Brooklyn
-
American Hazelnut, Sweet Yellow Buckeye
Corylus americana, an unexpected discovery in Brooklyn. I didn’t know there was a native filbert. This is a shrubby, colonial plant of the understory. No leaves this time of year, of course, but behold the nut and those glorious dried bracts. I understand these were planted by staff. I’ve been thinking about species lately. Life…
-
Cocoon
The winter woods are quiet and relatively monotone in color. But look closer. (And listen!) We were looking at tree buds. This big cocoon with remnants of leaf-covering was just hanging there. One of the giant moths of the family Saturniidae made this, I think. Will it make it? Has it already be taken over…
-
Raptor Wednesday
It sometimes seems like I have a raptor sighting every day. So, for the last month, I’ve been keeping tabs. My “daily raptor” is a good practice. In the political shitstorm, it is my daily rapture. Over the 31 days of January I had 37 raptor sightings, the majority of them (21) from my windows.…
-
Red-bellied Woodpecker
I’m seeing, and hearing, more Red-bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) this winter than Downy Woodpeckers. In the Spartan woods of winter, their loud calls can be the only sound other than the wind. I learned recently that this bird, with its ambiguous name (the Red-headed Woodpecker is a whole other species, and the red-belly here is…
-
Raptor Wednesday
Heads up! Peregrine on St. Michael’s, check. But what’s that on the left side? That little one was hassling the big falcon, or at least trying to. I think it was an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius). The little one did not stay, but I hustled down two long avenue blocks.From the other side of the…
-
Facing the Wind
Have you ever noticed how gulls, like these Ring-billed (Larus delawarensis) hunkered down at Bush Terminal, always face the wind? The better to take off into, of course, the better to fly. The specimen to the rear is a first winter bird, the one in front an adult. * “Thoreau’s quest for the “bottom” of…
-
American Robin
Here’s a bird you don’t see too many of in winter up here. Note the binomial Turdus migratorius, the wandering thrush. Most of them do head south for the winter, but some will stick around, usually flocking together as they wander around for berries and the remains of fruits. Off the lawn and out of…
-
January’s Flower
A cultivated Viola we found in a Green-Wood Cemetery planting recently. How can one despair when the earth continually cycles through its great changes? After winter comes the spring. In the dark, there are the stars. In the grey and the sere, there is a flower the color of the sun. Harper’s latest issue has…
-
Raptor Week IV
Sometimes the bird gets away from you. Many times, actually. S’ok. Sometimes you see the Snow Leopard, sometimes you don’t. Over the harbor. It came towards us, but no closer in resolution. What do you think it is? * While you are pondering, consider: here’s a list of Trump-supporting companies, either carriers of that mafia family’s junk or funders of…
-
Raptor Week III
This big antenna a long block away from my apartment is a regular perch for a male American Kestrel. (This is what it looks like without much optical enhancement, btw.) He’ll park on either the taller or the shorter portion (the shorter is bent back towards us), sometimes on the cross-bars. Sometimes just for a…
Backyard and Beyond 