Green-Wood
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Green-Wood
Fringetree. Galls clustering on a hickory. The leaves of one of that cluster of Common Persimmon trees. A Great Egret being photogenic as always. Water Lily in the Valley Water; there were only a few blossoms yet. American Lady butterflies amid a horde of honey and bumble bees.
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C. serpentina
Over the weekend, I saw three big Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) in Green-Wood Cemetery. This is the time of year they emerge from the murk of ponds and lakes to reproduce, the female often travelling long distances to find soft earth, dirt, or fine gravel in which to bury her clutch of eggs. Unlike in…
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In Green-Wood
The great Victorian necropolis of Green-Wood Cemetery comes into its own in spring-time when the ornamental and specimen trees start their blooming into glory.A trio of turtles were sunning themselves around the Valley Water. In the pond itself, a thumb-sized bullfrog tadpole emerged from the murk and then quickly descended back into the obscurity. There…
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Winter caterpillar
Large Yellow Underwing caterpillar. I took this photo on October 15th in Green-Wood and saved it for the first day of winter to illustrate the insect’s life cycle. I thought October was late in the year, but Noctua pronuba can be active even in the dead of winter, given a thaw. The mature caterpillars can…
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Spilt Seeds
Cones and seeds of a Japanese-Cedar, Cryptomeria japonica, an exotic planted in the Victorian necropolis of Green-Wood. The seeds are about 5mm long. When I brought the little cones home they were bright green and very tight. But, like pinecones, they bloomed in the apartment, releasing their cargo when jostled.
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Nuts! Kentucky Coffeetree
The Kentucky Coffeetree, Gymnocladus diocius, produces a pod that usually gets three times as big as this and stays on the tree through the winter. This developing one was probably downed by the wind.A larger one wrenched opened by a mammal (me, duh!). The thumbnail-sized seeds within were sometimes used, after roasting, as a coffee…
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Nuts! Hazel
Exotic and glorious, the Turkish hazel, Corylus corlurna. I’ve seen them in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, but this one I found in Green-Wood. Sibley notes that this species is used as rootstock for commercial hazelnut production. (I love hazelnuts, particularly when drowned in chocolate.)
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Cyclops
Do you know how hard it is to get a photo of a Common Green Darner? Anax junius. Well, for one thing, they are not one of the perching dragonflies, but every once and a while they do have to take a break. At about three inches long, these are one of the largest species…
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Look Down
One of the speedwells. I think it’s Persian speedwell, Veronica persica. One of the chickweeds. As with the speedwells, there are numerous species. Found both of these in Green-Wood last week.
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Brooklyn Woodchuck
I’m bringing this out of the archives in case anybody ends up here from a nice article in the Times by Jesse Greenspan on city groundhogs/woodchucks, in which I am quoted.Through the urban naturalist grapevine, I knew that woodchucks lived in Green-Wood Cemetery, but I’d never run across one before. Yesterday, I noticed something oddly…
Backyard and Beyond 