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Cepaea nemoralis
Slicking up the back door. Faster than you think.
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Step into my funnel
Appropriation of the unnatural: this fence post has been taken over by what I think is a sheet-web building grass spider of the genus Agelenopsis. Note the funnel descending into the post. That’s where she hangs out. I picked up a leaf and gently tapped the other end of the webbing, which brought her out…
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In the Hudson Highlands
On the flank of Mt. Taurus above Cold Spring, NY, yesterday. (Click on this image to view a larger version.)
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Leaf Color Chat
What are the leaves saying?These colors maybe signaling something. Several somethings, in fact. I’ll be talking about our friends the leaves tomorrow night at OutdoorFest’s Mappy Hour, 7-9, at the brand new Threes Brewing Co. in Gowanus. So new that it hasn’t opened it; this is a preview event. See here for more details.Leaves, beer,…
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Cobras!
Wellllll… not exactly. Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) pods posed to show off their curls.So I brought these pods home, and two weeks later, they gave birth! Actually, some… thing emerged, cutting out circular escape passages after devouring the no-doubt tasty seeds within.Here’s a list, which we must presume is only partial, of insects that enjoy…
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Dead Skeeter
Some of you, I know, enjoy my necropsy photographs from the human/mosquito war. Here’s a recent one. She either squeezed through the screens or made it past three doors.
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Pyrrharctia isabella
What is Autumn without a Wooly Bear crossing your path?
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Flying
Insect-summer is over. But last week I was in Prospect Park and saw masses of dragonflies over the Butterfly Meadow, in a patch of the Nethermead, and then in two clusters along the Long Meadow. They all seemed to be Common Green Darners, the large migrating species. And they were hunting on the wing. Gnats,…
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Drey
A large clump of leaves in the branches of a tree is often mistaken for a bird nest. It’s actually a drey, or squirrel nest. More specifically, it’s a summer nest. Winter will find them squirreled away in warmer, sturdier spots, like your attic. This Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula), helping to perpetuate the impression that…
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Backyard and Beyond 