Before the holidays I took a walk along the Suffolk Greenbelt trail in the vicinity of Motor Parkway. As I walked slowly up a rise onto the Ronkonkoma Moraine, the trail took a subtle turn to the right, by a large trailside pitch pine. As I passed the tree I heard the characteristic nasal wank, wank, wank of a white-breasted nuthatch in an oak behind the pine.
At the landscaping company where I spent my summer breaks from college, you knew it was going to be a good day if at the 7 a.m. job allocations you were assigned to work with Kenny. Of the half dozen or so foremen, he was the most coveted by the summer laborers. He was a reluctant taskmaster and was usually sent to the most out-of-the-way jobs (more time in the truck meant shorter work days). He was even known to stop for ice cream on the way back to the yard on occasion.
The common woodpecker of suburban Long Island. It is the smallest woodpecker (the size of a house sparrow), is widespread on Long Island, and often visits backyard bird feeders during the colder months. It does well in Long Island’s heavily developed communities since, in addition to larger tracts, it can successfully inhabit small woodland fragments of just a couple of acres in size.
In late August, photographer Tommy Hakiel anchored his boat in Champlin Creek in Islip, just off the eastern shore of the Seatuck National Wildlife Refuge. He was on the lookout for birds to photograph, but suddenly found himself in the midst of a battle for fishing rights. The fracas was between two female Belted Kingfishers. The collection below is his photo essay from the nearly 45-minute encounter …
The nighttime chorus of insects that started in late July or August and continues through September with increasing intensity is one of those things that people either love or hate. I fall squarely in the first category; like many people, for me the sounds are synonymous with warm late-summer nights. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no better way to fall asleep than next to an open window with the sounds of the night insects pouring in. My wife, however, is one of those people in the other category: for her the insect chorus, while something she’ll admit can be pleasant sounding, is more importantly something that keeps her awake. So our bedroom window stays firmly shut this time of year.
One of the great joys of being a naturalist is to marvel at the countless adaptations, hiding in plain sight in the natural world surrounding us, that enable living things to survive and prosper. The tendrils of a catbrier, allowing the vine to attach and grow; the arching base of an earth star fungus to assist in spore dispersal; the burs of common burdock to facilitate the spread of seeds; and the sandpaper-like bottom of an osprey’s feet so it can better hold onto slippery prey, are but a few examples that come to mind of the hundreds of adaptations on display in the plant and animal species that share our island home.
It’s a term you’ve used a million times before, but … there’s no such bird. There’s not even such a family of birds. The term “seagull” is a colloquialism used to refer to a group of generally white-gray-and-black birds that are found (commonly, but not only) near coastal waters. Here are six of the most common on Long Island…
Sometimes good things happen even when something goes wrong … https://youtu.be/gqqafUmIcmE
One of my favorite sounds of summer is the rhythmic hum of bees as they move from flower to flower. I love to watch these industrious insects as they dance on the pink florets of Joe Pye weed or dive into the hairy throat of penstemon. I marvel at the variety of buzzing visitors on blooming goldenrod and the constant taking off and landing on the face of a sunflower.
Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. His point is well made. But it leaves us with the question of what is the right word for the insects that make our summer nights sparkle? Twain referred to “lightning bugs,” but many of us call them “fireflies.” So which is the right word?