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.”

  • Moon Snails

    So, it seems that the Shark Eyes and Moon Snails are two different species. This is the Northern Moon Snail, Euspira heros. Unfortunately, I don’t have an example of Neverita duplicata, the Shark Eye, since getting any of these intact on the beach is hard. The Shark Eye “can easily be distinguished [from the Northern…

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  • TV

    This Turkey Vulture turned and came right over our heads. One of us was lying down on the ground to get a picture of some lichen on the bottom of a tombstone, so I definitely think it was wondering if we were were ready to meet our de-constructor. I lightened and cropped this image so…

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  • Skates

    A skate egg case. From a Little Skate, Leucoraja erinacea, according to iNaturalist. Found at Jones Beach recently. The species is under assault from the fishing industry, a victim of bait-hunters (for lobstering) and by-catch. Same day, same beach. This is a skate’s tail. Folks on iNaturalist have identified this as belonging to the Rough…

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  • Raptor Wednesday and Gratitude

    A new year of Backyard and Beyond is nothing without you, dear readers. And photo-viewers (I know some of you don’t bother with the words)! Male American Kestrel on the lookout. And on the… Zorkanian death ray? Actually, it’s an antenna on a MTA building. Relic TV antennas still dot the rooftops here. I can…

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  • The Distance That Bounds the Ordinary Range of Vision

    I note the presence of what I call #DailyRaptor on Twitter with as much frequency as I spot raptors out the windows, which is actually quite a lot. Tweets are usually off-the-cuff, and so recently I wrote that a Cooper’s “came into the ken,” followed by one of the local American Kestrel pair, who then…

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  • Crabs

    Atlantic Blue. Atlantic Rock. Lady. Lady in situ. Portly Spider (with barnacles, which are also crustaceans). Atlantic Sand. Note that little spur above the back paddle. All seen at Jones Beach recently. The invasive Asian Shore Crab, spotted at Dead Horse Bay.

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  • Brantlings

    I was crouching down at Brant-height when the whole company of them were spooked by something. Their runway was in my direction. They took off not far above my head. One of the last to pass above dropped a very compact and intensely green turd, which bounced off my hat and landed in the grass.…

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  • Ring-Billed, Ring-Eyed

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  • Creature Comforts

    Common Raven with grassy clump. Doubtlessly to line a nest with. On Twitter, I saw some photos from the Bronx, I think, that showed a Raven with a similar bill-full. Remember, the week before, these Brooklyn birds were carrying sticks.

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  • Sullivan Street

    South of Washington Square Park in Manhattan, a newish building sports these delightful fossils in its sidewalk-level facade. Smile at the security cameras, or salute them with a single digit, and enjoy! *** Trump’s klownish klepto-kakistocracy tackles COVID-19: fundamentalist bigot/anti-science idiot Mike Pence, who as Governor of Indiana caused an epidemic by his ignorance and…

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