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.”

  • Wet Ravens

    A trio of wet ravens on the roofline. They probably bathed in some rooftop puddles somewhere around here.

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    Wet Ravens
  • Twilight Chicken?

    Or Chukar, an escapee from a live poultry market. Was pecking away at the parapet of this four story building when I went up there to set up a bug light. Hop-flew onto the next building…

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    Twilight Chicken?
  • Beetlemania

    Small Tortoise Beetle (I think). Slender Lizard Beetle (I think) Imported Willow Leaf Beetles defoliating willows. Crenate Cylindrical Bark Beetle (I think). Blackened Milkweed Beetle. There are a bunch of Long-horned Milkweed beetles in the genus Tetraopes, but only three range in the East. I’d only every seen the Red Milkweed here in NYC until…

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    Beetlemania
  • Raptor Wednesday

    Osprey harried by persistent songbird. Here’s one with a small fish being chased by a Red-winged Blackbird. June 26: awfully late for nest-building. Is this stick for maintenance, practice, hopefulness? Carrying a stick out of Green-Wood on July10th.

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    Raptor Wednesday
  • Woodsy Birds

    A robust chiseling in the woods… —turned out to be a juvenile Hairy Woodpecker. Presumably hatched right here in Prospect Park. A Great Crested Flycatcher… also breeding? Event Alert: This Friday, weather permitting, I will be setting up some insect light “traps” for the Brooklyn Bird Club just inside Prospect Park at the 5th St./Prospect…

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    Woodsy Birds
  • Mammal Monday

    Green-Wood rarely sees Eastern Chipmunks, but nearby Prospect Park has a population. You will usually hear them first. Same, with flash in the dark understory.

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    Mammal Monday
  • Wasps on Mountain Mints

    Wasps are carnivorous, at least at their larval stage. Adults take nectar, and tiny-flowered Mountain Mints/Pycnanthemum are gushing founts of nectar. (There were also bees, flies, beetles, true bugs, and butterflies on these patches of M-mint at Bush Terminal and Green-Wood.)

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    Wasps on Mountain Mints
  • Curious

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    Curious
  • Wasps

    All seen around Lookout Hill in Prospect, a woodsy spot with a few patches of sun, over about two hours. I can only ID one of these to species level; the first pictured above is a Blotching Spider Wasp/Caliadurgus fasciatellus.

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    Wasps