Lafayette Park Blog

The Lafayette Park Conservancy (LPC) sees a lot when it looks at the park. We like to share those observations with you from time to time. They may deal with nature or people, events or history – a random assortment that you’re free to browse anytime.

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VERT-de-GRIS

VERT-de-GRIS

As you might imagine, I was caught completely off-guard when, strolling through the shire one evening, a dashing young prince in the guise of a Blanchard’s cricket frog (Acris blanchardi) bounced out of the shadows and onto the path before me, demanding a kiss.

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LIKE CATS… AND DOGS

LIKE CATS… AND DOGS

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Gazing blearily through coffee steam, a ghostly figure wafting through the early morning haze caught my neighbor's eye. “At first, it was just a ginger-orange and white shadow," she told me, "and I thought, Oh, no… another stray cat.” The...

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WASTE MANAGEMENT

WASTE MANAGEMENT

If you’re an American Black Vulture (or ABV, aka Coragyps atratus), feasting on freshly squished squirrel is all in a day’s work and part of your duties as a sanitation worker.

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SPACE INVADERS

SPACE INVADERS

The aliens are back.
Just when I thought they were through with me they reappeared, sliding silently through walls that appear solid (but the quantum physicists know better). Suddenly they are everywhere. Staring at me from the rim of a glass when I open the cupboard. Calmly observing me as I sleep from my sweetheart’s framed photo on the bedside table. These aliens aren’t otherworldly galactic hitchhikers, though. They’re Earthlings. Members of the Pentatomoidea clan (aka shield bugs).

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SMALL, DARK & HANDSOME

SMALL, DARK & HANDSOME

As you might imagine, I was caught completely off-guard when, strolling through the shire one evening, a dashing young prince in the guise of a Blanchard’s cricket frog (Acris blanchardi) bounced out of the shadows and onto the path before me, demanding a kiss.

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MIGHTY MITE

MIGHTY MITE

Big things come in small packages, we’re told… and if you’d like some evidence to support that theory, boy-howdy, have I got a potent little parcel for you — the Golden-Crowned Kinglet!

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FISHING FOR THE RIGHT TOOL

FISHING FOR THE RIGHT TOOL

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Strolling through Lafayette Park early one evening, I took note of the usual suspects distributed along the edge of the centerpiece man-made lake as they waited patiently for red-and-white bobbers to disappear below the surface. The...

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POLE-SITTERS

POLE-SITTERS

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Great-Uncle Al was a creative man. A resourceful non-conformist.  That’s a euphemistic way of saying he was a hustler. Al never let logic or credentials stand between him and the chance to earn some cash. His resumé, so to speak, read like a...

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NUTCRACKER SUITE

NUTCRACKER SUITE

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Ever wonder why hens’ teeth (and any other kind of avian teeth for that matter) are rare? It’s because teeth are heavy. That’s a problem if you live life on the wing but can’t use a knife and fork to cut your meals up into easy-to-swallow...

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KING OF THE ROAD

KING OF THE ROAD

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD There’s a wonderful word—one of my favorites — to describe creatures that are active at dawn and dusk. Crepuscular. There are plenty of them so the great outdoors gets lively when the light is low, making dusk and dawn excellent times to see...

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RUNNER-UP (repost)

RUNNER-UP (repost)

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD I don’t know what American grade school kids are being taught these days—my days at Oakville Elementary ended a couple of decades ago (okay, fine—several decades ago) so I don’t have direct access to 21st century homework assignments. But I’ll...

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LONG-STEMMED

LONG-STEMMED

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Daddy longlegs are the jazz cats of the arachnid world! This realization came to me as I watched a single backlit note bebop across the asphalt path in front of me. A soundtrack of jazz piano greats immediately began to play in my head — Willie...

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THE GREAT PUMPKINSEED

THE GREAT PUMPKINSEED

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Setting out for a walk, I paused just past my building’s threshold to savor morning air crisp as a fresh Granny Smith apple, perfumed with a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves that have been whisked, infused, and frappéd into breads,...

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History of the Lafayette Park Fence

History of the Lafayette Park Fence

An LPC Presentation; November 14, 3:00 pm The Lafayette Park Conservancy presents A History of the Lafayette Park Fence in it's autumn speaker series; Sunday, November 14, 2021 at the Kern Pavilion in Lafayette Park. Robert Frost wrote that "good fences make good...

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STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Have you ever listened to the mesmerizing serenade of field crickets (Gryllus spp.) on a crisp autumn evening and wondered why they're doing that? I mean, the mercury's definitely headed south, the nights are going to become pretty chill, and...

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WEBMASTERS

WEBMASTERS

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Enter the term "engineering marvels" into your favorite search engine and you'll see there's some debate over the Top 10 but several projects always seem to hit the mark, such as Dubai's Palm Islands, the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, the...

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SOCIAL NETWORK

SOCIAL NETWORK

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Mark Zuckerberg would not be one of 100 wealthiest and most influential people in the world without the help of wasps. I mean the six-legged kind (whether or not two-legged WASPs should get any of the credit is something for attorneys to discuss...

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DAMSELS AND DRAGONS (BUT NO PRINCE)

DAMSELS AND DRAGONS (BUT NO PRINCE)

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Once upon a time there was a damsel(fly). [Imagine, if you will, a bucolic Disneyesque soundtrack of flutes and piccolos in the background.] She (or maybe he -- this is a modern fairly tale) explored the lovely little pond from which s/he had...

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BULL SESSION

BULL SESSION

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD I say potato, you like potahtos. You wear pajamas, I wear PJs. And a rose by any other name, we’re told, would smell equally sweet. So does it really matter that we all agree on what to call an American bullfrog? “HELL, YEAH!”  That’s the...

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