Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

  • Last Minute Costume Ideas

    Late October insect sightings may inspire you… A bit conceptual, this last one: gall wasps.

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    Last Minute Costume Ideas
  • Flickering

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    Flickering
  • Raptor Wednesday

    Sharp-shinned Hawk hunting lunch on the wing. American Kestrel eyeballing lunch on the ground. Merlin on the airborne hunt for lunch. Bloody talons, swollen crop: Cooper’s Hawk digesting lunch.

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    Raptor Wednesday
  • Corvids

    Raven on the antenna. Crow, too. Two crows. (And as Newark is in the distance, several planes.)

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    Corvids
  • Monarch Monday

    Look! Up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane… …it’s a Monarch. October 18th.

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    Monarch Monday
  • Birds in Blue

    Blue Jay reading the Riot Act to a male American Kestrel with a lizard. Second-string: Northern Mockingbird on the lower right.

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    Birds in Blue
  • Water Treaders

    Mulsant’s Water Treaders/Mesavellia mulsanti, one of the small semiaquatic bugs. These were on a rock in a pond.

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    Water Treaders
  • Flycatchers

    Sometimes bee-catchers.

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    Flycatchers
  • Raptor Wednesday on Thursday

    Lizard intake October 9th. Lizard intake October 12. A Blue Jay interrupted this afternoon snack, in an incident which will be the subject of this coming Sunday’s post.

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    Raptor Wednesday on Thursday
  • Raptor Wednesday

    First Merlin sighting of the Fall Raptor Season, October 9th. Here the bird is eying a male American Kestrel on the next tree over (subject of a later post). Intent on a passing songbird. In pursuit. (Unsuccessfully.) First Red-shouldered Hawk of the season, October 12th. (This is a juvenile.)

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    Raptor Wednesday