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.”

  • British Birds II

    Robin (Erithacus rubecula). Yup, looks nothing like ours.The Blackbird (Turdus merula), on the otherhand, is much like our American Robin (Turdus migratorius), an omnipresent thrush.Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula).Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Larus fuscus): we’re seeing more and more of these birds on this side of the Atlantic.Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), the source of the frog-call.Pied Wagtail (Motacilla…

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  • Everywhere You Look

    Found in the salad spinner after washing some organic lettuce. A Histeridae family beetle, also known as hisser or clown beetles, even though they don’t wear much makeup. They eat the larvae of flies.A late-blooming Prickly Pear (Opuntia), one of my favorite local flowers. A very beat-up Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele), a new species…

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  • British Birds I

    On our very first day in Edinburgh, we wandered about the Royal Botanic Garden in a jet-lagged daze. An accipiter profile high overhead was one of the day’s first birds. Sparrowhawk presumably. A Kestrel made an appearance, but more on these anon. And a Buzzard (Buteo buteo) was seen twice, the second time being mobbed…

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  • Some Recent Sightings

    Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica): this is a Brooklyn bird, but this is a cosmopolitan species; Eurasian specimens, which I saw most days recently in the UK, have generally longer tails and brighter colors.The clean work of a leaf-cutter bee on Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), one of their favorite plants. If you’re a gardener, you should…

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  • Jackdaws

    The British Isles are rich with members of the Corvidae. The Jackdaw (Corvus monedula), for one, was a species ever-present on our trip, particularly in towns and villages. One of many dialect names for them is Sea-crow and we rarely strayed far from the coast. They are very fond of using chimneys for their nests…

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  • Lace Bugs

    I noticed these tiny, delicate-looking bugs underneath the leaves of a couple of oaks in Brooklyn Bridge Park. They’re new to me, members of the Tingidae family, the lace bugs. Kudos to the Horticulturist for the ID. They feed on the leaves, producing the splotching seen here. Location and the look of them suggest they…

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  • The North Sea

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  • Mallards

    Two families of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) were spotted at Brooklyn Bridge Park the other day. Here’s an attentive mommy and one of her half a dozen cautious-reckless youngsters.

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  • Razorbills

    Razorbills (Alca torda).“Razorbill” has in the past also been used as a name for Puffins and Murres/Guillemots. All of these birds are auks, of the family Alcidae. “Auk” comes from the Old Norse alka. The largest auk was the nearly 3-foot tall Pinguinus impennis, the now extinct Great Auk. Note that binomial: the penguins, Southern…

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  • Butterfly Dependence

    A short walk on the High Line yesterday morning:There were several Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta); this one was all over the Purple Coneflower (Echinacea).Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). Not as close to the camera: my first Monarch of the year. On Blazing Star (Liatris spicata).

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