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.”

  • Earth Day

    This beat-up skull comes courtesy of a Great Horned Owl. The owl chomped this down and then spit it back up after the bird’s battery acid stomach had a go at it. I think these might be the remains of a Grey Squirrel skull. Found with plenty of grey hair smushed into the cavities. Cleaned up…

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  • Some Outtakes

    As you can imagine, I take more pictures than I ever use here on the blog. Common Grackle gathering nesting material. These birds like to build their nests in thick pines, often with others of their ilk nearby in the same tree. Brown Thrashers are more often heard than seen. They don’t spend much time…

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  • Tree & Butterfly

    In late December, I came across this fine, puzzling tree with a thick bole and garly bark. Here’s what I posted on the bark. Several people were intrigued, so I put up some more photos. Now comes the reveal. Talk about sprung! Looks like Yoshino cherry (Prunus x yedoensis). And fluttering amongst the flowers while…

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  • Bombus griseocollis

    One of the few flying insects seen at Morris Arboretum recently. The Brown-belted Bumble Bee. Probably a female, who has overwintered and is getting ready to start a new colony.The second most common Bombus species in the mid-Atlantic but scarcer further north. Note that the animal is using two of its legs to scrape across…

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  • Even More Evidence

    Pictures from the last week here in Brooklyn and northwestern Philadelphia. As spring continues, so does the most corrupt administration in American history, doing deep and lasting damage to the country, our democracy, and the rule of law.

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  • How About Some Turtles

    Recently seen: Some Spotted Turtles. The last pictured was tiny, perhaps 1.5″ down the shell (head to tail).Painted Turtles.At a whole other scale, a veteran Snapping Turtle krakening the shallows. *** The new abolitionism: a fascinating profile of Ruth Wilson Gilmore.

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  • More Spring Beauty

    Timing is everything. Last Thursday, a cool spring day, in northwestern Philadelphia, things were just on the cusp. These Sanguinaria canadensis, bloodroot, were waiting for the sun.These Trilliums, too.Ah, but look carefully! Thalictrum thalictroides, rue anemone.Cardamine concatenata, the cutleaved toothwort, crow’s toes, pepper root or purple-flowered toothwort.The sun did come out in the afternoon… Stylophorum…

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  • Great Egret!

    First I’ve seen this year.The word “preen” seems have been first used to describe bird behavior. *** Trump’s political hatchet Barr has kept the Mueller report from the eyes of democracy so far. But here are 50 points of the public record on Trump’s deals with, funding by, and working with, Russian oligarchs/autocrats who have…

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  • Spring Beauty

    For many people this is, I realize, appealing. But let’s look beyond the lurid gaudiness to the more subtle spring ephemerals down on the forest floor. Like bloodroot.And spring beauties.And trout lilies. (Plus some mayapple.) All on the grounds of the Morris Arboretum or nearby Wissahickon Valley Park.

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  • Wright On Sparrows

    The big book of little brown jobs is here at last. The enviably erudite Rick Wright has written a very readable reference guide to the LBJs, sparrow division. It’s not a field guide: the hardcover large format precludes that. (I presume a paperback will follow; there’s also an ebook version, but you know those are…

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