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.”

  • 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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  • 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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  • Butternuts

    The tropical storm with all the vowels in its name brought down a lots of branches in the city last week. Green-Wood Cemetery was closed for two days for clean up. Some whole trees were uprooted as well, and some weakened ones snapped. One was this butternut, Juglans cinerea. Already a shadow of its former…

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  • Book and Flowers and Bugs

    A month of summer yet, at least as the calendar goes. But Carol Gracie’s Summer Wildflowers is good the whole year through. You’ll love opening this in early January! I can’t better the foreword by NYBG’s Robert Naczi: “Gracie seamlessly integrates diverse facets about these plants—history, geography, habitats, human uses, morphology, classification, pollination, conservation, and…

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