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

  • Limulus Polyphemus

    For my birthday, I was given the gift of a tattoo. The work was done by Robert Bonhomme when he was still at Brooklyn Tattoo. Robert told me that when he was a kid, his siblings would run around local beaches searching for shells, while he was always on the lookout for horseshoe crabs. That…

    mthew

    ,

  • Woodpecker Sign

    This pine is dead, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t provide a home for fungi, many an invertebrate, and an active red-tailed hawk nest. These holes attest to the various boring insects that have been pecked out by woodpeckers up and down the trunk. Wing of a woodpecker that met an untimely end. Looks too…

    mthew

    , ,

  • Spot: A Contemporary Retelling

    See Spot running around the Ravine without a leash. All dogs are supposed to be on a leash in the Ravine. Where is Spot’s leash? Can anybody find Spot’s leash? The three people in charge of Spot didn’t seem to have a leash among them. Oh, well. Spot has found a way through the fence.…

    mthew

    ,

  • In Brooklyn Bridge Park

    Honey-colored honey bee in beach rose.Sticky green fruits of Eastern cottonwood. These will eventually split open to release the cottony fluffs that carry the seeds far and wide.A bridge passes over it.

    mthew

  • Cardinal Nest

    Female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) on her eggs. Cardinals are year-around residents of the city, and one of our very vocal species, so we will definitely be hearing them on this morning’s Listening Tour. This female, however, will not be making much noise because she’s trying to be inconspicuous. Good luck! The nest is much…

    mthew

    , ,

  • Lady Bug

    My first lady bug of the year. The Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis) is also multi-spotted, or sometimes not spotted at all. It’s highly variable, with more than 100 (!) colorforms. The M-shape on the pronotum is usually a good marker of the species. Of course, that’s a W-shape if you look at it…

    mthew

    , , , ,

  • Devil’s Walkingstick

    What a great name, and perfectly understandable when you get a look at the young shoots and stems. Aralia spinosa is a native understory shrub, sometimes a small tree, of the East Coast, particularly the South. You can find it in all the boroughs; this patch was along the north end of the loop around…

    mthew

    ,

  • Boldness

    Or you could make your nest right out in the open, just a few feet from the path around the West Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. This Canada Goose’s partner sits on the path hissing up a storm at anybody with the temerity to walk by. Branta canadensis goslings are precocial like ducklings; exposed…

    mthew

    , ,

  • The Elusive Baby Pigeon

    Question: how come you never see a baby pigeon? Answer: you’re not looking hard enough. Actually, the answer might best be approached with another question: how many baby birds does anybody ever see? Ducklings, sure, but ducks are precocial, meaning they are ready to roll (and swim and follow their parents) pretty much as soon…

    mthew

    , ,

  • Polygonia demystified

    Eastern Comma butterfly (Polygonia comma). I found this photo in my archives and thought I would compare it to this photo of a Question Mark butterfly (P. interrogationis) I took the other day:These butterflies’ common names come from the small silver marks on the underside of their hindwings (the lower of the pair), which look…

    mthew

    , ,