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

    I’m a long block away, but we can still see what’s happening here. A male Kestrel has captured a lizard and flown it to the nest site. That rotted hole in the square bracket of the cornice on the right is the nest. (Hard to imagine, but adults have flown in and fledglings flown out…

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  • Kestrels: Eyes on Nesting

    A boldly marked male on 6th Avenue exploring a cornice. Three days later, it looks like that cornice hole is occupied. I suppose the Kestrel was angling for nestlings? This female Kestrel was scouting out another hole in this same building’s cornice. This also seems to be a Starling nest. But with both a male…

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    Kestrels: Eyes on Nesting
  • Not So Sylvan

    Floating in Sylvan Water, a dead Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker. (I don’t know the story before this.) Also nearby in Sylvan Water, a heavy cruiser of a Snapping Turtle. Would the twain meet? Yes. (You wait long enough by the edge of the water…) The turtle gobbled up the breast then took a short break before…

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    Not So Sylvan
  • Spider!

    The invertebrates are finally stirring.

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    Spider!
  • Seasonal Activities

    Nest-building. Staking out territory. (More staking.) Displaying. (Female looks unimpressed….) Shift-change at the nest. Big changes.

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    Seasonal Activities
  • Raptor Wednesday

    Osprey are still being spotted over Valley Water in Green-Wood. One recently broke off a stick to fly off to the West Coast (of Brooklyn) for a nest. A couple of Bald Eagles sailing past the apartment, practically at eye-level (4th floor, top of the moraine), one after the other. I’ve got so much Kestrel…

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    Raptor Wednesday
  • Woodchucks, continued

    Continuing, genetically, that is. Groundhogs are usually solitary, but it takes two to make a generation, so they mate in the spring. She will den on her own and, in about 32 days, start raising a litter. The link to my Tours and Adventure pages link was incorrect the other day. This should work.

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    Woodchucks, continued
  • Mammal Monday

    They were grazing together. And apart. Then they came together again. (What are the whispered sweet-nothings of the Whistlepigs?)

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    Mammal Monday