Green-Wood
-
Habit
Tulip Trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) are some of the largest trees here in the East. In the woods, they tend to grow up very straight, as in the NYBG example below, shooting up quickly to get the light and not bothering with broadly branching. There are some wonderful examples in the Midwood in Prospect Park and…
-
Sharpie on the Prowl
A Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus), eyeballing everything that moves above, before, behind, below. Waves of song-birds were stirred up by this slim raptor, the smallest hawk species in North America. This may have been the same bird I saw on three more separate encounters that day, racing after prey.Sharpies, as they are affectionately known, are…
-
Winter Wren
The day began with a tweet from the City Birder of a photo of a dead Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) killed by a cat in Green-Wood. So I was pleased several hours later to see two live specimens. They were living up to their genus name, Troglodytes, going into the nooks and crannies of this…
-
Groundcoverhogs
I was surprised to see one of the best birding spots in Green-Wood Cemetery shaved down to the bone recently. This was an impenetrable thicket along the flank of the hill overlooking the Sylvan Water, perfect for songbirds and woodchuck. Two woodchuck dens are exposed here now, but then most of the cemetery’s dens are…
-
Autumnal Colors
Just a quick reminder that you don’t actually need to leave New York City to see some spectacular colors. Not that there’s anything in the least wrong with heading north or wherever to leaf peep, but sometimes it doesn’t fit your schedule or budget. These are all from Prospect or Green-Wood.
-
Woodcock Sunday
In the fall, it’s not unheard of to flush an American Woodcock while walking in Green-Wood. They explode out of the leaf litter — the first time it happened to me, I was unknowingly close to the bird, so I was perhaps more startled than it was. Their plumage corresponds wonderfully to leaf litter. They…
-
Old Man Willow And Co.
At some point in its illustrious career, this Weeping Willow lost a bifurcating trunk, leaving a near horizontal gape about four feet up the bole. The slowly rotting remains inside there provided a seedbed for not one, not two, but three saplings: cherry, maple, and mulberry. This is a four-tree tree, which is the most…
-
Viburnum Bright
Viburnum trilobum or opulus. Either way, cranberry!
-
Green-Wood Was So Very Birdy
The cold front that came through Saturday night practically snowed birds. There were so many in Green-Wood yesterday I thought it was the height of spring migration. There were several types of sparrows and warblers, both kinglets, thrushes, lots of Flickers, a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds, one or two Brown Creepers, one or more Woodcock,…
Backyard and Beyond 