Staatsburg | Backyard and Beyond

Posts Tagged 'Staatsburg'

Bits and Bobs

Published March 6, 2022 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Staatsburg

Smokey-eyed Boulder Lichen (*Porpidia albocaerulescens*, I think, in Dutchess Co. Not unknown in NYC, although I haven’t come across it.

Powderhorn lichen (*Cladonia*). Several species of this in NYC, but you really have to search for it.

A *Peltigera* lichen, looking like seaweed at low-tide. With one or two mosses?

More of everything up north, actually. Here’s a fungus without algae or cyanobacteria. Maybe a Wrinkled Crust (*Phlebia radiata*) perhaps?

Christmas Fern (*Polystichum acrostichoides*)

A Brocade Moss (*Callicladium imponens*)?

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Red Fox

Published March 5, 2022 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Tags: Staatsburg

Ah, well, the photo is much less than desired, but the eyeballing of this midmorning fox saunter in Dutchess Co. was, as the kids say, everything. I might have found some prints and scat as well, but I’m not sure.

Each of us had a sighting: the fox (if it was the same one) using the house’s location skillfully by running through the gullies on the distant side of the rocky outcroppings that flank the house. I was on the second floor for this run. Couldn’t have seen the animal from the first floor.

Tracks

Published February 28, 2022 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Staatsburg

The snow was tamped down to a smoothness, and this squirrel tail and some loose bits of hair were all that remained.

These are definitely Eastern Grey Squirrel: I saw the animal leaping.

Yard Birds

Published February 27, 2022 Uncategorized 3 Comments
Tags: Staatsburg

That looks like a sunflower seed from some nearby feeder.

Purple Finch. There were also House Finches and American Goldfinches.

Black-capped Chickadee (haven’t seen or heard one of these in Brooklyn this winter.)

A White-throated Sparrow, killed in a window-strike, and left outside in the cold to see if it would be recycled. It took a few days, including…

…being coerced over by snow, before something came and got it one morning.

Downy going after something in the buds.

Saw 18 species of birds in the yard (or passing over it!). Saw 14 other species of birds in the neighborhood or a away on the Hudson.

Just breath-taking to see one of these on a cold, overcast morning.

You can help keep this blog blue-birding along…

Remember: Trump’s first impeachment was for trying to extort President Zelensky by withholding security assistance from Ukraine for dirt on the Bidens. While Trump has lately reiterated his love for his fellow sociopathic tyrant Putin, all the Republican Senators who voted against that impeachment have suddenly found they love Ukraine now….

The Good Gravy Bird

Published February 25, 2022 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Staatsburg

Gaping wounds in trees? Yup, it’s the big one.

A male Pileated Woodpecker (*Dryocopus pileatus*). These big woodpeckers are not seen often in Brooklyn, the home-base of this blog. (I’ve never seen one here, but others have).

And I still haven’t. This one was in Dutchess Co., NY, last week, I had about a half dozen sightings (or hearings!). One cold, frosty, crunchy morning, one flew towards the sun.

Solidarity with the people of Ukraine:

8 ways to help.

7 other ways to help.

Watch out for bullshit in social media. Be wary of internet trolls and cyberattacks.

Remember how Trump, his gangster-family, and the GOP all supported Putin, a dictator who routinely has his enemies killed, and have been supported in turn by him.