-
The future
To be honest, until fairly recently I thought buds grew in the spring. In fact they are produced in the later summer and early fall. They winter over, cold-hardy, then burst forth unraveling the spring. These are particularly large examples, approaching an inch in length, but many are much smaller and harder to see. Above…
-
The panther’s escape
“Der Panterausbruch,” by Walton Ford. Ford based his painting on a Panthera pardus that escaped from the Zurich Zoo in 1934. The animal survived for two months in the Swiss winter before being killed for food (!) by a “casual laborer.” An excerpt of Ford’s source is quoted in the back of the Taschen volume…
-
Nuts! Kentucky Coffeetree
The Kentucky Coffeetree, Gymnocladus diocius, produces a pod that usually gets three times as big as this and stays on the tree through the winter. This developing one was probably downed by the wind.A larger one wrenched opened by a mammal (me, duh!). The thumbnail-sized seeds within were sometimes used, after roasting, as a coffee…
-
Spotted Mystery
A storm-toppled tree in the Ravine in Prospect Park made a natural bridge for squirrels and chipmunks before it was sliced up. The horizontal trunk was also being used for a plucking station, as these remains attest. The main predators of birds in the park include other birds, raccoons (but mostly of nestlings), and cats.…
-
Nuts! Hazel
Exotic and glorious, the Turkish hazel, Corylus corlurna. I’ve seen them in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, but this one I found in Green-Wood. Sibley notes that this species is used as rootstock for commercial hazelnut production. (I love hazelnuts, particularly when drowned in chocolate.)
-
Culex
“Nymph, in thy (whining) orisons be all my sins remembered.” It was a tough night on the skeeter front. Approximately eight bites amongst the two of us, and so far three mosquitoes, including this early afternoon kill. Hard to tell here, but the eyes have a blue-green iridescence to them. Possibly the southern house mosquito,…
-
Cyclops
Do you know how hard it is to get a photo of a Common Green Darner? Anax junius. Well, for one thing, they are not one of the perching dragonflies, but every once and a while they do have to take a break. At about three inches long, these are one of the largest species…
-
Antlered Associations
I found this mule deer antler in the bosque near Los Vegas, New Mexico.* I have been dancing around the cave with it ever since, throwing strange shadows on the wall. (While I have some sympathy for Bohemian imp Joe Gould’s definition of “My Religion” — “In winter I’m a Buddhist/In summer I’m a nudist”…
-
Aedes albopitcus
Though locked in ceaseless struggle with these dipterous beasts — mid-air slapdown palm smear wins this round, but I couldn’t take pic with my left hand — vectors of dengue fever, dog heartworm, eastern equine encephalitis, West Nile virus, and infuriating itchiness (finger and toe joints the worst!), I can’t help but admire them for…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Backyard and Beyond 