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.”

  • Wasps Cicadas Birds

    Looks innocent enough. And, really, it is. These clumps of dirt? Wasp nests.I counted 26 in this patch. Cicada-killer Wasps. As I like to say, they’re not going to bother you much if you’re not a cicada. Sure, the boys can get territorial, but don’t they always? Check out this one eyeballing this nesting field……

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  • More Butterflies

    Rare to see an Eastern Tailed-blue open like this. Male Monarch with bent wing. Very origami, but still eating. Quite a year for skippers. Spicebush Swallowtail with close-up field mark: the Federation of Planets blue-ish wedge between bottom two and the third inner orange spots. Compare with: The orange boulder wall of the Black Swallowtail.…

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  • Two Days Apart

    Peeling Puffball Lycoperdon marginatum.

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  • Monarchy

    More Monarch eggs! On common milkweed, in a couple of different spots in Green-Wood and Bush Terminal Park. I’ve yet to spot a caterpillar, but this poop is suggestive.

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  • Patterns

    And colors:

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  • Northern Mockingbird

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  • Moth O’clock

    A White-speck Moth landed on my thigh, took to my palm, walked around to my arm, and then was coaxed onto a tree. Raspberry Pyrausta Moth, stirred up as I walked by. Dogwood Borer Moth. Just sitting there.

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  • Bees

    We’ve had a lot of wasps on here recently, so how about a sampling of bees now? Great Northern and Brown-belted bumblebees. One of the leaf-cutters. Megachile genus bees carry pollen on their abdomen. Eight-toothed Cuckoo Leaf-cutter. Agapostemon genus. Confusing Furrow Bee. Maybe. Two-spotted Longhorn. Is this a drop of water or nectar? Either way,…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    I could hear this Red-tailed Hawk youngster calling from some distance away.

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  • Butterflies

    Red Admiral. Orange Sulphur. Clouded Sulphur. Black Swallowtail. Spicebush Swallowtail. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Question Mark. Red Hairstreak. Fiery Skipper (male). Eastern Tailed-blue. Summer Azure. Sachem (female left, male right).

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