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.”

  • Owl Ranch

    San Migeulito Ranch is all owl, no cattle. A dozen miles from anywhere in Kenedy Co., and down a treacherously sandy road — we got stuck, as predicted, and needed a pickup to pull and five of us stout-hearted lads to push (this is when I think I picked up my tick and my chiggers,…

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  • The Rio Grande Valley

    I had some odd preconceptions of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte. For one, I thought it would be wider. Here we are downstream of Falcon Dam, about 100 miles from the river’s mouth. That’s Mexico on the right.Now looking upstream, with the U.S. on the right. I also thought this indefinite border would be…

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  • Heron v. Fish

    A Green Heron (Butorides virescens) was wrestling with a big fish it had caught today at the Upper Pool. I’ve seen other herons/egrets and cormorants working on big fish before. You hardly imagine they will be able to swallow their prey, but they almost always do. This must be enough food for the day.I saw…

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  • Nesting

    I’m sure you can recognize these common nesting birds in Brooklyn right now. Meanwhile, our under-bridge pigeon nest is proceeding apace:

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  • Notes for Further Reading and Doing

    Reading: Rob Jett’s ebook The Red-tailed Hawk Journals: A City Birder in Brooklyn is now available. Rob has been documenting the Red-tails of Brooklyn for more than a decade and tells how he first came to these adventures. It’s a great story. Liam Heneghan has written a fine essay on the #1000UrbanMiles project he instigated.…

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  • Audubon Part II

    The second of three John James Audubon exhibits is up at the New-York Historical Society. These are the original watercolors JJA did for his printer in England. Go! (I snapped a few details before being busted by museum security; since I wasn’t using a flash, I thought it would be ok.)It was a curious experience…

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  • Snow Goose

    A Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens) was on Prospect Lake today. They are not uncommon in Jamaica Bay during the winter months, but don’t visit interior Brooklyn very often. Among the most abundant waterfowl on the continent, Snow Geese are often seen in huge numbers on fallow fields and wetlands.

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  • Texas Testudines

    Texas Tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri). Very fond of eating tender cactus fruit. I also found the skeleton of one of these elsewhere and pulled off a few of the scutes to get some detail.Nice to see Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta) in their native region. Here’s a recent hatchling, about the size of dollar coin.Texas Spiny Softshell…

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  • Tulipmania

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  • Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

    Yowza! Kinda gobsmacking, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Tyrannus forficatus is a backyard bird in Texas.We saw them every day. They’re the state bird of Oklahoma, too, where my mother was born. See it on the OK quarter. The males have longer tails, and more intense coloring. Look for the orange underwings. And those salmon flanks!The tail…

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