Dead Horse Bay
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Queen Mother Conch
Some time ago, I found a couple of queen conch shells, Strombus gigas, at Dead Horse Bay. Needless to say, this is not this tropical species typical habitat. But the landfill at Dead Horse Bay turns up the strangest things sometimes. Perhaps these were somebody’s souvenirs once. Anyway, a ruthless recycler, I put the shells…
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Down the Shore
During last month’s spring tide, we went down to the end of Flatbush Avenue to wander along Brooklyn’s shoreline at Dead Horse Bay. Spring tides, which occur just after full moons, result in unusually high high tides and unusually low low tides. The water level was the lowest I’ve ever seen it out there. (Note…
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Lady Beetle Sex
(Must be blog sweeps week…) The multicolored Asian lady beetle, or lady bug, Harmonia axyridis. An introduced species, these are highly variable in terms of color and number of spots. Note the W or M (depending on your point of view) shape on the pronotum; most of this species seems to have these. They seem…
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Field Notes: Dead Horse Bay
For a motley collection of unnatural history, Dead Horse Bay at the southern end of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn is the place to go. It’s the city’s old refuse heap, and it is eroding into Jamaica Bay, providing archeologists studying the ruined civilization of the 20th century with many a wondrous artifact. . My ode…
Backyard and Beyond 