by Erik Baard What a Wolf Moon this will be! Tonight will be the biggest full moon of 2009, and the glory it borrows from the sun will be reflected from every snowy rooftop, branch, and field…if the clouds break. The moon increases in apparent size for two reasons. Routinely we observe an apparent swelling in the [...]
Archive for the ‘Weather’ Category
Biggest Full Moon of ’09 Tonight!
Posted in Astronomy, Uncategorized, Weather, Winter, tagged american museum of natural history, amnh, erik baard, full moon, hayden planterarium, moon, nature calendar, naturecalendar, perigee, tyson, urban astronomy, urban ecology, urban environment, village voice on January 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Heal the Seals! Turtles Too! (Riverhead Foundation Visit)
Posted in Atlantic Ocean, Brooklyn, Estuary, Long Island Sound, Mammals, Manhattan, New York Harbor, Parks, Queens, Staten Island, Uncategorized, Vertebrates, volunteer, Water, Weather, wild eyed, Winter, tagged Atlantic Ocean, cold stun, dolphins, ecology, environment, erik baard, Estuary, gowanus canal, injury, Julika Wocial, long island, marine mammal, nature calendar, nature community, naturecalendar, naturecommunity, neena dhamoon, new york, new york city, rehabilitation, rescue, riverhead foundation, Robert DiGiovanni, seal pox, seals, Sofia Theologitis, turtle, urban, volunteer on December 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »
by Erik Baard If a seal falls ill in the Gowanus Canal, a turtle catches an autumnal chill in Montauk, and a dolphin gets marsh bound in the Great South Bay, there’s a good chance they’ll end up as roommates at the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation. As New York State’s only authorized [...]
Virtual Snowflakes: Closing in on Reality
Posted in Water, Weather, Winter on December 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
by Erik Baard Some of the loveliest snowflakes you might see this winter glow warmly on a computer screen. Lafayette College mathematics professor Cliff Reiter might share the joy of a kid making snowflakes with scissors and paper, but his computer simulations of crystal growth aim at deeper revelation. The sublimity of his creations attest [...]
Light, then Heat.
Posted in Astronomy, Atlantic Ocean, Bronx, Brooklyn, clouds, Estuary, Fall, Geology, Manhattan, New York Harbor, Queens, Spring, Staten Island, Summer, Uncategorized, Water, Weather, Winter, tagged Astronomy, atmosphere, chaos theory, complexity theory, david grinspoon, denver museum, dog days, erik baard, funky science, heat, heat wave, isothermic, Joe Rao, nature, nature calendar, naturecalendar, new york city, new york times, science, solstice, Summer, sunlight, urban ecology, urban environment, urban heat, USA Today, venus on June 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
by Erik Baard A kid waiting to kayak at the Clearwater Festival last Solstice weekend asked me, “If this is the longest day of the year, then why isn’t it the hottest?” It’s a logical question, and I guess a common one. The incomparable Joe Rao addressed it in his New York [...]
Shoulder-to-Shoulder With Lightning
Posted in Manhattan, Spring, Summer, Weather, tagged american museum of natural history, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, cerc, Columbia University, empire state building, lightning, Manhattan, nature calendar, new york botanical garden, new york city, sara scovronick, urban ecology, urban environment, Weather, wildlife conservation society, Wildlife Trust on June 11, 2008 | 1 Comment »
By Sara Scovronick I live I high up in an apartment on 8th Avenue in Chelsea with a balcony that faces east over the city; perfect for watching thunderstorms. The thunderstorm that has brought a bit of relief from the recent heat, came in strong and moved out fast last night, with the [...]
WildEyed: The Pant of the “Global Hawk”
Posted in Birds, Parks, Queens, Recreation, Summer, Vertebrates, Weather, wild eyed, tagged cornell, corona, emmanuel fuentabella, erik baard, Ferruginous hawk, flushing, hawk, heat, laguardia community college, nature calendar, naturecalendar, new york city, park, Queens, queens museum, red-tailed hawk, richard furlong, tour de queens, unisphere, urban ecology, urban environment, wildeyed on June 11, 2008 | 1 Comment »
A glance at this red-tailed hawk brings to mind its famed cry, which Cornell University notes is dubbed into the beaks of hawks and eagles in movies and television shows ad infinitum. In reality you’re seeing a hawk pant. The iconic Unisphere in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is home to a pair of hawks [...]
Tour de (Heat Island) Queens
Posted in Birds, Estuary, Geology, Mammals, New York Harbor, Parks, Plants, Queens, Recreation, Spring, Summer, Trees, Uncategorized, Vertebrates, Weather, tagged administration, aeronautics, biking, Birds, chad seewagen, combine sewer, coratid rete, david berreby, geological survey, grass, hardscape, heat island, helen ho, livescience, maspeth, migratory, NASA, new yorker, newtown creek, oil, overflow, panorama, panting, Plants, Queens, queens museum, robin lloyd, space, street films, Summer, sweat, terminal moraine, tour de queens, transportation alternatives, Trees, U.S., urban, urban ecology, urban environment, USGS, village voice on June 10, 2008 | 1 Comment »
When Transportation Alternative’s absolutely wonderful Tour de Queens (enjoy the Street Films video above) rolled into Maspeth on Sunday under the blaze of a record-setting June heat wave, we were subjected to a brutal lesson in urban planning and natural history. The Newtown Creek is infamous for being home to the largest oil [...]
Movin’ On Up, and That’s Very Bad
Posted in Amphibians, Atlantic Ocean, Bronx, Brooklyn, Estuary, Fresh Water, Long Island Sound, Manhattan, New York Harbor, Parks, Ponds, Queens, Reptiles, Snakes, Staten Island, Streams, Summer, Uncategorized, Vertebrates, Water, Weather, wild eyed, tagged american museum of natural history, amnh, Amphibians, climate change, conservancy, ellen pehek, erik baard, Estuary, extinction, frogs, global change biology, global warming, grass, habitat, herpetology, marsh, marshgrass, natural resources group, new york city, parks and recreation, red back, Reptiles, salamanders, Sarah Goodyear, urban ecology, urban environment, wetlands, wildmetro on June 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
by Erik Baard Global warming is forcing the upward migration of reptiles and amphibians to cooler altitudes, according to an American Museum of Natural History researcher. While much has rightfully been made of the world’s visibly melting alpine glaciers, a desperate and quiet migration has been occurring, with creatures scaling slopes to escape [...]
Westron Wynde…
Posted in Atlantic Ocean, Flowers, Grasses, Plants, Uncategorized, Weather, tagged astoria, chicago, david child, dispersal, erik baard, gondwanaland, lic community boathouse, meetup, merrill, mount washington, mt. washington, national center for atmospheric research, nature calendar, naturecalendar, new york, new york city, owings, palomar college, peak oil, queensboro bridge, red-tail hawk, roaring forties, sail, sailing, seagulls, seed, skidmore, SOM, urban ecology, urban environment, wayne armstrong, western wind, westron wynde, wind, wind energy, windiest city on June 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
by Erik Baard Clouds sprinted across the sky, white fluffs of seeds cascaded across open fields, water rippled, and kayakers witnessed a dance of daring over Astoria as two seagulls engaged a red-tail hawk in a gyring duel (they won and drove it off). The invisible and central player in all this, of course, [...]
WildEyed: Glossy Ibis, Bronx God of Scribes
Posted in Atlantic Ocean, Birds, Bronx, Crustaceans, Estuary, Fall, Fresh Water, Insects, Invertebrates, Long Island Sound, New York Harbor, Parks, Spring, Summer, Uncategorized, Vertebrates, Weather, wild eyed, tagged audubon society, bronx river, bronx river flotilla, djehuty, glossy ibis, great egret, habitat, ibis, isis, Jamaica Bay, mute swan, new york, new york city, new york city department of parks and recreation, osiris, soundview park, south bronx, ted gruber, thoth, urban ecology on May 13, 2008 | 1 Comment »
By Erik Baard Up to a point, I love being ignorant. As an aspiring urban naturalist, I am frequently discovering my hometown’s exoticism. I had one such moment on Saturday, as I paddled up the Bronx River with a boathouse volunteer to help with the Amazing Bronx River Flotilla. Stroke by stroke we left [...]
