Brooklyn
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Train
Ardea alba, the Great Egret.These long breeding plumes, known as aigrettes, were one prized by the fashion industry. (An industry as ugly in the 1890s as it is now.) Great Egrets were slaughtered wantonly for their feathers; since these feathers are breeding plumage, the birds would be shot during breeding season, condemning the next generation…
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The Class of 2018
The nation might be on the cusp of something horrible, but we’ve still got American Kestrels across the street, so full falcon ahead! It looks like there are two females (one is above) and one male in this year’s fledglings from the bodega nest down the corner.All the festooning paraphernalia of Brooklyn’s rooftops…As always, clicking…
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One Guess
The American Kestrel puppies are flying fast and furiously around the city. On Sunday, at least one had fledged successfully from the Park Slope cornice. He’s on the roof right above his natal cavity. There was a male in the ailanthus in the backyard as well. Not sure if it was the same one. Yes,…
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Monday Kestrels, Of Course
Portrait of an American Kestrel.This is the male of the local pair. He’s missing a ragged chunk of feathers from his breast. Molting? Wear and tear? He’s always been a fierce gnawer when he grooms his front; he has frequently looked double-breasted, with cleavage, for want of a better word, right down the middle. This…
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Baby Kestrels All Over
The sound was like the alarm sounds the kestrels make when there’s a crow or hawk in the ‘hood, the high, fast, cycling sound, only it continued for a much longer period. I heard it consistently for half an hour, and on and off for a good two hours in total. By the time I…
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Raptor Wednesday
It’s been a while since I’ve had a close encounter with any raptor other than my neighbors the #BrooklynKestrels. On Sunday I walked into this. A Red-tailed Hawk, who had probably bathed earlier and was now grooming, perched fairly low in a dogwood. And nobody was happy about it but me. A pair of Baltimore…
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Bluets & Forktails
Azure Bluet (Enallagma aspersum) male.Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile) male. Familiar Bluet female, one of three color forms for this species. When odonating, you will quickly see that it’s males who patrol the water. Females are often munching away elsewhere, and come down to the water to pair up and lay their eggs in the wet…
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Baby Kestrel(s)!
BREAKING NEWS: far too many humans are horrible Republicans, excuse the redundancy, but that’s not news. What’s news is I caught a glimpse of a near-fledgling American Kestrel in the corner cornice this afternoon!Looks like a male with those spots. He pulled this ribbon, some leftover from the previous (Starling, methinks) occupants of this cornice,…
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Amberwing
Perithemis tenera. *** I found this, on the carbon bombing of the planet and the fatalism that induces in some, interesting.
Backyard and Beyond 