This is a European Starling,Sternavulgaris. An occasional bath helps it maintain its glossy splendor. I came upon a starling splashing at the edge of a pond in Brooklyn, in New York City. After getting wet, he flew into a tree and shook and preened methodically for a few minutes, pictured below. Click on the photos […]
Author: Julie Feinstein
I am a Collection Manager at the American Museum of Natural History, an author, and a photographer. I live in New York City. I recently published my first popular science book, Field Guide to Urban Wildlife, an illustrated collection of natural history essays about common animals. I update my blog, Urban Wildlife Guide, every Sunday.
Duck Romance
The duck couple I wrote about two weeks ago was mating on the pond in Brooklyn Bridge Park again today, Sunday, March 10, 2013. I photographed some of their courtship postures last time. Today I took a few shots of copulation, which is brief and happens in the water. They ended their courtship displays with […]
Duck Date
Last February I wrote about a pair of interesting puddle ducks I saw in Brooklyn Bridge Park. She was a mallard,Anas platyrhynchos. He was an American black duck, Anas rubripes. She would normally mate with a green-headed male mallard duck. But they appeared to be a couple. I think I saw the same pair today […]
Meet the Yellow-collared Scape Moth
I found this moth near Atlantic City, New Jersey, in September, 2012. It is black with bright yellow trim, slender, and about half an inch long. It was nectaring on goldenrod at mid-day. Almost as if trying to pass itself off as a wasp. It is Cisseps fulvicollis, a wasp-mimic member of the Tiger Moth […]
Along the East River
I took a cold walk by the East River today. Brant geese, Branta bernicla, were lunching on the lawn in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Brant are often mistaken for Canada geese, but they are different species. I’ve written about their differences; click here for that blog. The lawn the brant geese were trying to eat turned […]
Katydid!
I found this katydid in Brooklyn Bridge Park on June 1, 2012. It’s the only one I’ve seen there — they can be hard to spot. It was sitting in a locust tree where it blended in extremely well with its leaf colored body and leaf-shaped wings. Click to enlarge. I suspect it knew something […]
Tiny Praying Mantis
I took this photo in June 2012. A miniature praying mantis is sitting on my thumb.It is a praying mantis nymph, an immature stage, and a very cute example of how insects grow. There are two kinds of insect metamorphosis: complete (also called holometabolic) and incomplete (also called partial orhemimetabolic). The monarch butterfly is a […]
