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.”

  • Raptor Wednesday

    Osprey over the water… the Valley Water in Green-Wood. These birds will be abandoning us soon, some heading as far as South America. On Monday, I had simultaneous Peregrines on St. Michael’s and, for the first time since the spring, on the Industry City smokestack. Consistently over the last five years, they abandon the high…

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  • Witch Hazel Trifecta

    A busy picture of American witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) and associated gall-makers. Witch Hazel Cone Gall, created by a aphid (Hormaphis hamamelidis). Spiny Witch Hazel Gall, created by another aphid (Hamamelistes spinosus). Interesting that the spiny galls run larger than the plant’s actual fruit capsules. Ant near the fruit, and that could be a winged-form…

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  • Mushroom Monday

    My boot, at bottom of image, is almost exactly one foot long. An enormous example of Berkeley’s Polypore (Bondarzewia berkeleyi). Another large polypore, Black-staining (Meripilus sumstinei). Details of the Black-staining.

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  • Whistlepigs

    dewy grass wet-bellied woodchuck good morning I come across woodchuck/groundhog holes in Green-Wood with some frequency. (Good to keep at least one eye on the ground there, lest you miss a grass-clutching moth or a one-way trip into the underworld…) But I hadn’t seen an actual Marmota monax for some time until last weekend. A…

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  • Spotted Leaves

    Speckled Tar Spot on maple. Oak LeafBlister on red oak. Pear Rust on Callery pear, top and underside of leaf. (All IDs tentative.)

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  • Dining

    We get a lot of vegetarians on this blog. But that’s not the whole story, of course. Mantid devouring a skipper. Wings discarded. Ants scavenging a… meadow cricket? Egret tossing down a small fry. Young Northern Mockingbird dispatching a dog day cicada.

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  • Some New (To Me) Species

    Someone has been chewing on this elm sapling… Elm Leaf Beetle (Xanthogaleruca luteola). White-crossed Seed Bug (Neacoryphus bicrucis). Oecanthus genus common tree cricket; species can only be told apart by examining their antennae bases. Trepobates subnitidus water striders Clustered Midrib Gall Wasp (Andricus dimorphus) on white oak. Black-bordered Lemon Moth (Marimatha nigrofimbria). Had seen before,…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    Spotted belly and thick black band on the outer edge of the tail. Blue wings, strong black band again. Male American Kestrels. Streaky belly, only a thin black band on the edge of the tail: female American Kestrels. The topside of her wings are also reddish, but we can’t see this from below.

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  • Even More Galls!

    Andricus incertus on swamp white oak (Q. bicolor) acorn. (All the below are on various swamp white oaks as well.) A cluster of Oak Rough Bulletgall Wasp galls (Disholcaspis quercusmamma). Note the ants and bee. Bald-faced Hornet and Asian Lady Beetle, too. In fact, I found several with lady beetles on them. Are the galls…

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  • Mammal Monday

    Dirty squirrel digging up an old nutty something or other. And CRONCHING it!

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