birds
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Raptor Wednesday
This Red-tailed Hawk in Green-Wood picked up a songbird and took into a pine to pluck. The prey was tiny, possibly a kinglet, hardly seemed worth the effort, and yet…In the top picture, you can see some feathers blowing off to the right. A clump came down to me.Same area, earlier. There were two, sometimes…
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Winter Wrens
When last we saw a Winter Wren in these pages, it was dead and being devoured by a Tufted Titmouse. But I’m sure you didn’t think I’d leave it at that. Here are two Troglodytes hiemalis foraging in proximity. These things are tiny: 0.3 – 0.4 oz (8-12 grams).Insect-eaters, mostly, but they’ll also scarf up…
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Hokumpokes, or Scolopax minor
It’s that time of year again. The shady, leafy understory is potentially loaded with timberdoodles, hokumpokes, bog suckers, worm sabers…. Two may be found hunkered down in the picture above.They do have a lot of names, testifying to their hold on the imagination. One thing’s for certain: American Woodcocks generally see you before you see…
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Raptor Wednesday
It was a crazy day. Raptors filled the air. An exaggeration, yes, but not by much. At one moment, there nine different raptors overhead, mostly Buteos and Accipiters. I’ve never seen so much activity above Brooklyn before. One of the birds was this juvenile Northern Harrier. The long tail, angled wings, buffy red breast, and…
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Kestrels, As In Plural
Well, well, well! Thursday morning, male and female American Kestrels perched on the building down the block.The male.The female.The male flew back and forth from the rail atop the bulkhead to this ailanthus several times. Both falcons disappeared for a while, then their calls returned us to the windows. They were circling each other overhead.…
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Flickering
Northern Flicker, yellow-shafted edition of the east. They have mostly passed through in migration by now, but a couple of weeks ago, the city was full of them.This Colaptes auratus male — females lack the black mustache marks — excreted while perched up here. Most of these birds are pretty skittish, bolting quickly at the…
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Return of the King
I almost walked into this Golden-crowned Kinglet. So I just stood there and took photographs as it foraged around me, sometimes near and sometimes far. That’s my boot.Green-Wood was still flush with these yesterday, and now more Ruby-cronwend are around as well. I’ve never seen so many kinglets!
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Catching Up
One post a day, occasionally two, is hardly enough to keep track. Here then is a miscellany of things I’ve seen in recent months which haven’t made it to these pages yet. Smeared Dagger Moth caterpillar in the Bronx.American Bittern in Prospect Park, seen on the same day as that Purple Gallinule that made all…
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Nature Note
A first for me: here’s a Tufted Titmouse eating a Winter Wren. I saw the Baeolophus bicolor fly up from the road with a bundle that turned out to a Troglodytes hiemalis. Winter Wrens are small, but this was still a substantial load for the Titmouse. Because of the road, I suspect the smaller bird…
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More Precious than Rubies?
Ruby-crowned Kinglets are the hidden royals. The males, who have the ruby mohawk of a crown, only show them for love and war.Regulus calendula, means little king, glowing — with that ruby crown. They are very territorial; I once watched one charge his own reflection repeatedly. His ruby was definitely showing. This is a tiny…
Backyard and Beyond 