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.”

  • 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

  • Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

    Or, who’s got the chicken thigh?

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    Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

  • Raptor Wednesday

    The day after the Great Kestrel Massacre, there were two of these little falcons visible from our apartment. (I only managed to photograph one.) A few hours later, I first heard then spotted this youngster in Green-Wood, around the Old Chapel Lizard Hunting Grounds. This female was there too. I don’t know if she’s a…

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    Raptor Wednesday