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.”

  • Red-headed Check-In

    A mouthful of sawdust spewed out…

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    Red-headed Check-In
  • Red Alert

    A Red-tailed Hawk was looking for a moaning Gray Squirrel in a thicket below. Two Blue Jays were harrying the hawk. Then this Cardinal flew up to a branch below the hawk and started to twist around in place on the branch. Eye on the hawk much of the time…

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    Red Alert
  • Cat, Duck

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    Cat, Duck
  • Ravens

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    Ravens
  • Raptor Wednesday

    More Red-tailed Hawk hijinks. Three were in the air: these two adults (the male is smaller) and a first year bird. The juvenile ventured some squirrel hunting on the ground… … the two adults landed above. This was the scene that had the three squirrels worrying, as seen in yesterday’s post. Half an hour later,…

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    Raptor Wednesday
  • More Squirrels

    The first and fourth images are of the same individual, a few minutes apart. So these are three different squirrels keeping very still as three Red-tailed Hawks perched on nearby trees.

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    More Squirrels
  • Mammal Monday

    Guess this was sap, since there didn’t seem to be any reservoir above for water to drip down from. And who, frankly, wants to know?

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    Mammal Monday
  • How Much Longer?

    I won’t be surprised if they bring back DDT. * The Greenland thing as a lebensraum project, only instead of people, it’s resources, rare earths and uranium, a blunderbuss effort to counter the Chinese in the race to rape the Arctic as the ice retreats.

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    How Much Longer?
  • Blues

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    Blues
  • Suet Feeders

    Downy Woodpecker White-breasted Nuthatches Turns out there are two Baltimore Orioles at Dell Water. Caught them one after the other. Carolina Wren Red-winged Blackbird Wren more time.

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    Suet Feeders