stricken farms where the workers are brutalized and doused with toxic chemicals and then the roses themselves are stripped of their thorns — what…
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Red-bellied
One of our most common city woodpeckers, the Red-bellied (Melanerpes carolinus). Winter is the best time to see them, clambering up bare trees. The bird’s call, a “quirrrr,” is also one of the most common winter bird sounds. In spring, they’re often noticed because Starlings attempt to steal their nest holes in loud battles. This…
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Backyard and Beyond 