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.”

  • Monarch Monday

    Big caterpillar, big eater: lotta frass. And another the same day.

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    Monarch Monday

  • Cicadas

    The clade Pancrustacea includes both crustaceans and hexapods. So it makes sense that cicadas taste, writes Chris Alice Kratzer, a little like shrimp, albeit “somewhat nuttier and earthier.” This also means you should stay away from them if you’re allergic to shellfish. Evolution is nutty that way. In her new guidebook The Cicadas of North America,…

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    Cicadas

  • Dangling Darner

    This is, evidently, waste product….

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    Dangling Darner

  • Hanging Darners

    Common Green Darners/Anax junius taking a break. On these cooler mornings, they’re more apt to be found perch-hanging than in flight. Last Saturday, I stirred up many from their perches before seeing them, but I did manage to sneak up on the seven above and the four below. And some more:

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    Hanging Darners

  • One More Butterfly

    Gray Hairstreak/Strymon melinus. These are more likely than other Hairstreaks to show their inner wing colors.

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    One More Butterfly

  • Raptor Wednesday

    The cross atop the historic Chapel in Green-Wood has just been replaced after the old one, recently cleaned, was shattered by a lighting bolt last year. And of course the local American Kestrels are up there again. Elsewhere in G-W, this female was hunting dragonflies and… …at least one caterpillar.

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    Raptor Wednesday

  • And More Butterflies

    White M Hairstreak/Parrhasius m-album on Groundsel Tree/Saltbush/Baccharis halimifolia. The inner wings on these flash an incredible dark blue in flight, hinted at here because of the chunk taken out of the forewing. Black Swallowtail/Papilio polyxenes on Ironweed/Vernonia. There seems to be some taxonomic confusion among the Colias sulphurs. I think this is Orange Sulphur/C. eurytheme.…

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    And More Butterflies

  • Monarch Monday

    Again with the Monarchs? Absolutely! This one was laying eggs on September 19th, which is late in the season if you ask me. I found nine eggs, some right after she laid them. This was unusual: three eggs on the underside of the same leaf. Usually I see one egg per plant; sometimes two on…

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    Monarch Monday

  • Silk

    Domesticated mammals get most of the ink of history, but silk and other insect-based products, like shellac, which is made from the excretion of Indian bugs, and cochineal, which is made from crushed bugs sourced in Mexico, have long human histories as well. Aarathi Prasad’s book is on the history of silk. Sericulture, the farming…

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  • Bald-faced

    It’s the white on the face of these Dolichovespula maculata that give them the common name “Bald-faced Hornet.” They’re not hornets, by the way. Hornets strictly speaking are in the genus Vespa. They’re “Aerial Yellowjackets,” the common name of the Dolichovespula. But for a black and white wasp, this is not very helpful, either. The…

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    Bald-faced