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Owl Week: Golden
There are some 181 species of owls in the world. Nineteen breed in North America. The one above is one of the many symbolic or metaphysical types. You’ll find it atop the ornate entrance of the Brooklyn Public Library, Central Branch, Grand Army Plaza, along with the golden characters of some great American books. Glaukos,…
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Owl Week: Owling
The best way to see an owl is to follow the birders. Owl sightings, especially in the city, are rare, exotic, and spectacular. As such they attract crowds. This can be a problem, since during the day, which is of course when we see best, owls sleep. Crowds can keep the animal awake and stress…
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Owl Week: Great Horned
So far during Owl Week here at B&B, we’ve seen some of the smaller owls, which are rare for Brooklyn per se. But today we have the Great Horned owl, Bubo virginianus, which is big and bold and most definitely living here in Kings County. This picture is from two winters ago. Unfortunately, the nest…
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Owl Week: Saw-whet
The Northern Saw-whet owl, Aegolius acadicus, being owly in a conifer, the only trees that provide cover during the winter months. Nocturnal animals, owls sleep and rest during the day either in cavities or deep within the protective branches of trees. This photo was taken in the New York Botanical Garden two winters ago. The…
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Owl Week: Screech
A Eastern Screech owl, Otus asio. These photographs were taken at a raptor demonstation at the Queens Co. Farm Museum a couple of years ago. Such birds are partially rehabilitated rescuees who can’t be released back into the wild The Screech owl comes in three forms, or morphs: gray, brown, or red, as here. It’s…
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PlanNatureNYC
I hope you don’t need convincing that New York City is full of wildness. And a good thing too, for Thoreau summarized our vital need for the wild when he said that “in wildness is the salvation of the world.” His “wildness” is usually mis-remembered as “wilderness,” but no, he wasn’t talking about the far…
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Solstice
Winter begins today, at 6:38 pm, Universal Brooklyn Time. The earth’s axis will be at its farthest tilt from the sun, pushing us in the north away from the warmth. It only lasts a moment, but we mark it as the beginning of the season. ‘Tis the season to be crowy, (you know the tune)…
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Another beach
The Common slipper shell, Crepidula fornicata, a.k.a. boat shell, a marine gastropod, or snail, pilled up at the Jetties on Nantucket. A not particularly rocky area, the island’s surrounding waters present less than enough bases for these snails to attach onto, so they often attach to each other, in chains. The species name comes from…
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Snake!
“There are m$%#er-f@!*ing snakes on this outwash plain?” Why, yes, there are. Contrary to urban myth, St. Patrick did not chase them all from the city back in the day. I found this one at Fort Tilden a couple of mosquito-ridden summers ago. Jamaica Bay and Staten Island have been other places I’ve seen snakes…
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Sea duck washed ashore
A female Common eider, Somateria mollissima, dead on the beach, one of several in a mile or two of walking. These eiders are found close off-shore of Nantucket Island through the winter. The males of this large sea duck species are boldly patterned in black and white. Eiders are the source of eiderdown, soft inner…
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Backyard and Beyond 