Brooklyn
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Tyrannus tyrannus juniors
Yesterday I noticed a large corvid being chased by something small. I couldn’t get on either of them quick enough tell who was who, but afterwards I noticed an Eastern Kingbird perched on one of the London planes lining the northern edge of Sunset Park. Could this have been the pursuer? They don’t call them…
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Some Birds
House Wren. Looks like they were nesting in this old snag.Brown-headed Cowbird male. The female was nearby. Sign. Look up:Robins; late or second brood. I usually only catch Little Blue Herons distantly, passing overhead at Jamaica Bay or bobbing distantly about in the marshes there. This one was hunting on Spring Pond in Blue Heron…
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Opossum
Our only marsupial, the Virginia Opossum, Didelphis virginiana, commonly called possum, is plenty familiar with the city. But, being nocturnal, they aren’t seen all that often. This one seems to have lingered past sunrise, at a favored food source: the garbage pails.Remember, these critters are highly resistant to rabies. If they’re snarling at you it…
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How Great?
The Great Egret, Ardea alba.Working it.And another. Black toes, yellow bill. White plumes once worth so much the birds were almost slaughtered to extinction.
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Raptor Wednesday
A Northern Mockingbird buzzing the apex of this church on 4th Avenue and 8th Street made me glad we were at a stoplight. And had a “raptor roof” (what I believe is known to the trade as a moonroof). For there was an American Kestrel up there. At the end of June, I had a…
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Quiscalus quiscula
Another day, another Common Grackle youngster being served up a moth for lunch. Note how the young bird’s plumage lacks the iridescence of the mature bird, and is a drab gray rather than blue-black, except in the tail feathers. (That’s plastic tarp they’re hanging out on, laid down to smother phragmites.) This, about a remarkably…
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Tree Chipper
We usually see Eastern Chipmunks on the ground, but this is your periodical reminder that they’re fine tree-climbers. That’s how they predate bird nests. This one is about 15 feet up. Cheeks bulging with chow.
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Ravens!
The Common Raven (Corvus corax) family of Brooklyn numbers four. The first I heard of them was near the end of May, when the City Birder spotted them in Green-Wood Cemetery. I first saw them on June 9th. It was 6:15 a.m. and they were turning a floppy right over the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal…
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Long-legged Fly
One of the genus Condylostylus long-legged flies. A little jewel. Same specimen: the light does wonderful things with the metallic sheen. There are more than 30 species in this genus north of Mexico; they usually feed on smaller insects and mites.
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More Adalia bipunctata
This spring, I’ve spotted Two-spotted Ladybugs all over the place in Brooklyn. Down the street. In nearby Green-Wood Cemetery. In Greenpoint. And most recently inside my apartment! The beetle was on the inside of a window. I captured it by maneuvering a stiff postcard under it — that is, getting it to walk onto…
Backyard and Beyond 