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.”

  • Caterpillars

    One of the “armyworms.” Dogbane Saucrobotys Moth/Saucrobotys futilalis Salt Marsh Moth/Estigmene acrea. Ailanthus Webworm Moth/Atteva aurea Oh no, an early instar of Monarch that didn’t make it. A geometer family caterpillar, I guess, on goldenrod. There are a lot of small difficul-to-ID caterpillars out there. Here’s another one: Happy Fall! ( A day late.)

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  • Marine Park

    The US Army Corps of Engineers spent millions on restoration at Marine Park Nature Center, but without maintenance, the usual bane, it’s largely gone back to phragmites and mugwort. Still, there are some scraps of habitat. This was actually most unusual: the first iNaturalist observations of Myzinum maculatum.

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    This Red-tailed Hawk is Class of ’23. The red tail feathers won’t come in until next spring/summer.

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  • Little Blue

    The Little Blue Heron/Egretta caerulea is white during its first months. The slaty blue starts coming in in the spring. Jamaica Bay is generally the place to see them within the confines of NYC, but this one has been hanging around Green-Wood and Prospect Park lately. There is already some darkening around the shoulder. This…

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  • Mammal Monday

    First you have to chew off the coating of this black walnut, then break through the shell.

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  • Royal Cats

    I can count the Monarch caterpillars I’ve seen this year on one hand, and one of them was dead. This is one of the four live ones. Will these two eggs, seen laid on September 11, get as far as big fat caterpillars about to pupate? Also that Monday, a pair were mating.

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  • Monarchs on the Move

    Four individuals above. More shots of them below:

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  • Asian Mud-dauber

    There’s a new mud-dauber in the mix: Sceliphron curvatum. Indigenous to the submontane regions around the great Asian mountain chains, it is now invasive in Europe. They were introduced to North America around a decade ago. They just made it as far west as Minnesota this year. I’ve only seen one of them, and not…

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  • Raptor Wednesday On Thursday

    August 29: first Merlin I’ve seen in Brooklyn since March. On a perch usually favored by American Kestrels.

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  • Morning…

    A cool morning found several Two-spotted Scoliid Wasps unusually still. Common Eastern Bumblebee, too. There’s also little black and red beetle in the flowers that I didn’t notice at the time.

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