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.”

  • Anhinga anhinga

    Bufo bufo, Buteo buteo, Vulpes vulpes, Gorilla gorilla, Rattus rattus, Bison bison… I do love a double-barreled binomial, also known as a tautonym. Anyway, snowbirds will know the Anhinga as a bird of Florida. They don’t generally get north of North Carolina. But with fascism on the loose in Florida, everybody’s leaving… here’s one in…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    A Red-tailed Hawk glides down down with its wings hunched up. I though it was a plastic bag in the air at first. Then it landed in this Eastern Cottonwood and voila, the local American Kestrel male let up a war-cry and came calling. The Red-tail soon departed, bearing a stick in talons for a…

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  • Seeing (Spring) Red

    Female American Sweetgum flowers, smaller than a dime so far. These mature into green, golf ball sized fruit balls, eventually drying to dark brown. Ailanthus buds. Male Eastern Cottonwood flowers. Red is a popular color in spring time. The pigment anthocyanin protects tender plant parts: buds, new leaves, and young fruits from the the UV…

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  • Halteres

    Revisiting this large crane fly. Rather prominently on the left side of the fly is a halter (also spelled haltere). The creature has two of them. This is a big fly, so they’re really quite prominent, but every fly has them (plural: halteres). They can be paddle-shaped, drumstick-shaped, even a bit bowling pin-shaped. Here they’re…

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  • Wild Yards

    In one sense, this is a rather depressing book. Nancy Lawson is the author of two books on the wilds of the backyard. This doesn’t seem to have had much effect on her neighbors. She’s surrounded by killers. Her neighbors are constantly felling trees, mowing and whacking, leaf-blowing, and, periodically, madly stomping on 17-year cicadas.…

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  • Lotta Lizards

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  • Bird, Caterpillar

    “Flycatcher” you say? A big fat caterpillar being battered to death. The bird actually dropped this juicy specimen and re-caught it in the air. Quite impressive, as I noticed this when reviewing my pictures. The bird’s upper bill is missing. *** Oof! I put the wrong link in yesterday for tomorrow’s Snail Safari. It’s updated…

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  • Flaring

    There were a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets foraging in this oak, and that got some of their hackles up: *** It’s almost the last chance to sign up for our Snail Safari on Saturday…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    This is the second year for this nest. The mate, presumably the male. Distinctively wing-gapped. This one is banded with both a federal band (silver–not much good to the observer unless the bird is in hand) and a light blue with alphanumeric 10 over A (just readable in photographs) band. I reported to the Bird…

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  • Reporting for Duty

    April 9th: Cabbage White April 9th: Sylvanelater cylindriformis (I think) April 9th: a small mining bee April 9th: another unknown bee April 10: American Lady April 11th: mining bee (species unknown) April 11th: Ichneumonidae wasp April 12th: Cabbage Whites don’t waste time. April 13th: Common Blue Darners, a migratory species, the first Odonata I’ve seen…

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