Brooklyn
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Chimneys and their Swifts
Brick chimneys are things of beauty, old utilitarian architecture made pleasing by shape and material. Bricks, made of clay, sand, shale, and heat, have a particularly earthy appeal. I’m posting this today to remind us of the Chimney Swifts (Chaetura pelagica) overhead now. I see and hear them regularly both on top of the Harbor Hill Moraine…
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Eel
Last Saturday, there was a fish survey around the archipelago of NYC and further up the Hudson River. I was too lazy to go to any of the events, but that morning I did run across an interesting sample. On Bush Terminal Park’s pier was this half-an-eel. American Eel Anguilla rostrata, the adult stage of…
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Barn Swallow and Others
Finding a swallow isn’t so hard, but finding one taking a breather sure is.Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) breed in various places in the city; this female was at Bush Terminal, so I’d be willing to bet there’s a nest nearby. A couple of years ago, I watched another pair gathering mud for a nest under…
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In The Rain
Aster-family something. Spiderwort (Tradescantia). Juneberries (Amelanchier)
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You Don’t Need To Be A Weatherman To Tell Which Way the Wind Is Blowing
Last week, we had some nice views of the more common Black-crowned Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax. This is a Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea).If you squinch up your eyes, you can sort of get that creamy yellow crown color the birds are named after… remember that a lot of birds got their names from a…
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Raven Family Over Sunset Park
The sound of Fish Crows made me look out the window late this morning. This was my view (well, with a little help from my camera) from up here on the Harbor Hill Moraine. And those are the crows on top of each of the neighboring water towers.Which makes these huge midnight figures on the…
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A Perfect Day for Night Heron Fishing
Black-crowned Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, the world’s most wide-spread heron species.Of course we have them in Brooklyn. This was a morning low tide at Bush Terminal Park.They tend to be most active at night, as per their namesake, but if the foraging is good… A greenish tinge in the lores on this one? Have never…
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Sturnus vulgaris
Third day in a row of young’uns, because it is the season. Starlings. Eating leftover school lunches with that wonderfully prying bill. This one was having trouble keep a grip on the plastic bag, toes sliding out from under…
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Eyas of the Gowanus
A correspondent let me know that there was a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) nest on a fire-escape in Gowanus. I headed over as soon as I could. When I lived in Cobble Hill, I often crossed the Valley of the Shadow of the Gowanus by foot and sometimes saw RTH soaring overhead or on top…
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Naval Cemetery Landscape
A prairie grows in Brooklyn, atop the decommissioned naval hospital cemetery at the Brooklyn Naval Yard. The Naval Cemetery Landscape is part of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. It is small, compact, and very grass-green.The day we visited last week was hot as global-warming-damned August, but the flowers will still mostly not yet in bloom.Some of…
Backyard and Beyond 