Green-Wood
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Coop
A Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) in Green-Wood on Saturday. This is an immature bird. An adult will have a russet-tinted breast and red eyes instead of yellow. From the back, against the light. Note that long tail, a characteristic of the Accipiters. While perched, the bird threw up this pellet. Once she — the bird…
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Colors
A White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis). This bird had just lived up its name: wedging a seed into the bark of this tree, the bird hammered the seed with its chisel bill. Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) showing itself capable of standing up to this fall’s magnificent colors.Monk Parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus), excellent raptor food.Another colorful exotic, Japanese Maple…
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Kestrel
This male Kestrel (Falco sparverius) made two fruitless passes at the noisy scrum of Monk Parakeets at the Green-Wood gate. The parakeets are a little longer in body-length but have shorter wingspan than these small falcons, so I wonder if they ever succumb to attack. Certainly the parakeets provide food for raptors; I’ve found their…
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White Oak
The pale underside of some Eastern White Oak (Quercus alba) leaves found on Mt. Taurus.This is another specimen of the tree, two weeks later, in Green-Wood. It’s been a spectacular fall. Same tree, with some Hedgehog Galls. I also explore these fuzzy galls a little more here.
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Pigeon Hawk
A really nice and extended look at a Merlin (Falco columbarius) yesterday in Green-Wood. The bird gave me the big, beady eyes, too.These falcons are known for perching for a long period of time, eyes on the lookout for the prize. The surroundings were busy with Blue Jays and Monk Parakeets.The faint Fu Manchu “mustache”…
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Seen on recent saunters
Beech nuts and the pods they come in on. At another beech tree, this time a stump, some funky fungus.I like the way one of these “organ pipe” mud-dauber-wasp nests follows the arch here. It will be some months before we see the trees this leafy again.
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Bold eye-ring
I’m feeling too lazy to identify this bird. I’m just enjoying it. Happens like that sometimes. Updated: voices via various other forms of communication are plugging for a Nashville warbler. I would agree.
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Troglodytes
It’s rare to spot the tiny Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) out in the open, but this one was most obliging long enough to get a shot or two. They usually prefer damp, shady areas, underneath logs and the like. Note the long bill and what seem like largish toes, the better for poking and scratching…
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Sympetrum Meadowhawks
The red meadowhawk dragonflies are difficult to identify in the field, since several members of the genus Sympetrum look rather similar.But I figured these out because of the legs. These are Autumn Meadowhawks (Sympetrum vicinum), in some sources called Yellow-legged; other meadowhawks have black legs. They’re small: 1.3″ long. Their colors, especially the bright males,…
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Backyard and Beyond 