birding
-
Osprey Galore
Are you old enough to remember when there were a lot fewer Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)? By the 1960s, numbers were grim because of a history of assassination, egg-collecting, and finally DDT, which weakened their eggs so much the birds were actually crushing their own young during incubation. In 1969, there were an estimated 150 breeding…
-
But Let’s Not Get Too Sentimental
American Robin nests are the easiest to see, not least because there are so many of them. This one was in Inwood Hill Park. When we walked by again coming down the hill, it wasn’t filled by the parent bird. Sometimes the birds will dart off, but that does leave the eggs vulnerable. The day…
-
Home, Sweet Home
A Carpenter bee (Xylocopa) in the wood of a Parks Department sign at Inwood Hill. At top, there are holes for birds at both gable ends, and House Sparrows, of course, have moved in.
-
O You’ve Got Green Lores
The space between the eye and nostril of a bird is known as the lore. During breeding season, the lores of Great Egrets (Ardea alba) turn an iridescent green.
-
Wood Ducks, Heron Fisher
I found a trio of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) in the Dell Water on Saturday. These birds nest in tree cavities or nest boxes, rather atypically for our ducks. And they have nested in Brooklyn before.The Dell Water was busy with three species of warbler, woodpeckers, and jays hooting and hollering in the distance, and…
-
Two Nests
Why any House Sparrow would want to build a nest in a tree instead of the innumerable cross-bars of stop lights, I don’t know. But there you go. Passer domesticus nests are big affairs, considering the size of the birds, but they are usually inside a human-made structure, so we don’t see the weaver-y details.…
-
Cardinal Haiku
What is there to eat Early spring, before the seeds? Flowers, just flowers.
-
Eastern Phoebe
One of spring’s earliest arrivals, Sayornis phoebe have been around for a few weeks already. They generally perch over meadows and water bodies, making loopy forays into the air to hunt for insects. Perched, they wag their tails as if they know something about the nutritional value of insects. Sometimes you may be graced with them saying their name, which…
-
Flickermania
Spring and fall, migration usually brings us a few days with large numbers of Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus) passing through. This is the only woodpecker around here you will regularly see foraging on the ground. You can scare up a dozen here, a dozen there, and see them flying hither and yon through Brooklyn’s green…
-
Snipers
It’s that time of year when you can not be sure what will drop out of the sky. I mean this quite literally, because it’s migration season and birds of many feathers are streaming northward, in our case along the Atlantic flyway. Yesterday, for instance, we spotted a Wilson’s Snipe in Green-Wood Cemetery on a…
Backyard and Beyond 