Brooklyn
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Great Horned Owl
Everybody could probably do with some Bubo virginianus right about now, right? (Excepting the night mammals, of course!) Spotted this one today when a fire-alarm of White-breasted Nuthatches alerted me to SOMETHING being up.
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American Black Ducks
Anas rubripesAmerican Black Ducks are year-’round birds, but they are now sharing the harbor with our wintering Buffleheads, Gadwall, Wigeon, and Red-breasted Mergansers. Soon, loons and grebes should be seen as well. There’s been a Humpback Whale in the harbor and up the Hudson, too, lately, although this blogger hasn’t seen a tail of it…
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On The Rocks
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). This one-footed stance is common among shore birds. Did somebody say vociferus? This quintet was silent, but in breeding season Killdeer can be loud! It’s Thanksgiving, time to remember what we have to be thankful for and stand on both our feet in defense of it. Let me convey my solidarity with…
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Raptor Wednesday
A Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) was perched atop the head of the statue of Justice atop Brooklyn’s Borough Hall when I emerged from the R train.The bird remained there as I made some copies, went to the Post Office, and returned to swing around to the chignon-side.Not all Justice is blind. We can see the neo-confederate…
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Persistence
Harmonia axyridis on 5th Avenue. At this rate, why even bother taking shelter for the winter?On the contrary, let’s stay out all day and night… * In case you missed it in the hullabaloo over Hamilton, on Friday, the President Elect of the United States of American settled the fraud suit against him for his…
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Well, Hello Autumn!
A trio of female Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata), the first I’ve seen this season, were on the never-more-appropriately named Sylvan Water. The water is all agleam with the late afternoon gold of the season. No filter, just the usual “Auto” setting on my camera. * A gold so much lovelier than the smears of gilt favored…
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Still Skipping
What a late, endless fall. This picture of a skipper was from last Friday, and there was at least one other of these quirky butterflies still working these amazingly productive ground-hugging buddleia. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m going full Thoreau in these posts. The inspiration for this blog was both a naturalist and a…
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Raptor Wednesday
Journey around an adult Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). The bird flew low over a veritable herd of Golden-crowned Kinglets, more than I’ve ever seen before, scattering them hither and yon, before perching not so high off the ground. The brick-red tail of the year-old-plus bird shows very nicely in the sun here. Take heart: Bush…
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The Riddle of the Trees
So the NYC Street Tree Map is now available on-line and it looks amazing. Excitedly, I went to my corner of Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Uh-oh. The trees right outside my window are Hackberries (Celtis), but they’re both mapped as Hawthorns (Crataegus). Leaves. The really distinctive bark. It so happened that I passed a pair of…
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City of Roosts
Rebecca Solnit is a writer I’ll follow anywhere. A few years ago, she produced an atlas of San Francisco that just called to my old geographer’s heart. Infinite City was followed by Unfathomable City, in which she teamed up with Rebecca Snedeker for an atlas of New Orleans. Now she and the wonderfully named Joshua…
Backyard and Beyond 