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.”

  • Continuing Red-headed

    Rob Jett, who has been blogging about Brooklyn nature even longer than I have, pointed out these two winter roosting holes our visiting Red-head Woodpecker has excavated in the same tree.

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    Continuing Red-headed
  • Red-headed WP

    Unusually for our parts, a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker/Melanerpes erythrocephalus has taken up residence in Green-Wood. There’s a good bit of red already in this bird’s head, but a lot more is to come.

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    Red-headed WP
  • Kingfisher

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    Kingfisher
  • Raptor Wednesday

    After a sortie, this American Kestrel came back with an entangled leaf.

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    Raptor Wednesday
  • Close Encounters

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    Close Encounters
  • Eye of the Beholder

    An eyelid like parchment. (Which makes sense since parchment is skin.) This Great Blue at Valley Water has been very tolerant of people… unless, of course, it’s hoping to lure one in.

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    Eye of the Beholder
  • BBOH

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    BBOH
  • More Stony Behavior

    Red-bellied Woodpecker finding something to eat in the space between mausoleum blocks. Looks “got,” whatever it was.

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    More Stony Behavior
  • Chickadee

    A Black-capped Chickadee took a break from the feeder to look behind clumps of lichen on tombstones. Several clumps, on different stones. The bird was finding something, but what? Looks like a seed sans husk above, but in the first image, it looks like it could be an arthropod …

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    Chickadee