Prospect Park
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Leaves of Three
Prospect Park’s Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron radicans, has leafed out. This is only one version of this very variable plant, which can be a shrub, a trailing vine, or a climbing vine. Old vines snaking up trees are hairy beasts, often with horizontal twigs. All parts of the plant can cause severe inflammation, so remember the…
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Winter: What is it good for?
Tomorrow is the last day of winter, a measure now more astronomical than seasonal. What did we miss this year? Snow, and the recharging of our water supplies with the spring thaw. Gateway NRA spent the last couple of months sending out warnings about the fire hazard created by zero snow cover, strong coastal winds,…
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Prospect Park
Came across this recently. The thing that struck me on the list was the 300-year old Black Oak on Elephant Hill. That must have been a hell of a tree. I assume it’s the black oak noted as kaput in 1990 by Carsten Glaeser when he updated M.M. Graff’s Notable Tree list of 1972. I’d…
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Prospect Park
It’s warm enough for turtles to be basking on the Lake, Lullwater, and Pools. Not many, but a smattering were to be seen soaking in the sun along the water course.On a birch, this cocoon is more seasonally appropriate, weathering the not very weathery winter. While I’ve been seeing flies all month already, this was…
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Don’t Dump Your Turtle
One of the search phrases that’s led people to this blog more than once is about “releasing pet turtles in Prospect Park.” People want to know if it’s OK to do so. The answer is: no, it isn’t, and you shouldn’t ~ which is what I hope they learned from the internet. But, considering that…
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Coot
The American Coot, dwarfed by a juvenile Mute Swan in both perspective and actuality, is a Prospect Park regular, but never in very large numbers. There were several on the Lake last week, and a surprising dozen plus at the Boat House. Although duck-like, Coots (Fulica americana) are actually Gruiformes, or rails (I saw their…
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Feeders
Approaching the bird feeders in Prospect Park, I heard several Blue Jays screeching. The feeders themselves were completely abandoned, which is a sure sign of something going on, although there were Downy Woodpeckers, House Finches, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Mourning Doves all around in the trees. The male Red-wings are generally one of the earliest birds…
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Short Note on Winter Birding
The New York City region is, for some birds, “the south” they migrated to in winter. Open fresh water and sheltered salt water bodies attract ducks like Pintails, Wigeons, Gadwells, Canvasbacks, Red-heads, Scaups, Mergansers, Buffleheads, Shovellers, Teals, Long-tailed, and Scoters. The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in the late afternoon is home to an amazing display…
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Februarius Mirabilis
Are you old enough to remember when winter used to be winter, damn it, and spring, spring? On the way to Prospect Park today, the second day of February, I saw the flowering quince on Congress St. in bloom:And then, in a tree pit in Windsor Terrace, some bulbs were pushing up into the light:In…
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Winter Bright
House Finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, in Prospect Park. This is the colorful male; the female is drably stripy. The species is native to southwestern North America. The birds were sold on the East Coast by the pet trade as “Hollywood Finches” until dealing in wild songbirds was made illegal in 1940. Pet store owners, an appalling…
Backyard and Beyond 