trees
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Sappy
Sap wells drilled by… a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, presumably. The birds will lap up the sap and any insects attracted to the slightly sweet liquid. Other birds may gather at such wells to eat the insects that are also attracted to the sap. This insect gathering is, of course, mostly a non-winter habit. This winter, there…
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The Fields of Sweetgum
Just a part of one of the large spreads of fallen Sweetgum balls I’ve ever come across recently. Not pictured here are the Dark-eyed Juncos that were taking advantage of the windfall. The tiny Liquidambar styraciflua seeds are a big source of winter food for birds.
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A Return Engagement
The great elm of Sunset Park on a recent wintery day. To track this tree over a year, I photographed it roughly every month from November 2015 to the end of 2016.
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Tree Omnibus
The trees are singing. If only we would listen. Tolkien suggested it might be quite hard to hear them, since they sing on a whole different time scale. David George Haskell is listening with microphones and an acute biologist’s senses. The Songs of Trees was one of last year’s best naturalist books, beautifully written and…
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Bark
Street signs. Wrought iron. Chain link. The trees don’t care. They will absorb the things in their way. Here’s a local Empress Tree (Paulownia tomentosa ), pressing through some fencing as the bark alligators in remembrance.
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The Tall One
The tallest trees here in the east are usually Tuliptrees (Liriodendron tulipifera), sometimes also called Yellow Populars. The tallest tree in Green-Wood Cemetery is one. According to their new map, “Alive at Green-Wood,” it’s 110 feet tall. This is the “toy camera” setting of my camera, for a change of pace. Samuel Morse’s remains are…
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Acer Color
Is that spotting something amiss? (Well, not amiss if you’re a fungus.) * Trump’s corporate puppet on the FCC is trying to end net neutrality, a disaster for democracy. So it’s “break the internet” in protest in advance of Thursday’s vote. Once again, I’d rather join people in the streets, but until then…
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Onwards!
The sound of a single leaf scrape-skittering across the road, Or the sound of hundreds, dry susurrations and crinkly waves, crumpling beneath the feet, parting before the bow of the shins: I’ll take both those paths.
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Oak Wilt, Damn It
Word around the corner on the avenue, although of course it should also be in Spanish (as here) and Cantonese. Greenwood Heights is located some twenty blocks away, tucked around Green-Wood Cemetery. There are plenty of oaks in Green-Wood, where the disease may have first been noted, as well as on the street. Here’s a…
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Hickory Harvest
Carya cordiformis, Bitternut. A rich fall. Bitter they may be, but somebody likes ’em.They are very thinly husked.
Backyard and Beyond 