Jamaica Bay
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A Perfect Day for Night Heron Fishing
Black-crowned Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, the world’s most wide-spread heron species.Of course we have them in Brooklyn. This was a morning low tide at Bush Terminal Park.They tend to be most active at night, as per their namesake, but if the foraging is good… A greenish tinge in the lores on this one? Have never…
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Fleabane
Erigeron philadelphicus, if I’m not mistaken, which has more common names than you can shake a stem at, including Common, Philadelphia, and Daisy Fleabane, although the latter is generally E. annuus.
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Horseshoe Moon
Horseshoe Crabs (Limulus polyphemus) mating on the shores of Jamaica Bay. It was the day after the full Moon, when the high tide lets them get farther up the beach, where they deposit their eggs.I have written much about these amazing non-crabs and how important they are to our health. I saw a headline the…
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Hermits
I believe these are Eastern Mud Snails (Ilyanassa obsoleta), which look like rocks until you look closer. There are quite a few of them in Jamaica Bay. And some of them were moving much too quickly. They were, in fact, hermit crabs, who use found snail shells for their own.Hermits don’t have protective shells like…
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Everywhere You Look
Found in the salad spinner after washing some organic lettuce. A Histeridae family beetle, also known as hisser or clown beetles, even though they don’t wear much makeup. They eat the larvae of flies.A late-blooming Prickly Pear (Opuntia), one of my favorite local flowers. A very beat-up Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele), a new species…
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Three More Osprey
Three young Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) bracketed by their parents at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refugee last week. They are on the verge of flying, and what flights! Soon, if they survive the hurdles of fledging and learning to hunt on their own (catching your first big fish must be something!), they will be venturing south into…
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Painted Skimmer
Flying gold at Big John’s Pond: a Painted Skimmer (Libellula semifasciata).
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Tree Sparrows
American Tree Sparrows (Spizella arborea). They breed in the tundra, and visit us during winter. These were seen at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Rufus-caps and sides, white bars on the wing, and a dark central spot distinguish them from the other little brown jobs that are the New World sparrows. (The omnipresent House Sparrow is…
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Sandy’s Effects, Continued
Nothing remains the same; this is the lesson of the earth. And it is particularly the lesson of humans on earth, having reached a stage where we are transforming the planet in unprecedented ways. Here’s the USGS’s 1898 map of Jamaica Bay, crossed by a railroad down to Oceanus and Hammels. (“Oceanus” has disappeared from…
Backyard and Beyond 