Brooklyn
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Raptor Wednesday
Chasing crows and being chased by crows, our American Kestrels pause briefly together in the late breeding season. There should be youngsters in the cornice nest, but there’s been no external sign of them with these eyes yet. A very quick search for kestrel cavity nest cams in the US turned up little this season,…
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Ladybugs
Two Spotted Ladybug, Adalia bipunctata.Wait, there are four spots, or two tiny dots and some squarish sides? This is one of the melanistic forms of the species. First one I’ve seen this year, on a tree in between Third and Forth Avenues. Others seen since. It’s definitely insect season.
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The Ravens
Two weeks ago, the word went out that a family of five Common Ravens had been spotted near Bush Terminal Park here in Brooklyn. It was nearly a week before I personally saw any bill or feather of them, and then only from afar. These two were so larky I assumed they were two of…
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More Green Heron
Note the tongue. The fish were jumping.But the problem remained.It’s a long way down to the water.
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Mockingbird
In three-quarter view. And in the sound…
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Raptor Wednesday
Notice anything on this bare branch of a avian perch, I mean besides a male American Kestrel and some whitewash?Closer… On Monday, you may have been puzzled by my statement about the first living dragonfly seen this year outside my window. Because I’d seen these remains earlier. It’s a dragonfly wing and what looks like…
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Odonata Season
I saw my first living dragonfly outside my windows on Saturday. I’d seen a couple of Common Green Darners here and there during the last few weeks, but spotting an unidentified dragon over 6th Avenue was the real start of the summer flying season for me. On the same day around Green-Wood’s Sylvan Water, I…
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Heron & Duck
I arrived in New York City 25 years ago today. Via the George Washington Bridge. I somehow made it down to the East Village on the FDR and… and… found parking! I have lived here ever since, with the occasional foray to here and there; over here, here, and here; and over there, there, there,…
Backyard and Beyond 