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.”

  • Trumpet Vine Connections

    A colorful Aplos planthopper nymph. Crawling over a seedpod: a Crematogaster ant.

    See more

  • Summer of Wasps

    I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these three recent books about wasps were all written by entomologists. The business of science journalism, non-scientists interpreting the often obtuse communiques in scientific journals, is roaring, but wasps really need some loving professional attention by people who’ve spent their lives among them. Wasps, after all, are the…

    See more

  • One-Two-Three

    See more

  • The Mountain Mints Have Peaked

    But are still feeding ’em. False Milkweed Bug/Lygaeus turcicus Four-toothed Mason Wasp/Monobia quadridens Rusty Spider Wasp/Tachypompilus ferrugineus Coelioxys sharp-tailed bee male Coelioxys sharp-tailed bee female Margined Leatherwing Beetle/Chauliognathus marginatus ! Northern Italian Fence Lizard/Podarcis siculus ssp. campestris. A ringer: not so much feeding on the flowers are using as a lookout, and perhaps hunting for visiting insects.

    See more

  • Misc. Bugs

    Sphaerophoria genus fly Mediterranean Katydid/Phaneroptera nana nymph Greater Anglewing/Microcentrum rhombifolium nymph Carolinian Elegant/Meromacrus acutus–a wasp-mimicking fly usually found further south. This is the second NY state iNat observation, the first being seen a bit further up the Hudson two days earlier. Emerald Jumping Spider/Paraphidippus aurantius (honorary “bug”) Twice-stabbed Stink Bugs/Cosmopepla lintneriana Villa genus fly. Inactive…

    See more

  • Raptor Wednesday

    Sightings of female and male American Kestrel about 45 minutes and a 1000 feet apart.

    See more

  • Some Faces

    See more

  • Monarchs

    Male perching on Common Milkweed pod. Female ovipositing on Common Milkweed pod. Have not seen this before: usually they lay on the underside of the leaves. Especially on young plants, before they flower, much less fruit. A couple more eggs. I spotted this one for my last Green-Wood Members’ walk. A couple of days later,…

    See more

  • Insect Fashion

    Best-dressed Invasive. Spotted Lanternfly/Lycorma delicatula Color splotch! Black Swallowtail/Papilio polyxenes Pure killer. Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp/Sphecius speciosus Off the rack? Apantesis moth wing. Can’t touch this. Great Golden Digger Wasp/Sphex ichneumoneus Pin-stripe equivalent Macaria genus moth. Red Milkweed Beetle/Tetraopes tetrophthalmus resort wear. True bug formal. Lygaeidae family. Geometric… Oblique Streaktail/Allograpta obliqua Basics… Yellow-legged Mud-dauber Wasp/Sceliphron caementarium

    See more

  • Mockingbird

    See more