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.”

Fieldnotes

  • Kestrel

    This male Kestrel (Falco sparverius) made two fruitless passes at the noisy scrum of Monk Parakeets at the Green-Wood gate. The parakeets are a little longer in body-length but have shorter wingspan than these small falcons, so I wonder if they ever succumb to attack. Certainly the parakeets provide food for raptors; I’ve found their…

    mthew

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  • Still Hanging On

    In early November, I found four adult Two-spotted Ladybeetles (Adalia bipunctata). And without looking very hard. I just stood under the tree and looked up.

    mthew

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  • White Oak

    The pale underside of some Eastern White Oak (Quercus alba) leaves found on Mt. Taurus.This is another specimen of the tree, two weeks later, in Green-Wood. It’s been a spectacular fall. Same tree, with some Hedgehog Galls. I also explore these fuzzy galls a little more here.

    mthew

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  • Pigeon Hawk

    A really nice and extended look at a Merlin (Falco columbarius) yesterday in Green-Wood. The bird gave me the big, beady eyes, too.These falcons are known for perching for a long period of time, eyes on the lookout for the prize. The surroundings were busy with Blue Jays and Monk Parakeets.The faint Fu Manchu “mustache”…

    mthew

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  • Last Dragonfly

    I took this picture through a window and at some distance. This was actually a sculptural element on the wall of a florist’s. But the two-foot wingspan reminded me of the ancient dragonflies. The extinct Meganeura genus, preserved in some pretty spectacular fossils, had wingspans up to 25″ (65 cm) around 300 million years ago.

    mthew

  • Resin

    A fist-sized clump of resin. Usually associated with coniferous trees, this frozen waterfall of hydrocarbons, and several others, were on a deciduous tree I couldn’t identify on the Lyndhurst estate in Tarrytown. (The grounds are a 19th century landscaper’s dream, rich with exotica.) Resins seem to have a defensive function, battling insects and smaller threats.…

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  • After barely a summer

    Death among the asters.

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  • What a fall!

    The Lullwater. Wood Ducks and a Pied Grebe and turtles and meadowhawks.Red Maple (Acer rubrum) burning up the Vale.

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  • Auspices

    On an otherwise empty platform of the Ardsley-on-Hudson train station, this White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) lay dead, probably a victim of collision with the windows overlooking the Hudson. It was a day for symbolism. We saw eagles and hawks in the sky, foretelling what exactly (this probably depended, for the ancient Romans, on how much…

    mthew

  • Palisades

    One last boating trip of the year.The Commodore headed up the Hudson for a look at the leaves.A hazy afternoon made for some impressionistic views.

    mthew

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