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.”

  • Mood Board

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  • Spiders

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  • The Ravens’ Nest

    On January 1st, 2015, I saw two Common Ravens canoodling on an abandoned building down at the waterfront. I’d seen these large corvids in the Hudson Highlands, the Scottish Highlands, and out in the American west before this, and once or twice I’d seen them passing over this borough on the western end of Long…

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  • Magnolia Monday

    Speaking of magnolias, find yourself a Magnolia hypoleuca x virginiana ‘Nimbus‘ (oy!) in bloom and smell. Wowza!

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  • Spring Galls

    I’ve found at least 86 species of gall-inducers here in Brooklyn, amongst a rather depauperate and heavily invasive biota. I say “at least” because I’ve come across a few that have not yet been described. Check out the ever-expanding gallformers.org database.

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  • Ticks

    And here’s an American Dog Tick found at Four Sparrow Marsh years ago, the only Brooklyn location I’ve spotted a tick so far. These are the big three species in NYC. There’s also a Groundhog Tick, too?

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  • Airborne

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  • In the Fog

    The wind had finally turned to come from the south overnight. There were Cape May, Black and White, Canada, Blackpoll, American Redstart, Black-throated Blue, Ovenbird, and Northern Parula in the awful light. (Not a single photograph of birds in the trees came out worthy of sharing.)

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