bird
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Breeding Birds
The third edition of the New York State Breeding Bird Atlas project is underway. So far I’ve submitted observations to ebird of American Kestrels mating and Common Ravens carrying nesting material. One of them, anyway. I almost always hear these big corvids before I see them. One of their most common calls is a “ha-rupp”…
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Earth Day
I’m a 24/7/365 celebrator of Earth — doubters could start with oxygen — but here, for the official Earth Day, are some of the avian life forms who’ve visited my part of the ol’ oblate spheroid this week.For instance, this Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) hawking for insects over water for days. Wowza!And this Indigo Bunting…
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Wigeon And All
An American Wigeon (Anas americana) and American Black Duck (Anas rubripes). The other day a commentor here bemoaned the intrusion of ideas into his refined quest for pictures of nature. Those who refuse to make the connection between politics and the natural world, or what there is of it, are a monstrous problem. From the beginning…
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Gull’s Eye
That’s not lipstick. Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis), the most common gull in the city.
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Incoming!
A Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) was raising vocal hell. Then it started to fly straight at me, arrow-like. I instinctively flinched as it passed over head. No fool I. The bird spun around, and returned for another strafing. I’ve been here before. This kind of dive-bombing is classic nest protection strategy for terns; that little…
Backyard and Beyond 