By Erik Baard The American Elm teaches us about how grandeur and delicacy, strength and vulnerability, can rise from the same roots. And how ubiquitous splendor can so suddenly become rare. Step outside this weekend and watch these often supercentanarian monuments bringing forth delicate flowers, a pointillist expression. “They are small flowers that give an [...]
Archive for March, 2008
American Elm: Beauty In Bloom and Under Siege
Posted in Amphibians, Birds, Bronx, Flowers, Fresh Water, Gardens, Insects, Parks, Ponds, Summer, Trees, tagged american elm, Central Park, dutch elm disease, flood plains, Flowers, new york botanical garden, riverside park, the mall, Trees, vernal pools on March 28, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The Gracefully Gooney Woodcock
Posted in Birds, Bronx, Brooklyn, Fresh Water, Invertebrates, Parks, Ponds, tagged Bronx, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Bird Club, Central Park, Givans Creek Park, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Pelham Bay Park, Prospect Park, Ramble, Staten Island Greenbelt on March 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
By Erik Baard In recent weeks keen-eyed birders have each night spotted the quiet and nearly invisible migratory returns, solitary or in very small flocks, of one of New York City’s quirkiest birds. While some birds, like redtail hawks and peregrine falcons, have attracted groupies through intelligence and fierce dignity, today we present a species [...]
A Better Day for Eggs. Winter Flounder, that is.
Posted in Atlantic Ocean, Brooklyn, Estuary, Fish, Long Island Sound, New York Harbor, Staten Island, Water, tagged bluefish, cormorants, Estuary, Jamaica Bay, kill van kull, New York Harbor, newark bay, NOAA, Raritan Bay, striped bass, summer flounder, Upper Bay, winter flounder on March 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
By Erik Baard Easter eggs are hunted in “Eggstravaganzas” and “Eggstreme” events across the city, from the Bronx Zoo to the Queens Zoo, and south to the Leon Kaiser Playground in Brooklyn and the West Brighton Zoo on Staten Island. But the best-hidden eggs in the very center of Gotham right now may be those [...]
Wild Carrots, Wild Man: Perfect Together.
Posted in Brooklyn, butterflies, carrots, Edible Plants, Flowers, Gardens, Manhattan, Parks, Plants, Queens, Spring, Summer, tagged carrots, central, hemlock, inwood, kissena, park, prospect, queen anne's lace, wildman steve brill on March 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »
By Erik Baard This Easter weekend you expect to see an energetic, toothsome creature energetically digging for carrots. You just don’t expect him to be a guy named Steve, or that one of his favorite patches is in Manhattan. “Wildman Steve Brill” is a self-described forager who leads tasting tours of urban parks, and publishes [...]
Orion: A Cosmic Cloud Womb
Posted in Astronomy, Geology, Spring, Staten Island, Water, tagged american museum of natural history, astrobiology, Astronomy, denver museum of nature and science, Geology, orion nebula, space telescopes, Spring, Staten Island, Water on March 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
by Erik Baard If Nature Calendar holds any value, it will be measured by how much it nurtures the feeling that your life is woven into a whole, a kinship that won’t be walled within a name. May I then call you to witness, this first weekend of spring, the birth of suns and worlds [...]
