Brooklyn
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A Study in Sterna
*** “If the main pillar of the system is living a lie, then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living the truth.” — Vaclav Havel
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Raptor Wednesday
A family of Osprey at Marine Park about three weeks ago. Parents on the posts. One youngster trying out those great big wing things, which can stretch to nearly six feet. The middle one squirting a squiggle of poop into the marsh. A tree grows in Brooklyn, too, or at least a bush grows on…
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Busy as…
“Moral anger against oppression needed to be matched by an understanding of how economic systems create and sustain that oppression” Two interesting historical takes at Little Sis (vs. Big Brother) on the importance of connecting the dots. On the military-industrial system, which of course never went away. And at SNCC, on the front line of…
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Monarch Monday
With an Amberwing reflection. *** I guess millionaire heiress and TV performer Meghan McCain is scared that the socialists will eat her grandchildren. Ugh, no thanks! Worse than trans fats! But what is democratic socialism anyway?
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Sphex ichneumoneus
What a gorgeous wasp. Feeding on Monarda punctata, whose flowers are rather attractive, too. Great Golden Sand-digger. As the common name suggests, they nest in solitary holes in the ground. Adults feed on nectar. The female provisions her young in these sandy nest caves with paralyzed Orthoptera: crickets, katydids, grasshoppers.The back of the thorax is…
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Ardea Duo
Ardea herodias and Ardea alba. As a rule, the Great Blue Heron, on the left, is a larger bird than the Great Egret on the right. This GBH is a juvenile, so perhaps not up to full size, and, of course, the GE is closer. Speaking of closer. The Blue walked towards me. I was…
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Pesticide Terminal
What is the Parks Department thinking here just above the salt-water marsh?According to this, they’re applying Triclopyr by “hand placement” for the control of Cottonwood (Populus deltoides). But if they’re doing it by hand, why don’t they physically weed out the potential trees instead of putting another biocide down? Yeah, Cottonwood is a bear: a…
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Mammal Monday
Half a dozen Greys were around or up inside this tree. (Some kind of walnut, I think; fruit looked pecan-y but leaves didn’t.) Also I wasn’t sure if the nuts raining down upon me were intentional. Poetic fallacy and all. The tree certainly makes the animal work for it. Update: We ran into Daniel Atha,…
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This Used To Be Lawn
“Now it’s all covered in flowers.”And grasses. Good riddance! This hillside in Green-Wood, near the 5th Avenue entrance, has been converted into meadow. From turf, fertilizer- and chemical- warfare dependent turf, nasty turf, to this riot of life. Yes, it’s “messy,” gloriously so! It’s only a tiny portion of the cemetery, of course. Too many…
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Leaf-cutters
Here’s a Megachilidae family leaf-cutter bee. Even if you’ve never seen one, you may very well have seen their sign.These solitary nesting bees gather pollen on the underside of their abdomens, unlike bumblebee and honey bees who pack it around their hind legs. They are fabulous pollinators and generally quite uninterested in you. They’re too…
Backyard and Beyond 