Brooklyn Botanic Garden
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BBG
It was warm and gray in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden this morning. I saw my first chipmunk of the year, woken from its dozing, its racing stripes flashing. The Pond is still frozen over, so the turtles yet dream their turtle dreams in the mud.Catkins of the Caucasian alder, Alnus subcordata, native to Iran. Is…
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Turtles
On Saturday, a day of glorious spring, the Japanese Hill and Pond Garden at the BBG was thick with turtles soaking up the heat of the sun. Being cold blooded, they really need that heat. On the other hand, they can usually survive the winter, and freezing water, quite nicely. Some bury themselves in the…
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Meanwhile, back in Brooklyn
My dispatches about my Nantucket field trip will continue for several days, but, since I’m back in Brooklyn, I thought I would note the gorgeousness of spring right here, right now. White blossoms (Callery pear, apple, etc.) are falling like sprinkles of snow. The cherry trees are in perfect form. I will try to make…
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Natural Object: Seeds
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow, but you know that. And the Giant sequoia, Sequoiadendron giganteum, of inland California — as distinct from the coastal redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens — comes from these little things. By volume, these Giants are the largest living thing on the planet. A superlative beast by any standard, in fact: can…
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Field Notes: Turtle ID help requested
Most of the turtles in our local fresh waters are eastern red eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans). I posted a picture of two of them last week in Green-Wood; note the distinctive red stripe behind the eye; note also that rough carapace. This is an invasive species, now pretty naturalized, that was, and I suppose…
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Field Notes: Honey Bees
Gerry at Global Swarming has some wonderful shots of honey bees working the red-gold pussy willow (Salix gracilistyla) at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I spent some time there on Saturday. (My camera battery passed away before I got any “action” shots.) This species of pussy willow, native to Japan & Korea, was one of the…
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Natural object: Owl pellet
An owl pellet from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, “collected” on Tuesday. Owls are gobblers, scarfing down their food whole. The undigestible bits of bone and fur and feather are coughed up in pellets. You may have dissected some in school (I missed out), because you can pretty much put together what the owl ate by…
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First Bees of 2010!
Yesterday, I went through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where things are still pretty quiet plant and arthropod-wise. There were, however and hallelujah, honey bees to be found in the crocuses. Apis mellifera is in the house! These are the first bees I’ve seen this year. Nothing says “spring has begun” to me more than this.…
Backyard and Beyond 