Brooklyn
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Woodcock Sunday
In the fall, it’s not unheard of to flush an American Woodcock while walking in Green-Wood. They explode out of the leaf litter — the first time it happened to me, I was unknowingly close to the bird, so I was perhaps more startled than it was. Their plumage corresponds wonderfully to leaf litter. They…
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Old Man Willow And Co.
At some point in its illustrious career, this Weeping Willow lost a bifurcating trunk, leaving a near horizontal gape about four feet up the bole. The slowly rotting remains inside there provided a seedbed for not one, not two, but three saplings: cherry, maple, and mulberry. This is a four-tree tree, which is the most…
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Instar
Instars are the stages between successive molts of some arthropod species. The word is from the Latin and means likeness or form. Because arthropods are covered in a hard shell, the exoskeleton, they must shed this to grow larger. Ecdysis is the scientific term for this shedding. That cigar-chomping wag H.L. Mencken coined the term…
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Viburnum Bright
Viburnum trilobum or opulus. Either way, cranberry!
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Master Aster
The wind was making it impossible to focus this perfectly. So it’s a little more abstract, but just as lovely. One of the numerous Asters that make the autumn so exciting to human and pollinator.Another, held firm.These last two pictures may be Smooth Aster. A complicated family.
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Frost
It’s supposed to be freezing in areas north of the city tonight. Our local forecast calls for 36° tomorrow morning. Welcome fall! Here’s a maple to keep you warm.
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Falco sparverius
American Kestrel, urban raptor.This female was keeping a sharp eye on Bush Terminal Park yesterday. She was molting; perhaps she’s a first year bird. There was a nest somewhere in the area, I’m told, and the park has been a reliable location for these, our smallest raptor.She had just eaten something. She dove low for…
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Blooms and Pods
Smooth Aster Goldenrod. Honeylocust.
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The Way of All Flesh
The other day I wondered what our Common Ravens are eating. They are greatly attracted to carrion; but how much carrion is found in New York City? This young Raccoon was gone the next day: presumably staff cleaned it away. The natural process of decomposition had already begun. Scavenger wasps and flies that lay their…
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Unsaddled
The remains of a Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata), narrowly missed on the sidewalk.
Backyard and Beyond 