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.”

  • Wing Complex

    In addition to an entire dead Common Loon on the rocks of the jetty pier at Bush Terminal Park, there was this wing. I looked at it and was at a loss for what it might be. It didn’t hit any of the song bird possibilities, and this time of year those are much reduced.…

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  • Loon Lost

    A Common Loon (Gavia immer) dead on the rocks at Bush Terminal Park. Paul Sweet, of the American Museum of Natural History, was there and showed us the prominent ridge of the sternum, which should have been smothered in fat and muscle. This suggested to him that this fish-devouring diver probably starved to death. Sometimes…

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  • Ravens, Still

    I haven’t been getting out and about as much as I’d like. In the last month or so, I’d only seen Ravens twice. Two separate instances of a single bird. They aren’t always together, but the Bush Terminal birds are usually seen in some kind of airborne proximity. These birds work together well in pairs…

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  • Day Hawk

    Hello!An overcast day, but from a distance a shape in a tree along the edge of Sunset Park attracts the eye.Accipiters aren’t known for perching long. This Cooper’s stuck around long enough for me to go inside and return with my camera. My lens is better than my eyes: the gory remains of lunch are…

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  • Strix varia

    Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: A hot tip from someone who wishes to remain anonymous clued me into this Barred Owl (Strix varia) located… somewhere in NYC.I had to agree to be blindfolded before being led to the site; it was either that or ride bundled into the trunk. This close-up shows what looks…

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  • “Two Octopi”

    I’ve seen a lot of John Singer Sargent’s work over the years, but never this delightfully pulsating oil painting of two octopuses of 1875 until very recently. Sargent was about 19 when he painted this, and it’s one of the first oils in his oeuvre. Cephalopods still had a bit of mystique about them in…

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  • Night Hawk

    What do birds do at night? It’s clearly a question people find intriguing. But you probably already know the answer even if you don’t know much about birds. Most birds are diurnal, so like most of us they sleep at night. And like us, they usually tuck themselves away somewhere safe and sound. In the…

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  • Another Sunset Park Elm

    Knots, galls, cankers? Whatever is going on here makes for a massive bole. This is one of a pair in front of an apartment named Elmo…

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  • Red-tailed Two

    Continuing our primer from the other day, we now present a mature Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).Compared to that early sighting, this one look rather larger (even though it was higher up), making me think it was a female. Pairs of hawks should be in the bonding and mating stage in the city now. There are…

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  • Homeboy Mammal

    Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: First glance on rounding the corner of a shady tree: I thought this was a hairy cat on the loose. I mean, a big, low-slung hairball, one of those Persians who’s been to Paris, if you know what I mean.Woodchuck. Whistlepig. Groundhog. Land beaver. Marmota monax. In Green-Wood. I’ve…

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