Hudson
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Hudson Isopoda
Pulling a boat line out of the 79th Street Boat basin on the Hudson River recently resulted in a pier squiggling with isopods. They had clearly found the rope, submerged since the spring, to their liking. Isopoda are an order of crustaceans. Most are aquatic, but you may be more familiar with the terrestrial type,…
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Tiger Beetle
A Common Claybank Tiger Beetle (Cicindela limbalis). Also known as the Green-margined Tiger Beetle. Spotted by a owl-eyed friend on a lichen-anchored rock on Mt. Taurus up above Cold Spring, NY, on a recent hike. Tiger beetles, in addition to being stripy are fast-moving predators of other insects. This was the view from up there.
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Chimneys and their Swifts
Brick chimneys are things of beauty, old utilitarian architecture made pleasing by shape and material. Bricks, made of clay, sand, shale, and heat, have a particularly earthy appeal. I’m posting this today to remind us of the Chimney Swifts (Chaetura pelagica) overhead now. I see and hear them regularly both on top of the Harbor Hill Moraine…
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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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Resin
A fist-sized clump of resin. Usually associated with coniferous trees, this frozen waterfall of hydrocarbons, and several others, were on a deciduous tree I couldn’t identify on the Lyndhurst estate in Tarrytown. (The grounds are a 19th century landscaper’s dream, rich with exotica.) Resins seem to have a defensive function, battling insects and smaller threats.…
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Palisades
One last boating trip of the year.The Commodore headed up the Hudson for a look at the leaves.A hazy afternoon made for some impressionistic views.
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After the rain
A wet, leaf-rotting, ground-enriching fall is good mushroom weather.
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Beechwood
This is an approximation of the light on this appropriately yellow-blazed trail on Saturday afternoon. It was a tonic that cured what ailed us. Whatever it was that ailed us. The sun had a been a little spotty before this, and the scrubby oaks atop the hill were mostly fallen, so coming into this batch…
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Salmagundi
An American Toad looking for a place to burrow down for winter.Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe with tiny spider.A scattering of lichen on smooth granite. Big walnuts. All seen on Old Croton Aqueduct Trail or in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where lies Washington Irving.
Backyard and Beyond 