A long good weekend

It was profoundly heartening that everybody on the roof yesterday afternoon was a little bee-mad. Even the little one whose nappy was riding high above her jammies. Some wiseacre asked the kid if she knew the princess who lived in this tower:

Here’s the view from Atlantic Ave. This is the 23rd Regiment Armory at Bedford Avenue, used now to house the homeless:

Green-wood Cemetery was full of birds this morning. I went looking for the Eurasian wigeon recently reported, but did not see it. There was a male wood duck, though, on the Valley Water and then on the Sylvan Water, possibly the same one, since I flushed the first one I saw. A black duck/mallard cross had me puzzled for a time. Robins and northern flickers were dominant, with the parrots and starlings adding their clatter. Sweeps of chipping sparrow, palm warbler, and junco were found, the palms being my second warbler of the season. Also hermit thrush, brown thrasher, ruby-crowned kinglet, white-breasted nuthatch, red-bellied wp, downy wp, mallard duck, Canada goose, snow goose, black-crowned night heron, robin, swamp sparrow, red-tailed hawk, song sparrow, palm warbler, starling, crow, pigeon, mocking bird. I had a good luck at the red-tail nest at the intersection of Linden Avenue & Atlantic Avenue. Much better tree than the conifer they used last year. But less better for us voyeurs.
This afternoon, we finally got a look into the garden hives. We opened them both up, cleaning off the excess propolis and brace comb. We looked for the queens, or her sign (eggs, larva, brood), and added some pollen patties. Hive D is light; there’s a queen, but only a couple thousand bees. We’re going to add a package with a new queen in two weeks. Hive C looks strong, though. The queen wasn’t seen, but there was brood.