Green-Wood
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Water Bugs and Birds
Under a thin layer of ice, two true bugs in the Crescent Water. The first is a water boatman, the second a backswimmer. Not all of the pond was iced over. Aerators keep donut holes of water ice-free, and the edge along one side of the pond was also open. This Eastern Phoebe was making…
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Breeding Birds
The third edition of the New York State Breeding Bird Atlas project is underway. So far I’ve submitted observations to ebird of American Kestrels mating and Common Ravens carrying nesting material. One of them, anyway. I almost always hear these big corvids before I see them. One of their most common calls is a “ha-rupp”…
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Prunus serotina
There are still, after all these years, parts of Green-Wood I’ve never been. I came across this massive black cherry only recently. It was after a big wind and bits of the scaly bark and branches were scattered about. The mature bark is very different from the younger stuff from way up there. Turning over…
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What Colors!
I can’t believe there are still fish in the Dell and Crescent Waters, since this male Belted Kingfisher has been around all winter dipping into the stock here. Here he has a goldfish. Usually they just scarf their prey down PDQ, flipping it so it’s head first and then sluuuurrrppppp! This bird, however, just chortled…
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More Galls
I found a mother-of-gall tree! A red oak, Quercus rubra, in Green-Wood. This tree was probably brought in as a sapling a few years ago. I wonder where it was raised? Could it be that the gall-making species came in with the tree, as we’ve seen with lichens transported into the city on saplings destined…
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Raptor Wednesday
Aren’t you glad you’re not an inch tall, or, conversely, that these things aren’t forty feet tall? This young Red-tailed hawk, the same bird seen nearly an hour earlier, flew into a corner of Green-Wood that is sometimes patrolled by a male American Kestrel. The falcon was there! He set up a hue and cry,…
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Didelphis virginiana
How sad to run across an opossum stiff with death and cold. This one was the size of a very large cat. I hope he or she was a great fount of progeny. The tail is finely haired. Magnificent and remarkable creatures with bad press. They snarl when cornered, they’re vicious in a cage. But…
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More Bits, More Pieces
Eumenes wasp mud nest pots. There were a dozen of these mantid egg cases in this patch of Rhus aromatica, the same spot I found the mud nests in. If there were sheep about, I say this was a bit of wool with a medium-sized marble in it. I am, however, hoping it’s some insect…
Backyard and Beyond 