A Merlin landed. I hauled up the camera to my eye and read the Battery Exhausted sign. Quickly loading the spare, I got off a few pictures and then glanced away. When I looked back up: This female American Kestrel was up there. No sign of the Merlin. This Kestrel really does rule around the…

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In the cones of Baldcypress/Taxodium distichum this time of year, you can find an orange sap.

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I think it’s awfully sporting of the local Common Ravens to announce themselves as they fly. by. But then, we go way back (well, at least until 2015).

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Taxodium leaves afloat.

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Not counting the various bees, flies, dragonflies, and butterflies I already blogged about last month, here are some of the insects I noted in Brooklyn. Above: November 5th: Pimpla pedalis. November 9th: Chinese Mantis/Tenodera sinensis November 9th: leafhopper November 11th: Tephritis pura November 14th: Neogerris hesione November 16th: Lasioglossum November 17th: False Milkweed Bug/Lygaeus turcicus…

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You will be assimilated… this Borg of a Dolichovespula aerial yellowjacket nest has absorbed one of the leaves of the magnolia it was built in. Here’s a nest way up a White Oak. Another magnolia-based nest, this one not too far up and rather small. One each in Horsechestnuts that weren’t too far apart. These…

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A windy day. This female American Kestrel was flying between funeral monuments and occasionally having difficulty with the wind. What’s to eat? Dragonflies? Didn’t see a one. Lizards? Not out in the open, although I did hear some suggestive rustling. Songbirds? Subdued in the wind. You just have to work harder this time of year.…

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Delicious hickory nuts were being enjoyed by at least three Grey Squirrels.

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