Green-Wood
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Two Nests
Why any House Sparrow would want to build a nest in a tree instead of the innumerable cross-bars of stop lights, I don’t know. But there you go. Passer domesticus nests are big affairs, considering the size of the birds, but they are usually inside a human-made structure, so we don’t see the weaver-y details.…
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Eastern Phoebe
One of spring’s earliest arrivals, Sayornis phoebe have been around for a few weeks already. They generally perch over meadows and water bodies, making loopy forays into the air to hunt for insects. Perched, they wag their tails as if they know something about the nutritional value of insects. Sometimes you may be graced with them saying their name, which…
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Snipers
It’s that time of year when you can not be sure what will drop out of the sky. I mean this quite literally, because it’s migration season and birds of many feathers are streaming northward, in our case along the Atlantic flyway. Yesterday, for instance, we spotted a Wilson’s Snipe in Green-Wood Cemetery on a…
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Bathing Hawk
Bathing is vital for feather maintenance.But being in the water out in the open can make you fairly vulnerable if you’re not a buoyant, oily-feathered waterfowl. This small Accipiter found a weeping something or other arching over the water use as a shower curtain.The bird stood in the water for quite a while and…
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And another leaf…
…is unfurled.Meanwhile, a crab apple (Malus) begins to bloom.Less delicately, the thumb-sized bud of a Horse-chestut (Aesculus hippocastanum) still contains its upright chandelier of flowers and leaves.A young seed-ball of the London Plain (Platanus × acerifolia) blown off in Sunday’s high wind and mushed up on contact with the sidewalk. This was a little under…
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Monkish Meditation?
In fact, this Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) is busy as any other bird foraging in the grass.
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Some Trees
Glove-like leaf coming off a new Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) bud.A very sprouty old Quercus.Same, in situ.Salix catkins and baby leaves showering 6th Avenue.
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BBC: G-W
Great turn-out for this morning’s Brooklyn Bird Club walk in Green-Wood. A dozen birders and 32 bird species. We had great views of bright, vocalizing Pine warblers, the first I’ve seen of the year; Cedar Waxwings hawking right in front of us; a male Kestrel plucking what looked like a sparrow; six Fish Crows harrying…
Backyard and Beyond 