I don’t remember ever feeling a chilly wind in the northeast in August until last night on my way home from work. August 15th! It reminded me of autumn, and that reminded me of snow geese. My favorite place to see migrating snow geese is the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Galloway, New […]
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.
Tufted Ducks
I photographed this pair of tufted ducks in a pond in a park in London where they are common. The male’s eyes are bright yellow, his beak is blue with a black tip, and he has a conspicuous tuft of feathers on the back of his head from which the species gets its common name. […]
Two Kinds of Coots
I was in London last week for a conference. My hotel was near Kensington Gardens, one of London’s Royal Parks. I walked all over the gardens, saw the famous statue of Peter Pan, and sat by a pond watching the royal waterfowl. There were mute swans, tufted ducks, Egyptian geese, moorhens, great crested grebes, great […]
Reflected Gull
This laughing gull was bobbing up and down on swells in the East River near the Brooklyn shore. The moving surface of the water distorted and redrew its reflection. “Silence. How long it lasted, I couldn’t tell. It might have been five seconds, it might have been a minute. Time wasn’t fixed. It wavered, stretched, […]
Ospreys Mating
This osprey nest platform is at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, New Jersey. The female on the nest is in a crouched and open-winged posture soliciting copulation. The male is approaching, ready to comply. Watch the video below to see what happens next.
The American Oystercatcher
I was in a marsh down the shore in southern New Jersey last week. I had stopped the car to look at some distant shorebirds in the mud. Then I noticed these two oystercatchers very close. I don’t know how I had missed them. These large shorebirds are boldly patterned with black heads, white bellies, […]
Sheldon Cooper’s Bird
I was watching old episodes of The Big Bang Theory on television last night. This story is therefore a few years late, but I am writing it anyway for those who haven’t heard about it and because I love blue jays. In episode 9 of season 5 of The Big Bang Theory, “Ornithophobia Diffusion,” a […]