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.”

  • 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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  • 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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  • Campari Wasps

    On July 26, I spotted this wasp at the pollinator-madness of the trumpet vine flowers. Put it up on iNaturalist and bumpkiss resulted. I added four more observations up to last week, when an Italian wasp enthusiast wondered if it was Eumenes mediterraneus. It wouldn’t be the first wasp that’s made its way over: the…

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  • Even More Migration

    Ovenbird. Veery. Black-throated Blue female. Clay-colored Sparrow. First time I’ve seen one of these here in Brooklyn. Scarlet Tanager. House Wren. Hermit Thrush Damn! Brown Creeper interrupted by a building.

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    Look who’s back! The Bald Eagle with the black R over 7 band, who first showed up in the spring, has lately been seen again in Green-Wood. After eating… something, the bird stropped its bill on this branch. The bird was banded as a nestling in 2018 in New Haven, CT. There’s definitely more white…

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