Green-Wood
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Raptor Wednesday
When I spotted this male American Kestrel on the ground and some of the smaller tombstones, I thought, whoa, a way of hunting I’ve never seen before! But look at that left wing. It’s damaged. I followed. This, of course, made the bird move away from me. I formulated a make-shift falcon-catching situation out of…
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Portrait of a Kingfisher
Female Belted Kingfisher. I half wondered if the binomial Megaceryle alcyon had anything to do with big hair…. The genus name is from the Greek for “great sea bird,” or a king fisher, if you will. The specific epithet is from a Greek myth: Alcyon mourned so for her drowned husband that the gods turned…
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Raptor Wednesday
Other American Kestrels. Six or seven blocks away from home as the falcon flies is Green-Wood Cemetery. From one corner of the cemetery, you can see the top corner of my apartment building, so naturally I wonder if the #BrooklynKestrels pair have hunted there.This is a male I saw recently in Green-Wood, above Sylvan Water.…
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Earth Day
I’m a 24/7/365 celebrator of Earth — doubters could start with oxygen — but here, for the official Earth Day, are some of the avian life forms who’ve visited my part of the ol’ oblate spheroid this week.For instance, this Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) hawking for insects over water for days. Wowza!And this Indigo Bunting…
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Sweet Carolinas
Carolina Wrens. Thryothorus ludovicianus. Two at the Dell Water. Full-throated.This one was rooting about in a crotch of a tree about six feet up. Yup, that’s mostly raccoon shit.
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The Raid
I heard the raven’s wings. The bird flew right overhead, close enough for me to hear the work of those great wings.This Common Raven returned to this duck nest six times, taking five eggs.The bird wasn’t gone very long after each foray. Presumably the eggs were eaten or cached nearby. The fifth time, the bird…
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Corvus corax
You usually hear them before you see them. Common Ravens are loud, croaking, talkative, barky.The pair circled around the Sylvan Water recently, skimming down low over the water and stirring up the geese. It was a spectacular display.And it was quite a scene there at the Sylvan. At least seven Phoebes and two Northern Rough-winged…
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Snowbirds
After our last snowfall, we noticed something for the first time.Where, after all, are birds that normally forage on the ground going to go when the snow covers everything?These Juncoes were feeding on a tree-limb garden.
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More Songs of Spring
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus). You can’t hear anything (so get yourself outside), but look at that throat moving! Also note that he has a bit of breaking bloom in his mouth: can sing with his beak full. Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca) singing in a cherry. Except when I took pictures…The built-in microphone is a paltry…
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Also, They’re Here!
What is a little snow in the long run? Waves of migratory birds are washing upon our shores. This weekend, little flocks of Golden-crowned Kinglets, chortling Northern Flickers, tail-snapping Phoebes who make you wonder what they’re catching, but then, the early insects are out, too. And the warblers:Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus). Yes, they can be a…
Backyard and Beyond 