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.”

  • Not As Long-tailed

    Last August, I watched a Long-tailed Giant Ichneumonid Wasp laying her eggs in the branch of a hickory in Green-Wood. (Spoiler: that’s not her above.) But when she pulled her ovipositor out (first image), I thought, well, that’s rather short, isn’t it? I mean, for these Megarhyssa macrurus beasts. That shorter ovipositor, and the wing…

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  • Monarchs

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  • Nectar-Slurping

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  • New Wasp

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  • Raptor Wednesday

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  • Baby Food

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  • Mammal Monday

    Here’s a just-published study of mammal diversity in the NYC area. Not surprisingly, “mammal species richness was higher in greenspaces with larger patch sizes and lower in greenspaces surrounded by more development. […] diversity and evenness were higher in urban natural landscapes than human-altered landscapes.” Fifteen taxa, including Homo. Small rodents were lumped together at…

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  • Stalking, Striking, Swallowing

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  • Swamp Darner

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  • Larval Forms

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