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.”

  • Belatedly, Some Fall Colors

    Sassafras. . A couple of Black Tupelos. (They make ’em bright in the trade.) Swamp White Oak The hazy pink of a grass.

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  • Still Pollinating

    November 3rd, mid 40sF. Very little is still in bloom, but these late asters still provide food.

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  • An Impossible Task

    Heavy with illustrations, this cultural history of birds will enliven any naturalist’s bookshelf. Of course, anything approaching a complete cultural history of birds would fill many volumes and be an on-going project. It would be in as many languages as there are—and ever have been. The human/bird connection goes back a very long way. Was…

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  • GBH

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  • Everything Here Belongs To Me

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  • Rotted Circumstances

    In March, 2022, I noticed some fallen Pignut/Carya glabra wood under a venerable tree. A rotted limb had fallen and broken into pieces. There was a little jewel in there. The other day I returned. The wood was still there. It’s a well-managed cemetery: they usually clear away such fallen wood and brush, but this…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    From Gerard Manley Hopkins’ feverish poem, we know that “Windhover” is an old name for the Common Kestrel/Falco tinnunculus because of their characteristic tendency to hover. Above is one hovering over the Nothumberland Coast Path. American Kestrels/Falco sparverius do this as well, although perhaps not as much. Here’s another Common K, from Falsterbo, Sweden. The…

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  • Flickers

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  • Carpenters

    A couple late October Eastern Carpenter Bees/Xylocopa virginica.

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  • Misc.

    Deleting some photographs from my phone and finding a few miscellaneous delights that never made it to B&B. Poppy fruit above. (Sweet dreams…?) This stone door of a mausoleum is wearing poorly. Cutting the shrubs to make room for new plantings along 4th Avenue. An unripened conker from Bottlebrush Buckeye/Aesculus parviflora. B&W American Lady/Vanessa virginiensis.…

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