birds
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Banding Osprey
Last week I had the good fortune to attend an osprey (Pandion haliaetus) banding on Nantucket island with people from the Maria Mitchell Association. There were three youngsters in this nest, one down from the original four hatched earlier. Unfortunately, it has not been a good season for nesting osprey on the island; fish, the…
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Blue Jays
Cyanocitta cristata, the blue jay, one of the most common, most colorful, most aggressive, and loudest birds found east of the Rockies. And, evidently, they’ll eat just about anything. This one is going for the cat kibble. It doesn’t like me lounging on the porch, but it sneaks in anyway. This one, meanwhile, has cached…
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Black-Crowned Night heron
Scene at the Lake in Prospect Park. Although the black-crowned night heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, will eat just about anything it can swallow, these red eared sliders look a tad too large. (Still, the tableau does give the impression of a vulture waiting for the cowpokes to die.) The most widely spread of the herons, N.…
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Great Egret
Ardea alba in the Valley Water, Green-Wood Cemetery. Once nearly exterminated for their feathers, which plumed ladies’ hats.
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Shhh…
Is there a color more beautiful than robin’s egg blue? This is the nest I posted a picture of last week. It was, after all, a brand new nest. So in the park now, you can see young fledged robins, hopping and flying about; you can see nestling robins, all mouth, gaping for food above…
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Field Notes: Nesting
It’s breeding season. Canada geese in Green-Wood and Jamaica Bay have made their nests right next to paths and roads; they are becoming entirely too familiar with the most dangerous biped. In Prospect Park, red tailed hawks, mourning doves and robins are already feeding their hungry babies. Young robins waiting their next mouthful. Double-decker. Last…
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Field Trip: Doodletown
American carrion beetle, Necrophila americana. The name “Doodletown” usually gets a quizzical look, but it’s real, or was once. Nestled between Bear Mountain, West Mountain, and Dunderberg Mountain in Bear Mountain State Park, Doodletown was a village founded in the late 18th century. Iron mining, logging, and tanning (using hemlock bark) were local industries early…
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Specifically Abstract
Detail of a red-winged black bird’s shoulder patch.
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Field Notes: B&W Warbler
Warbler-mania continues. This is a black and white warbler, Mniotilta varia, one of the most common and easiest to see (and hence photograph). By ear, it’s the omnipresent “weesa weesa weesa weesa weetee weetee wettee” (Sibley’s transliteration) of the woods today. The lack of a black cheek tells me this a female. She has a…
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Life Goatsucker!
My first ever goatsucker, so called because of the wackily mistaken belief that the nighthawks and nightjars suckled goats. Actually, they are efficient nocturnal insect eaters. This handsome scamp was in the Midwood in Prospect Park, midway between Rick’s Place & the Boulder Bridge. I believe it is one of the nightjars, a whip-poor-will, Caprimulgus…
Backyard and Beyond 