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.”

  • Pachypsylla venusta

    Recently, I glanced up at a sidewalk Common Hackberry/Celtis occidentalis I pass almost everyday. I noticed this for the first time. Turned out there were a few others. These are the galls created by Pachypsylla venusta, the Hackberry Petiole Gall Psyllid. This is only the second time I’ve seen this species here in Brooklyn. There…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    March 2nd. March 3rd. March 4th March 9th. March 12th. March 19th: circling with another adult as a third Red-tail checks out the romance situation. Not seen by myself, but the group I was with described the bird to a T (or a V): March 26. Going through my picture files I see I have…

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  • First Bee

    My first wild* bee of the season. This is an Unequal Cellophane Bee/Colletes inaequalis. The species is one of the earliest to emerge out of the ground of winter. Reports had them showing up further out on Long Island and in New Jersey in February, but this sighting was March 21. A fast mover, rarely…

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  • Elm

    The great American Elm in Sunset Park a few years ago. During 2015 and 2016, I photographed this tree through the seasons. Note that incredible branch on the right; it swooped down, it swooped up. Last Thursday, that long, serpentine, branch was cut off. It was longer than the tree is tall. So low, people…

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  • Incidentally

    Whilst slurping up nectar from Virginia Spring Beauty flowers, this fly gets some pollen stuck to its hairs. Still the same flower, but should the fly venture into another VSB flower, some of that pollen may contact the stigma…but will it?

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  • Crescent Water Warming Up

    Lots of big American Bullfrog tadpoles rising out of the murk for a gulp of oxygen. Minnows, too. And sculling across the surface, a swift Hesperocorixa water boatman. This is either the 1,248th animals species I’ve documented in NYC for iNaturalist or the 1,481st, depending on how you ask iNaturalist to count.

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  • Avant garde

    Second sighting this year of an Eastern Phoebe. In past years, there were sometimes EP lingerers all through winter in Green-Wood. This winter, I hadn’t noticed a one until March 12. The one pictured here was seen March 17.

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  • Black-capped

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    Dodging Blue Jays, a Cooper’s filled with somebody digests in a yew.

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  • Beauty Rust

    The strappy leaves of Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) can easily be overlooked. But do look closer: This is Spring Beauty Rust/Puccinia mariae-wilsoniae. Virginia Spring Beauties come in a range of colors. The pink-flowered ones are more likely to be eaten by slugs. Wet springs, then, can result in fewer pink flowers. The white-flowered ones…

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