Walking in Riverdale Walking behind the Whitehall apartment building in Riverdale, NY, I saw a large black dust mop on a leash ahead of me. Always eager to hear a good story, I struck up a conversation with the owner. She informed me that this dog was a puli — a Hungarian sheep dog — […]
It’s Moving! It Must be Alive! Read More »
Nature Couselor A friend of mine was a nature counselor at day camp in Rockland county. Thinking that having a harmless, local snake would be an educational opportunity for the campers, he asked the camp maintenance staff to bring him a snake if they ran across one. He was expecting that they would eventually find
Check Out Some Snakes Read More »
Hope You Like the Color Orange Orange flowers on long stems are visible right now all over Riverdale. They are the wild type daylily (original plants from which others were hybridized) and are exceedingly hardy. This quality is a plus and a minus. With enough light and some water they will cover difficult pieces of
Noises in the Night If you have ever heard scrabbling in your cabinets and discovered mice, it is a sound you never forget. Years ago, on a trip through the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, we stayed overnight in an adorable little cabin. There was a sign there telling you to clean up after your
Mice are not Welcome Visitors Read More »
While Riverdale is hardly the concrete jungle that Manhattan is, we are becoming less and less suburban with all the new high-density construction. Excluding birds and squirrels that are ubiquitous and the occasional cat, mouse and even rat, I am amazed at the number of animal species we can still spot here. This is probably
Skunks are Cute but Don’t Irritate One Read More »
Would You Want a Bat as a Pet I have always thought that bats were unlovely creatures and somewhat sinister to boot. It may go back to that night when we woke up and heard something flying around our bedroom. It turned out to be a bat that had clearly lost its way. I opened
Bats Need Appreciation Also Read More »
Despite recent moderating temperatures (March 2019) here in Riverdale, our recent cold snap is still a searing memory. Fortunately, we humans can retreat into warm homes and heavy clothing, but how do animals cope? Looking through my windows, I still see some bird species gathering at my birdfeeder. I see sparrows everywhere and hear the
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What’s That I See! Sometimes something can stare you in the face for a while until you actually notice it. Standing in my front garden thinking about something, probably irrelevant, I found myself staring absent-mindedly at my Daphniphyllum macropodum, a small tree resembling a rhododendron. Daphnyphyllum macropodum- Courtesy of Koishikawa Hitohi Hulking Shape- S. Jeselsohn
Hidden in Plain Sight Read More »