Brooklyn
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Specifically Abstract
Detail of a red-winged black bird’s shoulder patch.
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Life Goatsucker!
My first ever goatsucker, so called because of the wackily mistaken belief that the nighthawks and nightjars suckled goats. Actually, they are efficient nocturnal insect eaters. This handsome scamp was in the Midwood in Prospect Park, midway between Rick’s Place & the Boulder Bridge. I believe it is one of the nightjars, a whip-poor-will, Caprimulgus…
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Field Notes: Chipmunk
The eastern chipmunk, Tamias striatus. They are now fully emerged from their winter torpor and found all over Prospect Park (another good reason to obey the city’s leash laws). I’ve always been partial to them and I love the “racing stripes” along their sides. This one was not meeting me eye-to-eye in the Vale of…
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Field Notes: Prospect
I don’t have a telephoto lens, so my shots here on the blog are usually macro and non-avian. But I captured some not terribly bad shots of birds recently while walking around Prospect Park Lake. There is usually a cohort of feral domesticated ducks to be found around Prospect Park Lake. Ducks are birds that…
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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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Back 40 Lifestyles
Ants in the backyard. Click on this image to get a bigger version. They use the grooves in the concrete as their highway. They take soil particles spilled from my pots to build their little mounds in an otherwise concrete desert. They love it when I place a potted something or other over the grooves.
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Field Notes: First Damselflies
We saw our first damselflies Sunday at the Valley Water in Green-Wood. The very first one we noticed, alas, was dead. All four wings can be seen clearly here. Mid-April is early for damselflies in these parts (and it was a rather cool day). Most species emerge later in the year, mid-May and after. The…
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Field Notes: Blooming Brooklyn
A walk around Brooklyn yesterday found these colors: Cherry in Green-Wood. Columbine in Prospect. Eastern redbud in Clinton Hill. Royal Paulownia in Clinton Hill.
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Back 40: Spider
Technically, this isn’t out in the back yard (which I call the Back 40), it’s inside, in the bathroom. In fact, there are two of them in there on the ceiling….
Backyard and Beyond 