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Invaders from the North
In George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, the people of The Kingdom of the North build a 700-foot-tall wall between them and the wild…
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American Kestrel. Croton Point Photo: Jeffery Seneca
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The Season of Comings and Goings
Recently my wife and I took an early morning walk in Croton Point Park. Again and again we were reminded that, while most of us…
Backyard Habitats
It’s Noisy Out There!
Sound of insects at night in late summer
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The Earliest Arrivals
“Nature abhors a vacuum,” is how the famous phrase goes. Whenever I see it, though, I always think it’s missing a follow-up sentence: “And evolution…
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The World in a Weed
Ever since the first flowering plants emerged about 130–140 million years ago, they and those that eat them have been engaged in a kind of…
Birding
Return of the Martin
In recent years, condo developments have sprung up all over Westchester. Sometimes it seems that practically every former industrial site, rail yard, or other piece…
Sanctuaries
Taking a Closer Look
For an avid birder, springtime is an endless series of surprises, a holiday that goes on for weeks. Midsummer is something different: It has its…
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Black Birders Week and Beyond
Decades later, I still vividly recall my first experience birdwatching with a group. It was a boat trip to Monomoy Island, a shorebird haven off…
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Spring Mosaic
For many of us, the past weeks of spring migration have been glorious, a bounty of warblers, tanagers, and dozens of other species passing through…
SMRA
These are not “Murder Hornets”
One summer night in 1975, I ventured into a movie theater to see Jaws. And Steven Spielberg’s witty, entertaining thriller terrified me—along with millions of…