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.”

  • A Raft of Ducks

    In Dead Horse Bay, thousands of Great Scaup, Aythya marila, are rafting together.

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  • Western Lights

    The sun sets over New York Harbor, New Jersey, and the great darkening mass of the Republic. Photo from Brooklyn Bridge Park.

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  • Don’t Dump Your Turtle

    One of the search phrases that’s led people to this blog more than once is about “releasing pet turtles in Prospect Park.” People want to know if it’s OK to do so. The answer is: no, it isn’t, and you shouldn’t ~ which is what I hope they learned from the internet. But, considering that…

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  • Coot

    The American Coot, dwarfed by a juvenile Mute Swan in both perspective and actuality, is a Prospect Park regular, but never in very large numbers. There were several on the Lake last week, and a surprising dozen plus at the Boat House. Although duck-like, Coots (Fulica americana) are actually Gruiformes, or rails (I saw their…

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  • Three Heart-Shaped Leaves

    Catalpa:The tree with the foot-long seed pods. Both the Northern Catalpa, C. speciosa, and the Southern Catalpa, C. bignonioides, grow in our region. The ones in Brooklyn Bridge Park may be some kind of cultivar or hybrid. Eastern cottonwoods, Populus deltoides, growing wild in the as yet uncompleted part of the park.Note here the flat…

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  • Feeders

    Approaching the bird feeders in Prospect Park, I heard several Blue Jays screeching. The feeders themselves were completely abandoned, which is a sure sign of something going on, although there were Downy Woodpeckers, House Finches, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Mourning Doves all around in the trees. The male Red-wings are generally one of the earliest birds…

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  • Short Note on Winter Birding

    The New York City region is, for some birds, “the south” they migrated to in winter. Open fresh water and sheltered salt water bodies attract ducks like Pintails, Wigeons, Gadwells, Canvasbacks, Red-heads, Scaups, Mergansers, Buffleheads, Shovellers, Teals, Long-tailed, and Scoters. The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in the late afternoon is home to an amazing display…

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  • “How many of us, and how often, think of the fact that we live our time on a planet, within that planet’s time? What good is it to be alive on Earth and never come to know at least the place where one lives? We don’t even try to know it with our senses, much…

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  • Floyd Bennett Under Threat Again

    Staten Island’s reactionary GOP (I know, that’s redundant) Representative Michael Grimm has introduced a bill in Congress to authorize the Interior Department to, according to the Jamaica Bay Research & Management Information Network: “(1) issue permits to allow the planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of natural gas pipeline facilities in the Gateway National Recreation Area…

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  • Field Trip: Croton Point

    Croton Point Park is an hour north of the city by train ($18 roundtrip, off-peak). The park itself is just to the west of the Croton-Harmon train station – which inspired this line I donate to Country music gratis, “my heart’s as empty as a commuter parking lot on Sunday” — across a bridge spanning…

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