Brooklyn Bridge Park
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Juneberry
The Juneberries (Amelanchier sp.) are nearly ripe, and that means the birds are starting to devour them.A Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum). Unexpected. Later I found four in a tree on the mezzanine that is Squib Park. Here’s one of these crested beauties:
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Dragonfly Pond Watch
This morning I joined Brooklyn Bridge Park staffers and volunteers for an orientation about the Dragonfly Pond Watch they are participating in this season. As part of the Migratory Dragonfly Partnership, the Watch is gathering data about five of the sixteen known migratory dragonfly species in North America: Common Green Darner (Anax junius) Black Saddlebags…
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Bugs and Blooms, Finally!
Aphids feasting on plant juices, a 14-spotted lady beetle (Propylea quatuordecimpunctata) and syrphid fly larva (h/t for the ID on this one, Lost Ladybug Project) feeding on aphids.
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New Views, New Lives, New Camera
Nice contrast between the altricial young of the American Robin, with their eyes closed, featherless, and quite helpless, and the precocial Mallard ducklings, who are ready to rock (and swim, forage) almost instantly. Note how much bigger-looking the background bird is in the Robin nest: could this be a Cowbird or just an earlier hatch?…
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Marsh Wren
A early evening walk in Brooklyn Bridge Park interrupted by a small, incessantly burbling bird at the northernmost of the Freshwater Garden ponds on Pier One. I spent quite a while listening and trying to get a picture of this elusive Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris), a bird fairly common in marshy areas, but not so…
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Blooms, Bugs, BBP
What might we discover on this Sunday’s New York City Wildflower Week walk in Brooklyn Bridge Park?You can register for this free walk via the link above.Blooms we have, insects are holding out for some warmer weather, so who knows what we will discover.OK, I cheated with this last image, because Watertower II, by Tom…
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Barn Swallow Nest
Underneath a bridge in Prospect Park, little mud pellets mark the beginning of a Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) nest. Interestingly, the swallows seem to be using an old Organpipe Mud Dauber wasp nest as a brace or support.Five days later, the cup-like nest is coming along. A few bits of twig or the like seem…
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Sassy
Sassafras, as you may know, is one of those unusual native trees that has variable leaf shapes. Three leaf types show up on the same tree: unlobed, single lobed, or double-lobed. These Sassafras albidum at Brooklyn Bridge Park all seem to leaf-out initially with the longish oval unlobed leaves, the lobed mitteny ones coming with…
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Two Yellow Flowers
Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris), also known as Cowslip, at Brooklyn Bridge Park, where this perennial was planted along the freshwater gardens and continues to thrive, having survived the salty inundation of Sandy. Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria), growing all over the place, in this case in Prospect Park, where it wasn’t planted but spreads like wildfire…
Backyard and Beyond 