Happy Labor Day

 

Laughing gulls, Larus atricilla, started flying south in August. They will be gone from the northeast soon. See you next summer! Click to enlarge.

It's May!

 

Wasn't the first week of May nice? Click to enlarge.

                     

   As the Scottish poet James Thompson (1700-48) said: 

"Among the changing months, May stands confessed
The sweetest, and in fairest colors dressed!"

Wait -- Is May the shortest month of the year? It only had three letters. 

 

Not sure -- but I don't think the bees will be able to make up their minds anymore, now that they've all become May bees.

 

Just remember that although April showers bring may flowers, Mayflowers bring pilgrims.

And in closing I ask -- can February march? Well, no. But April may. 

Happy Labor Day Weekend

 

This laughing gull pilfered a ketchup-dipped french fry from my picnic and is about to fly away with it. Documented theft right here. I caught him red-beaked! Let it be a reminder that -- around here, at least -- outdoor dining, laughing gulls, and summer are about to end. Have a happy Labor Day! Click to enlarge.

End of August

I've heard people say that August is the Sunday of summer. 

Here's to the last Sunday of August 2018 and summer's end!

I've posted below a few favorite photos from my August blogs of years past. 

A great Egret coming in for a landing, trailing toes. Click to enlarge.

A monarch butterfly. 

Rolling hills of Northern New Jersey in August. 

A laughing gull line up. 

Honey bee drinking a drop of water from a leaf. 

A carpenter bee on milkweed flowers. 

A bullfrog keeping an eye on me.

Snow geese overhead. 

A bumblebee at work. 

A great black wasp. 

A summer azure butterfly with striped antennae.

A deer watching me watch him. 

A baby northern cardinal with punk hairdo. 

An elegant monarch butterfly caterpillar climbing upward. 

Bird Jokes!

Know why I fly over the sea?
Because if I flew over the bay -- I'd be a bagel. Ha ha ha ha ha!

Know why I hold up one foot?
Because if I held up two -- I'd fall over. LoLoLoL!

What's got six legs and can fly? Us! Ha ha ha!  

What's the best time to buy a parrot?
When they're going cheep! Ha! 

Composing a tweet right now. :-) 

Laughing Gull Season is Almost Over

I keep noticing laughing gulls, Leucophaeus atricilla, around New York and thinking about how they will soon be gone for the year. Laughing gulls that breed in the northeast fly south for winter to the southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and to Central and South America.  I bet they are beginning to feel the pull. 

We are lucky to have laughing gulls at all; northeastern populations were nearly eliminated in the 19th century by plume hunters.           Click on the photos to enlarge. 

Breeding adult laughing gulls are easy to identify by their black hoods and bright red bills. And they sound like they are laughing when they call from beach or sky in loud descending notes, haa-haa-haa-haa; it's a sound that defines summer on the east coast. 

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. Click on the images to enlarge. 

“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, shrank. Or was it me that wavered, stretched, and shrank in the silence? I was warped in the folds of time, like a reflection in a fun house mirror.” Haruki Murakami, from Dance Dance Dance. 

“Mirrors are perpetually deceitful. They lie and steal your true self. They reveal only what your mind believes it sees.” Dee Remy, from There Was Once a Boy.  

“Bewilderment increases in the presence of the mirrors.” Tarjei Vessas, from The Boat in the Evening.  

"Look in the mirror and one thing's sure; what we see is not who we are." Richard Bach.   

“Mirrors,' she said, 'are never to be trusted.” Neil Gaiman, from Coraline. 

“Mirrors should think longer before they reflect.” Jean Cocteau.