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Foxy
Six species of birds under the feeders in Prospect Park. The large sparrow here, second bird down from the top, is a Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca).This is one of the birds that visit us during the winter months from their breeding grounds in the boreal forests. We never get too many, but there should usually…
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Kingfisher
A Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) arrived in the mail with early birthday wishes. This Eurasian species, rather smaller than our own Belted Kingfisher, was nicely illustrated by Christine Berrie. I’ve never seen one, but who knows, I may one day.
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Brood II is Nigh
The cicadas are coming, the cicadas are coming! Brood II of the 17-year genus Magicicada cicadas is due to emerge this spring. This is an East Coast brood. Depending on the temperature, this could happen anywhere from mid April to May, but with our warmer and warmer springs the breakout will probably begin on the…
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Valentine
(Keeping the carbon-footprint small, since this painting by my mother was based on a botanical print. And don’t even get me started on the criminally toxic rose industry, people!) Update: I am informed that this is a Semper Augustus, which is probably the most famous of tulips. During the infamous Tulipmania, people wanted to spend…
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Microbiome Valentine
Once we were thought to be the mirror of perfection, created in God’s image, made to rule the planet, separate and unequal from all the other critters. (I speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the one I know best.) This was before we discovered how hybridized we are, how interconnected, how evolutionary. Instead of created in…
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Darwin Day
Charles Darwin was born on this day in 1809. I recommend Janet Browne’s excellent two-volume biography.A typical contemporary view of Darwin’s theories and self, with his very heavy brow. (The first draft of history, per the journalists and cartoonists, is often moronic.) The man’s theories were also perverted by self-styled Social Darwinians in defense of…
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Nasty
Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature’s Most Dangerous Creatures, by Carl Zimmer. I can’t remember who recommended this book to me, and I’m sorry about that. It may have been here or on Twitter. I thank you, who ever did so. The subtitle here is not hyperbolic. These are some of the grossest…
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Brooklyn Bridge Park Panoramas
Salt marsh and Pier One. [Click to open for wider images.]View from Promenade.
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It’s the heat, stupid
People, politely called “climate change deniers,” who reject the basic rules of physics and chemistry parade their stupidity with a militance. In their willful ignorance, they like to parrot the line that the planet can’t be warming because we still have winter — even though winters are measurably warmer than they were just half a…
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ABDs
The American Black Duck (Anas rubripes) is often found with Mallard Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos), looks somewhat like the female of that ubiquitous species, and sometimes interbreeds with our most recognizable duck, making for hybrids that mix characteristics of the species. This pair looks relatively un-hybridized, with dark orange legs, dark feathers, strong eyeline, olive-yellowish bills.…
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Backyard and Beyond 