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.”

  • Reflection

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  • Revisions

    A feathered turtle. This is going to keep the taxonomists up late.

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  • Strand Birds

    The bird section at Strand Books is quite worth reviewing. There are actually two nearby sections, the other for over-sized volumes, jammed with photo books and some very fine references; there’s a third section if you count field guides. The prices are, well, Bass-y — père et fille Bass are pirates from way back. I…

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  • Dive!

    Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) taking to the water.

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  • Green-Wood is Red-Head Country

    The Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) who came to stay? An unusual species for Brooklyn, this bird over-wintered in Green-Wood, and quite locally, too: this is the same tree — snags are perfect habitat for them — I photographed it in back in January. You can see how the red feathers of the head have really…

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  • A Terrible Beauty

    Something oily on the Gowanus this way comes.

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  • Water Street Peregrines

    For the last couple of months, I’ve periodically seen a single Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) hanging around the scrape at 55 Water Street. This is an established nesting site, complete with nest cams (but the website hasn’t been updated since 2011). Most of the time I’ve looking (optically enhanced, you can bet) from the other…

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  • Oh, Jackie!

    The creature that lives in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in Central Park has rarely been seen. This 1889 photograph by Otto Sarony, from the files of the New-York Hysterical Society, is the only known authenticated image. It was taken well before the popular naming of the creature, which used to be known simply as…

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  • Hairy Nest?

    A female Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus). Less common in our area than the smaller but otherwise very similar Downy Woodpecker. I find that the best way to differentiate these species is to look at the bill/head size ratio. Note how this bird’s bill is almost as long as her head; the Downy’s bill length is…

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  • Stung!

    Is it too early for a couple of quick ones? Non-Russian vodka, with Bloody Mary camouflage, if you please. This book is unrelievedly depressing and despairing. It makes you want to jump in the ocean and drown… but you’ll probably be stung dead by jellies before that happens. Should your grandchildren ever get ahold of…

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