Green-Wood
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Bat Outta Green-Wood
About three weeks ago, I was surprised by a bat in Green-Wood batting around in the early afternoon. It zipped about in a clearing for a moment or three. It was an Eastern Red (Lasiurus borealis). Too bad I was in the bat’s shadow. Just heard about a more recent sighting: warm days can bring…
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Raptor Wednesday
This was quite a drama. Several Blue Jays chasing a Sharp-shinned Hawk from tree to tree in Green-Wood. The hawk couldn’t escape the persecution.There was no perch free from the jays.The noise, of course, was terrific. There’s nothing like Blue Jays for alarums and excursions of the vocal kind. The hawk eventually moved on. It’s…
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Tufted
When last we saw a Tufted Titmouse on this blog, it was eating a dead Winter Wren. That was surprising. But here we’re back to a more regular diet, of seeds and nuts in winter; this bird briefly emerged from a thick conglomeration of shrubbery with something edible in bill.There were three in the thicket,…
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Revealed by The Fall
One day this summer I saw and heard several Baltimore Orioles around this linden. It was so thickly leafed I couldn’t see a nest, but it was pretty clear there was one in there.Woven from grasses and human garbage, suspended like a flapper’s purse. These things always surprise me because they seem so improbable as…
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Late Skipper
November 7th was a warm day. This skipper could smell the buddleia as well as I could, probably better.The double-barreled tongue can be seen here relatively well.
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Raptor Wednesday
It seems like there are American Kestrels everywhere. But how many? Without banding or electronic tracking, I can’t say for sure. But: There were three individual males, a new record, seen together from the windows here recently. There was much tail-pumping amongst the trio as they perched near each other on building and tree. The…
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Ravens & Red-Tails
Three times in the last month I’ve seen Common Ravens and Red-tailed Hawks chasing each other over Green-Wood. From an excellent source, I heard of another aerial ruckus visible overhead while I was elsewhere. The last time was last Sunday. We saw a pair of ravens this time. Then a few minutes later in the…
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Raptor Wednesday
This Red-tailed Hawk in Green-Wood picked up a songbird and took into a pine to pluck. The prey was tiny, possibly a kinglet, hardly seemed worth the effort, and yet…In the top picture, you can see some feathers blowing off to the right. A clump came down to me.Same area, earlier. There were two, sometimes…
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Winter Wrens
When last we saw a Winter Wren in these pages, it was dead and being devoured by a Tufted Titmouse. But I’m sure you didn’t think I’d leave it at that. Here are two Troglodytes hiemalis foraging in proximity. These things are tiny: 0.3 – 0.4 oz (8-12 grams).Insect-eaters, mostly, but they’ll also scarf up…
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Mushroom Monday
These long-format (16:9 aspect ratio) images look better on the big screen, so click on them once to expand. Usually I shoot 3:2,the old 35mm film standard; sometimes I crop these down for detail. I’m sure you’ll see some 1:1 images around here soon (sounds just right for a woodchuck portrait).Meanwhile, more stinkhorns! This time…
Backyard and Beyond 