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.”

  • Kitten Tails

    Spring sneaks up on us. Little feelers of the season are already present in the city, like American Woodcocks flying down Broadway, crocuses blooming, witchhazel tendrils gnarling out from branches. I just noticed these catkins hanging on State Street. A number of plant families have these pendent flower clusters, which usually depend on wind pollination…

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  • Black Birds

    The famous “blackbird singing in the dead of night” is the (Common) Blackbird of Europe, Turdus merula. Ditto the “four and twenty” baked in a pie. The Blackbird is a thrush, part of the family Turdidae, like the American Robin, which also shares the same genus. The “thrush” appellation tells you to expect some lovely…

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  • Lulled

    The Lullwater looks calm this time of year. But submerged things are a-fin, and just on the other side of the Terrace Bridge, behind me, were three Hooded Mergansers, two Red-breasted Mergansers, a pair of Wood Duck, and several Ruddy Ducks, the males with electric blue bills. Titmouse, Cardinal, Nuthatch, Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Song Sparrow.…

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  • Bronzebirds

    I’ve always loved the bronze birds in the Canal Street A/C/E station. “A Gathering” was created by Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz.There are some crows on top of the ticket booth, and 174 grackles and “blackbirds” (see my next post for more on this slippery word) perched on the metalwork of the mezzanine level. Most…

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  • Checklist

    Snowdrops: Check! Crocuses: Check! Witchhazel: Check! And half-a-dozen or so Red-winged Blackbirds, bringing the area around the Terrace Bridge to sudden, raucous life with their insistent “I am now here!” vocalizations: Check! It was interesting to observe these birds, all males. Two at the feeders presented variations in plumage, with one bird sill having some…

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  • Beading

    Water beading on the feathers of a Ring-billed gull’s neck. Like ducks, gulls spend a fair amount of their time afloat, so their feathers need to be waterproof. (This particular bird was an ex-gull, allowing me the close-up.)

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  • Lepidopteramania

    The American Museum of Natural History is thick with lepidoptera right now. Running through May, there is a live Butterfly Conservatory.Some of the butterflies in this steamy tube are enormous.Chances are very good that a butterfly or two will land on you, so this is a great place to bring the kids (the butterflies, after…

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  • Accidental Habitat

    These pontoon-like things were flipped over between Piers 5 & 6 recently, revealing the:barnacles andblue mussels that have found them to be a worthy foundation.

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  • Mammals

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  • Winter Baby

    They say that the long and winding road leads to your door.Or, should you be going the other way, which is generally the way to start a walk, walking out that door, say, on a fine evening between four and six, one step after another, the road goes ever on and on, across the river…

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