Floyd Bennett Field
-
Borough Kestrels
This male Kestrel zoomed up to the top of Green-Wood’s Gothic Revival gate while a Red-tailed Hawk circled overhead. Then it made an unsuccessful dive at a Monk Parakeet, a bird roughly its own size. I’ve noted Kestrels up there before.This one found the lights and goal posts of the football field at Floyd Bennett…
-
Brooklyn Grasslands
A long-shot of the grasslands at Floyd Bennett Field. The telephoto lens condenses the space, as in a Kurosawa movie, and the grasses and scrubs hide the wide runway between the two separate patches before the woods. These colors were enhanced in their subtleness by the misty day.
-
Raptor Wednesday
The triumvirate:Red-tailed Hawk in Green-Wood.Cooper’s at Floyd Bennett Field. American Kestrel atop the Green-Wood gate. That’s a lightning rod next to this lightning bolt of a bird.
-
Cassin’s Kingbird & Co.
In what seems to be only the second New York state record, a Cassin’s Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans) has been hanging out next to Floyd Bennett Field’s community garden. The species’ usual habitat is in the Southwest and Mexico, so it’s a long way from home. The temperature was in the 30s when I saw the…
-
Area Closed
The signs are back up at the grasslands at Floyd Bennett Field. This doesn’t stop everybody, but they are better than nothing. Stay off the grasslands. Leave them to the Kestrels (Falco sparverius). This is a male, with blue on the wing.The signs are a handy perch. These birds hunt by hovering over the ground,…
-
Giant Caterpillar in the Night
Traci spotted this big, burly, bristly 2.5″ caterpillar Saturday night. It was crossing the mowed median between Flatbush Ave. and the bicycle path at Floyd Bennett Field. As we approached, the ‘pillar rose up, its deep black eyes alert to hominid danger. Evidently, if we’d attempted to touch it, it would have rolled into a…
-
Gifts of Sight and Sound
Saturday was an epic day of nature exploration here in the wide world of the Borough of Brooklyn. In the morning, I took a friend and her mother birding in Prospect Park. We saw some 44 species of birds, a good-turn out for our visiting Virginia birder. In the late afternoon, I joined two other…
-
No pipeline in Jamaica Bay
There is a petition against the plan to put a natural gas pipeline through Gateway National Recreation Area, with a large metering facility at Floyd Bennett Field. These kinds of things do not belong in a place that was set up, to quote the original Congressional legislation, “to preserve and protect for the use and…
-
Night Sights, Night Sounds
Red-winged Blackbirds at magic hour. Loud. Last night we went to Floyd Bennett Field and looked to the wandering stars, which is what “planetes aster” meant in ancient Greek. Nate was trying out his brand new telescope. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were visible, even with the glow of the city, JFK, and the sports…
Backyard and Beyond 