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.”

  • World Bee Day

    I don’t really know what World Bee Day is, but everyday is good for celebrating bees. Beeware, however, of green-washing corporate sponsors and bee-washing honey bee industrialists bearing gifts.

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    Saw this one zip in and out of a cornice but was about a block away, so wasn’t sure exactly which hole it was. There sure are options. To re-cap the Brooklyn Kestrels saga: they were displaced from their cornice nest of three breeding seasons by home repair. They moved an avenue block away. I…

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  • Butterflies

    First butterflies photographed this year. The early Mourning Cloak eluded the lens, but not the eye.

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  • Flying Food

    Birds were out in force on Saturday morning in Green-Wood when Eastern Subterranean Termites started “hatching out.” The winged reproductives pour out of their colonies and take to the air. They’re not the best of fliers, and many never even get into the air. Half an hour after I took a picture of this stump…

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  • Still On The Edge

    The female House Sparrow foraged along the edge of the Sylvan Water. Looks like she got a newly emergent damselfly. She took a look at the big Snapping Turtle and vice-versa. There are at least four Common Snappers in Green-Wood’s largest water body. This one is third-largest, the shell being about 18″ long. The creature’s…

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  • At Water’s Edge

    Not directly relevant, but I found this article on global shipping’s monstrosity fascinating.

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  • Bees

    This, on species solidarity, and the nature of the word “nature,” could be longer…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    Well, energy makes the world go ’round. The transmutation of duckling into hawk… this mature Red-tailed Hawk made two passes over the edge of the Sylvan Water recently, to the accompaniment of loud duck squawking. The second pass was successful. This was the other Red-tailed that showed up soon afterwards. No duckling on the menu…

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