trees
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In the Hudson Highlands
On the flank of Mt. Taurus above Cold Spring, NY, yesterday. (Click on this image to view a larger version.)
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Leaf Color Chat
What are the leaves saying?These colors maybe signaling something. Several somethings, in fact. I’ll be talking about our friends the leaves tomorrow night at OutdoorFest’s Mappy Hour, 7-9, at the brand new Threes Brewing Co. in Gowanus. So new that it hasn’t opened it; this is a preview event. See here for more details.Leaves, beer,…
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Cobras!
Wellllll… not exactly. Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) pods posed to show off their curls.So I brought these pods home, and two weeks later, they gave birth! Actually, some… thing emerged, cutting out circular escape passages after devouring the no-doubt tasty seeds within.Here’s a list, which we must presume is only partial, of insects that enjoy…
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A Bumper Buckeye Crop
There is a single old Yellow Buckeye (Aesculus flava) on the edge of the Long Meadow. I walked by on Tuesday, wondering if there might be any of the big seeds, or buckeyes, still around, or yet to fall. Well, I hit the jackpot. There were many and they had just fallen, so they were…
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Excavations
Evidence of Pileated Woodpecker in the Hudson Highlands. The biggest hole is 7″ tall. This kind of excavation work is standard for this crow-sized woodpecker, which has a skull designed to absorb all that pounding.
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Chestnuts
American Chestnuts (Castanea dentata). Be careful handling these burrs, or pods: the spines are v. sharp! Most of the nuts produced by these young trees are scrawny, undeveloped things, quite fibrous inside, but they still seem to disappear into the maws of the squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis).This one was vocally displeased with my poaching of the…
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Shaggy
Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) is one of the great trees of the eastern forests. This distinctive peely bark makes them easy to distinguish from most of the other species of native North American hickories. However, the Shellbark (C. laciniosa) is also known as Bigleaf Shagbark; its uncommon in rich bottom lands in the arteries of…
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George Bird Grinnell and Others
I went up to Woodlawn Cemetery to visit the grave of Herman Melville, and I stumbled upon George Bird Grinnell. Grinnell was born in Brooklyn and tutored by Lucy Bakewell Audubon, widow of John James, at the Audubon home in upper Manhattan. He started the first Audubon organization, believing the name should live on. Bird…
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Brooklyn Update
When my plane descended into LaGuardia last Monday, there were a lot of gray/brown still-wintering trees in evidence. I’d just come from southern-most Texas, where spring was fully in motion, but things are stirring here, too.Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) amid the weeping cherries, which were throbbing with honeybees, and an occasional bumble.The nacreous heart of…
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Downy, Honeylocust
The sound was like typist behind a closed door, in an office with thick carpets. It was subtle. In the clamor of the city, we must strive to hear the subtle sounds, and Green-Wood, wind-swept atop the moraine, is a fine place for the subtleties. This Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) was pecking away at Honeylocust…
Backyard and Beyond 