birds
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Now Blooming, Now Flying
In Prospect Park this morning:Wild Geranium, a.k.a. Spotted Cranesbill (Geranium maculatum).Question Mark butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis), as punctual a name as the very, very similar Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma): (picture from my archives)– so named because of small silvery marks on their underside of their hindwings, unseen while wings are spread.Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). Red Admiral…
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Wall of Nests
The 1869 Beard & Robinson Stores, stretching down to the end of Van Brunt Street. This stone wall on its southern end looks fairly smooth from afar, but is in fact riddled with lots of short ledges and crannies. Numerous House Sparrows are nesting here like troglodytes. There were a good number of Starlings around,…
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Life Aquatic
The fresh water ponds at Brooklyn Bridge Park were jumping with life in yesterday’s June-like weather. Bathing and drinking birds included Barn Swallows, recently returned north, Common Grackles, American Robins, Northern Mockingbirds, European Starlings, and House Sparrows, lots of House Sparrows. Water is very important for birds, and it’s been a very dry spring, so…
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The Scrape
A Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) looking out of the Brooklyn Bridge. Note the whitewash of bird waste below, streaking the jutting stone. The birds simply turn around, point their tails out, and let loose. Virtually nobody on the bridge notices. New York City’s bridges (e.g., Verrazano, Throgs Neck, Marine Parkway), buildings (see 55 Water Street),…
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Five Nests
A male House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, perches outside his tangled nest. The species typically nests in and under human-made structures, but in a pinch will weave a large ball like this. A male Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, carving out a nest hole cavity. I saw a couple of other Red-bellied working on holes in Prospect…
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Night Sights, Night Sounds
Red-winged Blackbirds at magic hour. Loud. Last night we went to Floyd Bennett Field and looked to the wandering stars, which is what “planetes aster” meant in ancient Greek. Nate was trying out his brand new telescope. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were visible, even with the glow of the city, JFK, and the sports…
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Is Now the Time?
Is this the year you’re finally going to become a bird-watcher? Spring is a great time of year to jump on the birdwagon as the birds return north by the millions. You’ll need binoculars. There are lots of buying guides on-line, but I think a trip to a store like B&H, where you can actually…
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Starling Excavation
The European Starling, rather vulgarly branded by the taxonomists as Sturnus vulgaris, was introduced to New York because some idiot wanted to see all of Shakespeare’s birds in the New World. Cf. “I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak/Nothing but ‘Mortimer,’ and give it him/To keep his anger still in motion.” ~ Hotspur,…
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Sparrow Duplex
The House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, is an Old World sparrow unrelated to the numerous species of New World sparrows. The bird has spread around the world to general urban ubiquity; they were introduced to North America — among other places, they were let loose right here in New York City in the 1880s — initially…
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Woven Nests
Probably the most common bird nest come across is the American Robin’s, which is big for a song bird’s, and characteristically made with a mud base and a lining of grasses. Of course, birds don’t want you, or any other predator, to find their nests, so the leafless season is best for discovering them. Of…
Backyard and Beyond 