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.”

  • New Book

    Highly recommended. Jared Farmer’s Elderflora is unexpectedly dedicated “To the caretakers, living and dead, of Green-Wood Cemetery.” He notes elsewhere in the book that he began to outline the book in Brooklyn, so one has to assume he wandered among Green-Wood’s vales and dales when he lived here. There’s another Brooklyn connection: Edmund Schulman, of…

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  • Blazing Foreheads

    Golden-crowned Kinglet/Regulus satrapa. All over this particular day. This binomial means little king, crowned. Our other kinglet, the Ruby-crowned, turns out to be not all that similar to the other birds of the Regulus genera. Formerly known as Regulus calendula, the Ruby-crowneds were recently re-named Corthylio calendula. Corthylio calendula is the sole member of its…

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  • Latest Insects

    Finally, a warm day! Saturday’s southwinds turned the temperature up to 70F for the first time, and the joint was jumping! Saw my first Eastern Carpenter Bees of the season: this one on Lesser Celandine and another on Japanese Andromeda. Sedgesitter fly of some sort on Lesser Celandine. Black-shouldered Drone Fly on Virginia Spring Beauty.…

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  • More American Kestrel

    Marian the Falcarian, who has been monitoring this American Kestrel couple for two years, calls this the “Mean Church” because of these anti-bird spikes. Highlights of less than 45 seconds of falcon sex. Nest cavity in an old rotting cornice.

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    There were sightings of an American Kestrel female all winter from the apartment, but in the last month she’s only been spotted once. About 10 blocks and two avenues away, however, I’ve lately come across a pair in courtship. The nest site. American Kestrels are unusual amongst raptors in that they nest in cavities. There…

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  • All the way down the block

    Eight years ago, I saw my first Brooklyn Ravens at this very spot. They were grooming and cavorting on this building. Last Friday, this one flew towards me down what must surely be called Raven Street by now. The bird turned at 1st Avenue.

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  • Ospreys Return

    Last Monday I saw three Ospreys in a two-hour walk, my first sightings of the year. The bottom two photographed were high over Green-Wood heading northeasterly at the same time. The first pictured was rather lower; the bird circled around 4th Avenue and then headed back water-ward (west) towards the bay. That’s the direction of…

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  • How Like An Owl

    Feb 1st February 12th. March 5th. March 12th. (It takes about 30 days for incubation, so there could be wee tinies in there today.)

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  • Snail Safari

    I’ll be leading a Snail Safari on Earth Day, April 22nd, in conjunction with artist David Colosi’s Snaileidolia exhibition at Open Source. The exhibition is April 15-May 26, 2023. The snails pictured above are Cepaea nemoralis, the Brown-lipped or Grove Snail. At 3/4s of an inch across, this is the biggest land snail you’ll find…

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  • First Warbler

    Pine Warbler/Setophaga pinus hunting insects in a Red Maple/Acer rubrum. The bird was also eating seeds from the bird feeders in the Dell.

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