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.”

  • Raptor Wednesday

    It’s lean times for raptor-viewing.

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  • New Jays

    Parent First fledgling. Second fledgling. For Blue Jays, these youngsters were being very vocally subtle. They hopped along branches like monkeys. As soon as I was out from under the drip line of this big maple, the sounds ramped up explosively.

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  • Meadow

    You can’t actually tell from this photo, but some two dozen Chimney Swifts swooped overhead as numerous dragonflies patrolled just above the grasses. The hunting must have been good here, across the street from the bus terminal and train yard. Nearby, under more canopy, vast numbers of non-biting midges scurried from my feet. It was…

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  • Ode to the Odes

    American Amberwing and his shadow. Two of my best photos of a will-not-stop baskettail. In three widely different locations, over several years, I’ve yet to see one perch, nor succeeded in identifying one to species. Who can get enough of the wonderfully named Orange Bluet? Immature Fragile Forktail, I think. Eastern Pondhawk female. Blue Dasher…

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  • Barn Swallows

    These are pretty unsatisfying pictures, but zoomy zounds! they’re hard to capture. (5th Ave. and 25th St. here in Brooklyn.)

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  • Nymph, in thy orisons…

    Some nymph katydids. Some Microcentrum katydid eggs.

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  • Grackles

    There are usually a few Common Grackle around the Sylvan Water in Green-Wood during the breeding season. At least one of the large pines nearby is a likely nesting place. And here’s a fledgling at the edge of the Water on June 2nd. Another (?) member of the Class of ’23, seen last week a…

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  • Some Snappers

    A few Common Snappers have been released into this pond, with permission, from an animal rescue organization. And although wildlife shouldn’t be fed, they are, and hence tend to come up begging.

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  • Spider Update

    Lots of arm-waving from this male Thin-spined Jumping Spider/Tutelina elegans. This may be the female of the species. One of the running crab spiders, I think. Another look at the Variegated Ground Spider/Sergiolus capulatus.

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  • Milkweeds, Etc.

    Common Milkweed/Asclepias syriaca. Note the yellow thing at 9:00. That’s half a pollen packet or pollinia. A pair of pollinia are connected into a saddlebag-like pollinium. Here’s a pollinium attached to a Brown-belted Bumblebee’s foot. It’s possible to get too many of these things attached to you, weighing you down. (This page details the hazards…

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