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.”

  • Raptor Wednesday

    When the park garbage was piled up on the other end, we used to see Red-tails perched overhead a lot. This summer, the park garbage was piled up at our end, encouraging people to illegally dump stuff into the pile. The rats had an orgy in the resulting chaos. After months of complaints, a battery…

    See more

    Raptor Wednesday
  • Turtle Necks

    See more

  • A Splash of Yellow

    A bit sparrow-like from the back, but that honking bill! The Dickcissel/Spiza americana is a prairie bird that can end up among the mid-Atlantic states during migration. This was the first I’ve seen. They are the only members of the Spiza genus and have long vexed taxonomists: they are now classified in the cardinal family,…

    See more

    A Splash of Yellow
  • Autumn Meadowhawks

    See more

  • Monarch Monday

    I keep thinking I’ve seen my last of the season when I see another… or in the case of October 21st, two. (Though only one made it to the camera that day in Green-Wood.) Then two more on October 28 at Bush Terminal. Then one more, October 30th, in Prospect Park.

    See more

  • Northern Parula

    Typically a bird of the upper canopy, this Setophaga americana was foraging at eye-level in a hornbeam/Carpinus.

    See more

    Northern Parula
  • Barks

    Zelkova Elm/Zelkova serrata in the rain. Dutch Elm/Ulmus x hollandica dry as a bone.

    See more

  • Last Minute Costume Ideas

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

    See more

    Last Minute Costume Ideas
  • Flickering

    See more

    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.

    See more

    Raptor Wednesday