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.”

  • O Canada

    A herd of about fifty were ambling across one of the Green-Wood roads; when there are that many, and they’re relatively used to people, it does feel like a herd, of small long-necked and somewhat lumbering dinosaurs. Who hiss.

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  • Sympetrum

    Insects are becoming fewer and far between now that autumn is upon us. One of the last dragonfly species to be seen are the Sympetrum Meadowhawks, red-bodied and small.There were a few active at midday on Friday at the NYBG.

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  • Sunset Park Elm

    Broader than taller, with a giant limb that trifurcates into prongs that sweep down low.

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  • Not At All Sour

    This fall, my favorite tree is Nyssa sylvatica, the Blackgum or Black Tupelo. The colors are amazing. This was a giant specimen at NYBG on Friday, from a distance and then underneath. N. sylvatica is also known as Sourgum. Sourwood, on the other hand, is another species entirely. Oxydendrum arboreum also makes for some spectacular…

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  • Halloween!

    Once upon a morning clearly, while I pondered light and shadow…. Cue Gothick pile, hemlock reaching into the frame, and, atop the parrot-haunted spire, a lone Raven loudly proclaiming its freakin’ raven-ness. (Another birder photographed three Ravens up there about a month ago. I happened to catch this more recently, but only with my phone…

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  • Color of Autumn

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  • Sharpie on the Prowl

    A Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus), eyeballing everything that moves above, before, behind, below. Waves of song-birds were stirred up by this slim raptor, the smallest hawk species in North America. This may have been the same bird I saw on three more separate encounters that day, racing after prey.Sharpies, as they are affectionately known, are…

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  • Acorns in Hand

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  • Winter Wren

    The day began with a tweet from the City Birder of a photo of a dead Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) killed by a cat in Green-Wood. So I was pleased several hours later to see two live specimens. They were living up to their genus name, Troglodytes, going into the nooks and crannies of this…

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  • Groundcoverhogs

    I was surprised to see one of the best birding spots in Green-Wood Cemetery shaved down to the bone recently. This was an impenetrable thicket along the flank of the hill overlooking the Sylvan Water, perfect for songbirds and woodchuck. Two woodchuck dens are exposed here now, but then most of the cemetery’s dens are…

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