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.”

  • Crows on Roof

    A family of four, two juveniles and two adults, have been showing up on the roofs across the street. Some chicken bones, some bread… what more do you need? But wait, these roofs are also a young squirrel highway… They both spooked each other.

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  • Shakedown

    One of the traditional ways of collecting insects is to beat or shake a plant, collecting all the things that fall down to a collection tray or sheet below. I’ve never done that, but I have been looking hard at the Evening Primroses recently. Oenothera are busy right now! Most of that to the left…

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    Shakedown

  • Foreground/Background

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  • Waves

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    Waves

  • Kestrels!

    Worm. The American Robins were very upset. About 50 minutes later, she caught a dragonfly, a Swamp Darner (I think), our biggest regularly occurring species. This is a daughter of the nest. One of her two recently-seen brothers.

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    Kestrels!

  • Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls

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    Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls

  • Mammal Monday

    Eastern Cottontail and frenemies…

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    Mammal Monday

  • More Night Fliers

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    More Night Fliers

  • Eggs

    Monarch butterfly egg. Unlike the Question Mark eggs I serendipitously photographed last week, these are relatively easy to get close to. (Well, this egg-hunting does require being on your hands and knees in the broiling sun….) Here’s just the shell of another.

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    Eggs

  • Buffalo

    Buffalo Treehopper/Sticocephala bisonia This one may be the same or a similar species.

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    Buffalo