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.”

  • Tanagers

    As the light hits this male Scarlet Tanager… Too much light in this case. That’s a ground Yellowjacket, one of the Vespula wasps. A female, hunting in the same area. Perching at eye-level or even below, looking all around. Zipping after Hymenoptera. The male virtually crash-landed getting his prey. Piranga olivacea is actually named for…

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  • Small Flowers

    One of the cinquefoils. Two different wood sorrels (Oxalis), I think. Two different Brassica. Corn speedwell (Veronica arvensis). Tiny. Little mouse-ear, Cerastium semidecandrum. A little bit bigger than the speedwell.

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    Two years ago, this London plane tree had a dead, vertical branch on it that was a regular American Kestrel perch. It broke off in a storm in November, 2018, and, ever since, this tree has not been as blessed as a place to see the locals. But yesterday evening, the male was preening here.…

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  • Vireo gilvus

    Warbling Vireo. The species epithet gilvus means “yellowish.” That’s very light-dependent from our modern view, that is, a live bird not in hand, rather than the dead bird such taxonomic nomenclature is based on.

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  • Mammal Monday

    The baby squirrels are branching out.

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  • Neck

    This Great Egret came in for a landing, but there was another one on the shore. The two of them flew into a tussle. Not sure which one won. The other circled a few times and flew off.

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  • American Robins

    A just visible broken eye-ring. Elsewhere, a yolk-filled egg on the ground, cracked open. Some tiny insects had drowned in the yoke. Yet again elsewhere, an inch of life that didn’t. Grubstake… worm and something else. “Terrifying are the attent sleek thrushes on the lawn” writes Ted Hughes from the invertebrate’s light-sensor view.

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  • Two Well-Grounded Warblers

    Ovenbird. Worm-eating Warbler. (Needs a better publicist, right?)

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  • Pignut’s Progress

    April 19. May 2.

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    In the distance, the eagle is landing. Saturday morning, a young Bald Eagle was flying around Green-Wood again. Someone spotted two of them on Sunday. I heard one was spotted on Monday morning, chased by Red-tailed Hawks. But back to Saturday’s personal encounter. The left leg band is black, but I couldn’t read it. Here’s…

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