Green-Wood
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Raptor Wednesday Plus Pellets
This Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) female was flying directly towards me across the Crescent Water when suddenly she freaked out. A Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) sped overhead, arrowing towards her. There was much shouting by the Kingfisher, who loudly went hither and yon as the foiled Coop parked itself in a Sweetgum. I see Cooper’s…
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Pied-billed Grebe
Our smallest grebe species is the Pied-billed, Podilymbus podiceps.There was one in a flotilla of Canada Geese the other day in the Valley Water.(Same bird here, just a lot of differing lighting situations.) * Two and a quarter million more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump, and counting (freaking California is so…
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Daily Raptor
I don’t see raptors single every day here in Brooklyn, but it sure seems like it averages out that way. Take this weekend. Yesterday morning, before I was fully awake, I looked out the window and saw a Cooper’s Hawk above a confusion of pigeons over towards 4th Avenue. After breakfast: there was a male…
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Well, Hello Autumn!
A trio of female Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata), the first I’ve seen this season, were on the never-more-appropriately named Sylvan Water. The water is all agleam with the late afternoon gold of the season. No filter, just the usual “Auto” setting on my camera. * A gold so much lovelier than the smears of gilt favored…
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Still Skipping
What a late, endless fall. This picture of a skipper was from last Friday, and there was at least one other of these quirky butterflies still working these amazingly productive ground-hugging buddleia. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m going full Thoreau in these posts. The inspiration for this blog was both a naturalist and a…
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Raptor Wednesday
Journey around an adult Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). The bird flew low over a veritable herd of Golden-crowned Kinglets, more than I’ve ever seen before, scattering them hither and yon, before perching not so high off the ground. The brick-red tail of the year-old-plus bird shows very nicely in the sun here. Take heart: Bush…
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Woodcock Wednesday
Scolopax minor, the American Woodcock, blending in with the leaves. A lesson for today? Blend with the leaves, probe with the bill, and resist!
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Raptor Wednesday
Merlins like to perch and don’t seem to be as jumpy as, say, the Accipiters, who are constantly on the move.This Falco columbarius had just returned to this perch, where I’d earlier seen it, from quite a too-do with several Blue Jays, which were mobbing it in a nearby tree. Green-Wood‘s a good place…
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Flickering
If you’re going to hide in the ornamental cherry, don’t be screeching. But then, nobody ever accused the Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus) of being subtle, with their loud calls, white rumps, and flickering yellow underwings (red in the West). Not to mention this palate of plumage…
Backyard and Beyond 