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.”

  • Kestrels, Pt. II

    Walking by the kestrel copulation building looking for little falcons and holes and cornices. Nothing from across the street. But from a block away… I see the male perched above a rather small hole. Could this be it? I think so, but damn it looks like a tight fit. But I want confirmation: to see…

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  • Kestrels, Pt. I

    A female American Kestrel perched in a pine on the edge of Green-Wood took off and headed towards the Neo-Gothic gatehouse, stirred up the Monk Parrots, rounded it, and came back towards me and the fence. She landed on a chimney pot a full block away. And she had prey with her up there. Gosh,…

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  • Bee Knowing

    This book will buzz your world. Pollinator ecologist Buchmann has put together a very readable compendium of what we have learned about the “thoughts, memories, and personalities of bees.” Every word in that subtitle except “and” will probably come as a surprise to many people not keeping up with the scientific literature. Bees and other…

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    Bee Knowing

  • Night Warbling

    Friend-of-blog Geoff Wisner has a new book coming out. Pre-ordering it at this link saves you money and supports the Thoreau Society, not that nasty plutocratic emperor of Amazon. The book gathers a large sampling of Thoreau’s many writings about birds over the years and organizes them through a single calendrical year. This will doubtlessly…

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    Night Warbling

  • More Early Bees

    Last week it jumped up to almost 70F. It’s dropped quite bit since, but it resulted in a bloom, so to speak of bees. Note the slits in the sides of the Japanese Andromeda/Pieris japonica flowers above. This Two-spotted Bumble Bee/Bombus bimaculatus is sticking her tongue into the flower opening to suck up that sweet…

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  • BVs

    A trio of Black Vultures passing overhead. Three’s a lot for these parts, where Turkey Vultures predominate.

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    BVs

  • Not Raptor Wednesday

    What is the one thing that could preempt our regularly scheduled broadcast? Bluebirds! There were two, a female and male. The female caught something yummy, looks like a caterpillar.

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    Not Raptor Wednesday

  • First Lepidoptera of 2024

    This time of year, a Mourning Cloak is the likeliest sighting. But this White M Hairstreak/Parrhasius m-album turned out to be the first butterfly I’ve seen this year. These are unusual here: I’ve only seen one once before, and there are only 22 observations for NYC. And is it early! In flight, the insect flashes…

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    First Lepidoptera of 2024

  • First Bees

    Suddenly last Thursday it warmed up and up. The bees started to emerge. This Brown-belted Bumble was going after the nectar of Japanese Andromeda. Sometimes the brown belt is readily apparent. That tongue!

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    First Bees

  • Ravens

    The Solar Building downhill used to host the local American Kestrels. Plenty of other birds have alighted on it in the past, but this was the first time that I can recall a Common Raven on it. Yum! Something scavenged, something good. Anyway, the big bird attracted a couple of American Crows who yelled and…

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    Ravens