Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Wildlife
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography, Wildlife on May 31 2012, by Matt Newman
Look to have a bird-brained afternoon as we set aside this beautiful Thursday to celebrate the treetop tweeters of The New York Botanical Garden! We’re flora people, yes, but there’s a majesty (and, at times, comedy) to the diverse fauna of the Garden. Nothing speaks of elegance and grace quite like a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk fumbling its lunch all over Tulip Tree Allée.
If you’re looking to get better acquainted with our feathered friends, stop by on Saturday mornings for the weekly Bird Walk with resident expert Debbie Becker! Binoculars, cameras, and gasps of awe welcome.
Photo by Pat Gonzalez
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography, Wildlife on May 6 2012, by Matt Newman
The disapproving waterfowl of the NYBG, ever ready and willing to shame you into putting down that camera.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Wildlife on November 11 2011, by Matt Newman
They’re a curious lot, these dusky squirrels, with their furry ears and black cat sensibilities. You might almost think them bad luck, though even the most superstitious among us would be hard-pressed to toss salt over our shoulders after crossing paths with this forest rodent. And I’m not even sure that’s the right protocol for countering such a thing. Still, these little shadows are worth investigating.
I noticed the black squirrels for the first time while riding shotgun in one of the Garden’s staff golf carts (though the Mosholu course is close, I imagine we only have these because management didn’t take the suggestion of supplying us with go-karts in good humor.) The fellow in the driver’s seat pointed them out as an idle fascination, then asked me if I’d ever seen such a thing. But while a funny sight, there’s initially nothing about their behavior to differentiate them from the eastern gray squirrels you find stuffing capped acorns into their cheeks or, in my case, infiltrating the attic and chewing my home’s wiring threadbare. They breed with the grays, eat the same foods, and in urban areas of the Bronx are just as prone to hassle you for snacks, having grown too accustomed to people.
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Posted in Photography on October 22 2011, by Ann Rafalko
Is that you Tiffany Turkey?
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on September 3 2011, by Ann Rafalko
Levitating Chipmunk (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Posted in Photography on August 10 2011, by Ann Rafalko
This mama duck decided that one of the beds in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden would be a perfect place to start a new family, so she built a nest right in the middle of one!
Mama Duck says “Quack!” (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Posted in Wildlife on July 26 2011, by Thomas Andres
| Thomas C. Andres is an Honorary Research Associate at the Garden. |
Humans weren’t the only ones suffering during last week’s record-breaking heatwave. The Garden’s plants and animals were also feeling the heat. And while the plants relied upon human-intervention to maintain their cool, the Garden’s feathered and fluffy residents were able to take matters into their own hands, paws, and wings.
Coping Mechanism One: Cool Off the Belly On a Mossy Tree Trunk
Eastern Gray Squirrel
Coping Mechanism Two: Sip a Mimosa
Tiger Swallowtail feeding on the nectar of a Mimosa tree, Albizia julibrissin
More coping mechanisms below!
Posted in Photography on July 9 2011, by Ann Rafalko
What do frogs say when playing hide and seek? Ribbit? Boo? Tag?
Camo-frog (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Posted in Photography on June 10 2011, by Ann Rafalko
We sure have some paparazzi-shy turtles around here!
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography, Wildlife on May 27 2011, by Ann Rafalko
NYBG Member and amateur wildlife photographer Patricia Gonzalez took these amazing photographs of a mama Wood Duck and her 17 ducklings!
Can you imagine trying to keep them all straight?
What would you name each of them?
