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.”

  • Fall Galls

    You may be-galled out, but I’m certainly not. All of the above were gleaned from under a great white oak, the mother (?) of galls, on October 10. Five species of gall wasps are represented here. Pea Gall (Acraspis pezomachoides). Philonix nigra. Round Bullet Gall Wasp (Disholcaspis quercusglobulus). Andricus wendi. Clustered Midrib Gall Wasp (Andricus…

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  • RBN

    At least two Red-breasted Nuthatches were in the magic wych elm with all of yesterday’s birds. Usually whacking away at nuts, these birds weren’t about to let an invertebrate hatch-out go to waste.

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  • Feeding Frenzy

    A wych elm, a lot of tiny gnats (or something Diptera-y), and a mess of birds. To be continued tomorrow….

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  • So Many Birds

    Song Sparrow. Purple Finch. Blue-headed Vireo. Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Golden-crowned Kinglet. Solitary Sandpiper. Solar-and-fish-powered Belted Kingfisher. Dark-eyed Junco. White-crowned Sparrow. White-throated Sparrow. White-breasted Nuthatch. Red-breasted Nuthatch.

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  • Bathing Spot

    The area flanking a weeping Bald Cypress that reaches over the water is a great place to get a drink and bathe if you’re a bird. Here’s a trio of sparrows, Field, White-throated, and a Song in the background if I’m not mistaken. The baldy provides quick cover. Catbird shakin’ it. Two Blue Jays. Three…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    Back in August of 2019, what seems like a hundred years ago, I saw a male American Kestrel fly into the Monk Parakeet nest atop Green-Wood’s Neogothic gate. On October 4th of this year, I saw the same thing. The pictures were slightly better a year ago because the bird actually perched up there. Flying,…

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  • Lizards

    A small one. A smaller one. An adult. Seeing more of these Northern Italian Wall Lizards. They’re quick once they move, but if you catch them before they move…. They’re one of the reasons the American Kestrels like hanging out here, by the way.

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  • Monarch Monday

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  • Long-distance Flier

    Glowing in the understory, a Wandering Glider. And then, two days later: Spotted another one perched, rather worse for the wear. Talk about the beat generation…

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  • Blue, Red, Rot

    A Black-throated Blue Warbler hovering to bite bits out of a kousa dogwood fruit. This particular tree was hosting half a dozen species in its branches and on the ground, where a lot of the fruit had already fallen and was perfuming the air with rot. A siren-song to fruit flies. The Spot-winged Fruitflies, evidently,…

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