Green-Wood
-
Lord of All He Surveys
Richard Upjohn’s Gothic-y gate to Green-Wood Cemetery. The Monk Parakeets have colonized it with their massive stick nest. Maybe it reminds them of the Andes? On a recent weekend, the birds were unusually quiet. I spotted half a dozen nearby.And up there with the lightning rod? Our old friend the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius). That…
-
GBH
A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in Green-Wood. *** Today is “Giving Tuesday.” The vast range of options suggestions the desperate straits of our world, as does the fact that these entities have to go a-begging. (Philanthropy, a system in which the very rich set socio-political agendas while avoiding taxes, is the flip side of…
-
Paper
All that remains of that Bald-faced Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) nest on the memorial I photographed in September. While examining the amazing paper the wasps make to cover their comb, I found something elsenesting between the layers. Oops, sorry about that!
-
Oak
I’ve noticed these grapefruit/softball-sized growths on the side of this big old Red Oak (Quercus rubra) before. But on my most recent pass, there was a new one. Turns out to be a fungus.
-
Japanese Maple 3
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) in Green-Wood. (All three of these pictures were taken on the same day within a few moments of each other, under the same overcast light. No filtering or fiddling.)
-
Japanese Maple 2
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) in Green-Wood. (All three of these pictures were taken on the same day within a few moments of each other, under the same overcast light. No filtering or fiddling.)
-
Japanese Maple 1
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) in Green-Wood Cemetery. This is the first of three photos of separate trees located next to each other. All three pictures were taken on the same day within a few moments of each other, under the same overcast light. No filtering or fiddling.
-
Sassafras
These two giants surprised me in Green-Wood recently. They’re Sassafrass (Sassafras albidum), usually seen as a rather smaller tree. I did a double-take or three. But there they were, the distinctive three leaf-shapes. And check out this bark, characteristic of old specimens: it is deeply, deeply furrowed, like the Southwestern canyon-lands.
-
Return of the Green-Wood Merlin
I said recently that Merlins (Falco columbarius) were comparable in size to Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata). Ummmm, well…. That’s a Merlin on the upper left. The other birds are Jays. Up to seven were in the tree recently on a very gray day, harrying the falcon until it flew off. Wheeler’s Raptors of Eastern North…
-
Can’t Get Enough Kestrel?
A week after spotting an American Kestrel male perching in Green-Wood I found another not so very far away. Or is this the very same bird? Mayhaps: they don’t have huge territories Check out the bird’s under and over grip on the tippy-top of the tree. And those false eye-spots on the back of the…
Backyard and Beyond 