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.”

mthew

  • Raptor Wednesday

    A young Bald Eagle over Floyd Bennett Field recently. Red-tailed Hawks over Green-Wood. Here are three of the four seen at the same time. Cooper’s on the solar building. American Kestrel tuning in.

  • Periscoping

    A female Red-breasted Merganser in shallow water eyeballing the undersea. She wasn’t the only one.

  • Hatched and Hunched

    Somebody has wedged these seeds into the defiles of a shagbark hickory and whacked into them. I suspect the White-breasted Nuthatch, a species in ample evidence here this winter. They’re seen and heard on every walk. Anyone care to venture the identity of these seeds? They aren’t hickory. Both the White-breasted and Red-breasted will often…

  • Oxyura jamaicensis

    A lot of Canada geese on and around Sylvan Water. But just one female Ruddy Duck.

  • At the Dance

  • Off-shore

    White-winged Scoter. Long-tailed Duck (male). Long-tailed Duck (female), a bit further out. Common Eider (young male). Red-breasted Merganser (male). Red-breasted Merganser (female). Gadwall (duck and drake).

  • Various Birds

  • Raptor Wednesday

    Cooper’s. American Kestrel. Cooper’s. Merlin. Same Merlin from the back. Those red zig-zag twigs? A linden. More Cooper’s. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Brooklyn, NY, USA, has damn good raptors. As usual, all the above sightings, from this January, were within a mile or two of home. That first Cooper’s was…

  • Bottom’s Up

  • Fagus

    A woodsy gargoyle … An allee of beeches always has a lot of detail. Pachydermal detail…