Brooklyn
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Raptor Wednesday
Merlins above Green-Wood. Two sightings on one day well separated in space: one or two birds? The lush meadow rising above the chapel has attracted sparrows and warblers, which means the bird-hunting falcons, too. Bother Merlins and American Kestrels having been perching on this scaffolding and on surrounding trees. Not at the same time: they…
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Bald-Faced Washing
Bald-faced Hornet licking the stonework. Getting salts and minerals? Also, licking forelegs to groom antennae. Like a cat! The grooming wasp was spotted Saturday in the sun. This nest was seen Sunday, with at least one wasp hanging around still.
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WW
The first Winter Wren I’ve seen since the spring. The unmistakable sawed-off silhouette.
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Cryptus
One of two similar ichneumon wasps I saw yesterday around the trunks of very large trees. I’ve never seen this species before. This is what keeps me looking. I think she’s a Cryptus. Note the long, harpoon-like ovipositor. She is looking for moth larvae to jab her eggs into. She kept moving, but hardly flew.…
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Shells
I am entering observations of animals on iNaturalist with dispatch and alacrity. That includes the structures made by animals, like the shells on this page. All the ones on this post were found last weekend on the shores of Red Hook, Brooklyn. I’m still waiting an ID on the mollusk who made the lovely shell…
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Raptor Wednesday
American Kestrel male with prey. Grasshopper, I think. American Kestrel female bossing a Red-tailed Hawk. It was a chilly morning. The small falcon’s cry pulled my eyes skyward. The big buteo was were actually being harried by two kestrels. This female was probably one of them. Several minutes later, I came across her hunting from…
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Late Odonata
Dragonfly eating damselfly. Eastern Pondhawk female gobbling up one of the bluets. Familiar Bluet ungobbled. Common Green Darner male. Autumn Meadowhawk female. Autumn Meadowhawk male (probably). As their name suggests, these Sympetrum genus meadowhawks are one of the last species to fly during the Odonata year.
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Palm Warbler Sunday
They are all over…at least in Green-Wood. And yesterday I saw my first White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos, northern birds that spend the winter here. It’s a transitional time, coming and going, a hinge of seasons, and today suggests it will be very birdy indeed.
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Lizards!
Two sightings of Northern Italian Fence Lizards in Green-Wood this summer. I first became aware of this introduced species when a picture of an American Kestrel carrying one of the lizards made the rounds of the birding crowd years ago. The lizards seem to have gotten here via the animal slave — oh, sorry, I…
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American Chestnut
Some earlier writing about American chestnuts in Prospect Park. *** Just in from the science desk: Zebra Finches dream very much like mammals. Like us. The authors extrapolate to song birds in general. They hypothesize that such shared characteristics are a result of our shared early ancestry.
Backyard and Beyond 