birds
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Coop
A Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) in Green-Wood on Saturday. This is an immature bird. An adult will have a russet-tinted breast and red eyes instead of yellow. From the back, against the light. Note that long tail, a characteristic of the Accipiters. While perched, the bird threw up this pellet. Once she — the bird…
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Black-capped Chickadee
Poecile atricapillus. On the side of a road in Hastings-on-Hudson. Perhaps hit by car?
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Kestrel
This male Kestrel (Falco sparverius) made two fruitless passes at the noisy scrum of Monk Parakeets at the Green-Wood gate. The parakeets are a little longer in body-length but have shorter wingspan than these small falcons, so I wonder if they ever succumb to attack. Certainly the parakeets provide food for raptors; I’ve found their…
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Pigeon Hawk
A really nice and extended look at a Merlin (Falco columbarius) yesterday in Green-Wood. The bird gave me the big, beady eyes, too.These falcons are known for perching for a long period of time, eyes on the lookout for the prize. The surroundings were busy with Blue Jays and Monk Parakeets.The faint Fu Manchu “mustache”…
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Tail-less
This Am. Robin has molted away its whole tail. Don’t worry: new tail feathers will emerge, and meanwhile, flight, including in the sense of escape, is still possible. The silhouette is now a bit reminiscent of a woodpecker’s.
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Flying
Insect-summer is over. But last week I was in Prospect Park and saw masses of dragonflies over the Butterfly Meadow, in a patch of the Nethermead, and then in two clusters along the Long Meadow. They all seemed to be Common Green Darners, the large migrating species. And they were hunting on the wing. Gnats,…
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Drey
A large clump of leaves in the branches of a tree is often mistaken for a bird nest. It’s actually a drey, or squirrel nest. More specifically, it’s a summer nest. Winter will find them squirreled away in warmer, sturdier spots, like your attic. This Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula), helping to perpetuate the impression that…
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Excavations
Evidence of Pileated Woodpecker in the Hudson Highlands. The biggest hole is 7″ tall. This kind of excavation work is standard for this crow-sized woodpecker, which has a skull designed to absorb all that pounding.
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Bold eye-ring
I’m feeling too lazy to identify this bird. I’m just enjoying it. Happens like that sometimes. Updated: voices via various other forms of communication are plugging for a Nashville warbler. I would agree.
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Troglodytes
It’s rare to spot the tiny Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) out in the open, but this one was most obliging long enough to get a shot or two. They usually prefer damp, shady areas, underneath logs and the like. Note the long bill and what seem like largish toes, the better for poking and scratching…
Backyard and Beyond 