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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Surprised and delighted to see this barred owl this morning. 🪶

Barred owl perched on a branch looking forward.

Barred owl perched on a branch looking down at a squirrel.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

I think he was annoyed with me taking his picture. Too cute! #goldencrownedkinglet 🪶

A golden crowned kinglet bird squats down on a branch.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Spring migrants are starting to show up. How exciting! #NatureNYC

Northern Flicker bird on a tree showing the heart shaped feathers of their nape.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

A hooded merganser paddling on Central Park's Turtle Pond. Peak leaf colors paint a bold reflection on the water. 🪶

Male hooded merganser duck paddling on a pond.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Red tailed hawk leaving a fence by the ballfields in Central Park. 🪶

Red tailed hawk with wings up flying away from a chain link fence

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Took a good look at us before carrying on. #caroliawren 🪶

A Carolina Wren standing on a rock looking with one eye directly at the viewer.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Nashville Warbler in a patch of Jimsonweed. Central Park. 10.26 🪶

A Nashville Warbler, looking sideways, while sitting in the sun on a patch of Jimsonweed

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Tomatoes growing wild in a city park? I guess so! 🍅 #riversideparknyc #naturenyc

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Stumbled across a large number of Atlantic Sand Fiddler Crabs on the move at Stone Harbor Beach.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Gray tree frog. Cape May Meadows. I'm in Cape May all week & I'm having a blast. Hopefully I've got some good bird pics that I can share when I get back.

A gray tree frog rests on a metal trail rail that is covered with morning dew.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Whoa! No idea what species of mushroom this is but it's huge and amazing looking. Check out the guttation or sweating. #naturenyc

Huge mushroom on a living oak tree trunk.

Closeup of a huge mushroom on a living oak tree trunk.

Closeup of a huge mushroom on a living oak tree trunk showing guttation

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

At first I thought a snapping turtle was killing someone but, as I got closer, I realized it was two snapping turtles in love. 🖤 So prehistoric looking. Claws were going everywhere! Today at the Central Park Pool.

Two snapping turtles, covered in duckweed, in a pond

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly with a piece of wing missing. Seen at the Central Park Butterfly Garden today. #naturenyc

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Good number of migrants showing in Riverside Park this morning. 103-116. Lots of redstarts, couple of black & whites, waterthrush & ovenbird. Get out today there if you can. Seems birdy.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

A petunia (?) growing in the cracks of the sidewalk. #NatureNYC

A pink flower, perhaps a petunia, growing in the cracks of a sidewalk

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Looking forward to all the butterflies that will visit this pretty Japanese Spirea plant. Every year the blooms are so vibrant & cheerful. So needed these days. #WildflowerWednesday

Closeup on a bright pink bloom of Japanese Spirea

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Recommending this short doc, Seaweed Stories. Loved this! youtu.be/zpHzvE_HLGY?...

youtu.be

Seaweed Stories

YouTube video by Leonardo DiCaprio

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

A delicate herbaceous plant, Honewort, with a spray of pretty white flowers and a terrible name. So many "worts" which makes remembering them a challenge. #WildflowerWednesday

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Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

The first plant for #WildflowerWednesday is Japanese Mazus (Mazus pumilus) which is often seen growing in soil that has collected in sidewalk fissures. #NatureNYC

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

With so much rain recently, I've been looking closely for mushrooms & to my delight, I spotted a giant puffball! Never fails to impress me. You might mistake them for actual balls. If you see a large white blob, do take a closer look. Love these! #WildflowerWednesday

A giant puffball mushroom, growing out of the leaf litter, surrounded by plants

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Reposted by Michelle

AnneA @annenc.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

A few more I saw blooming today. #WildflowerWednesday

Butterfly weed. Clusters of tiny orange flowers and also some unopened buds.

A group of yellow coneflowers (Black-eyed Susan). The tallest one has red at the base of each petal. Some unripe wild blackberries are behind them.

Wild meadow garlic, in the process of blooming. Lavender flowers with stipes are emerging from a brown shell.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Whoa! Those are amazing, both pics & plants! Bryophytes are new to me.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

While you're looking for wildflowers, you might come across these really cool Royal Ferns. The rusty-colored spore producing (reproductive) part, at the top, looks like a crown thus the common name Royal Ferns. #WildflowerWednesday

A group of Royal Ferns growing in a park

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Reposted by Michelle

Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

It’s officially #summer in #NYC only when Chicory begins to bloom. #NatureNYC

Blue aster-family flowers on mostly leafless flowering stems, Chicory in bloom.

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Reposted by Michelle

Season of Scaryanne Denton 🧡🎃 @mariannedenton.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Wandering on the Beautiful Path: I love bug & flower season. ~ Behr’s Hairstreak (Satyrium behrii) Snowbrush Ceanothus (Ceanothus velutinus) 🌿

A small grey butterfly with iridescent wings sipping nectar from a cluster of very small white flowers.

Butterfly from Butterflies & Moths:
Tailless. Upperside orange with wide brown borders on forewing. Underside of male brown, female brownish-white; both with postmarginal and submarginal lines of irregular small black spots.
Wing Span: 1 - 1 1/4 inches (2.5 - 3.2 cm).

Flowers/Shrub from Wikipedia:
Ceanothus velutinus grows up to 4 metres (13 feet) tall but generally remains under 3 metres, and forms colonies of individuals which tangle together to form nearly impenetrable thickets. The aromatic evergreen leaves are alternately arranged, each up to 8 centimetres (3 inches) long. The leaves are oval in shape with minute glandular teeth along the edges, and shiny green and hairless on the top surface. The plentiful inflorescences are long clusters of white flowers.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

My fave milkweed! So elegant! And yes, I do think of this as a high summer bloomer. Love this photo!

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

A glistening cluster of ink caps emerged after a recent rainstorm. There is a deceased tree stump nearby & I bet these are coming from the decaying wood from that tree's roots. Looks like wood aster growing alongside them. #WildflowerWednesday

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Milkweed has entered the chat.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Recommending the Hilma af Klint exhibition, "What Stands Behind the Flowers," at MoMa. Pick up the tote too! #WildflowerWednesday

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

This is beautiful! What a path!

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AnneA @annenc.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

A few I saw blooming this week. #WildflowerWednesday

Wild Quinine. White fleshy button-like flowers in a loose cluster with green leaves below them.

A hot pink Red Clover flower growing in a field of tall grass.

Horse Nettle. White and lavender flower with five petals and a yellow/orange center. A cluster of unopened flower buds below.

Deptford Pink aka Grass Pink. Two flowers, each with five serrated petals, vivid shades of pink from pale to dark.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

I'm starting to see Fleabane blooming. I think I prefer this slightly purple variety but any Fleabane is adorable. Are you seeing these cute, daisy-like flowers near you? #WildflowerWednesday

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Do the stamen hairs of Spiderwort change when exposed to low levels of radiation? In cultivated plants, yes, according to studies by Dr. Sadao Ichikawa. 🤔 #WildflowerWednesday

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

TONIGHT: Join us for a live chat from 8-9 EST where we will be talking wildflowers, weeds, trees & more! Share your observations using the hashtag #WildFlowerWednesday or tag our feed #NatureNYC to be featured.

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Tim Graves @ibirdsometimes.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

I made a trip to Shawangunk Grasslands NWR and got nice looks at the singing Grasshopper Sparrows 🪶

A brown and orangey Grasshopper Sparrow perched on a twig and just singing his little heart out.

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Reposted by Michelle

The napping birder @thenappingbirder.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

It’s always a celebration when a Black Throated Green descends from the treetops #birds

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Another capture of the green heron fishing at the 2nd cutout today. Moved quite a bit but didn't get any fish while I was observing. I'm always surprised by how small these herons are. 🪶

Green heron walking in a shallow pond while fishing.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Baby was at the Pool this morning. I feel like this is the same juvie black crowned night heron that has been around this area for a long while. It's nice to take a pic of a large, very still bird 😄.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Noticed this at the Central Park Boardwalk. 🤔 Anyone know what this could be? #NatureNYC

A device with writing on it about skunk cabbage research.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

What a fantastic #WildflowerWednesday this week!! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed. All the posts were excellent!

Silvery back of a vine growing over a rock wall.

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Reposted by Michelle

gees @gee-or-gia.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

🐧 #WildflowerWednesday Formerly a flower—Partridgeberry on the forest floor.

bright red fruit surrounded by small leaves among leaf layer in the woods.

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Priyantha Wijesinghe @elaphrornis.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Speaking of pea family plants & their flowers, here's what I think is Hairy Vetch, Vicia cracca. Taken from a distance since this clump wasn't easily accessible, but you can find the species growing occasionally even in tree pits. #WildflowerWednesday #NatureNYC

Spiky clusters of purplish blue and white pea type flowers, presumably Hairy Vetch.

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Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

The prettiest pinks, Carolina Rose, will steal your heart. 🩷 The sweet baby buds 🩷 The delicate rose scent 🩷 The deep green foliage 🩷 The lovely soft blooms Bonus: they are natives in NY. Please plant them. You won't regret it. #WildflowerWednesday

Carlina Rose bush with three big pink blooms.

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Reposted by Michelle

gees @gee-or-gia.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

📯 #WildflowerWednesday Bugles in a ditch.

Bugle flowers - tiny purple petalled plant growing among leafy layer of a ditch.

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