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.”

Virgin Gorda

  • St. John Birds II

    Last year on Virgin Gorda, the Green-throated Carib was the hummingbird species we saw everyday. The island’s other hummingbird, the Antillean Crested, waited until our last morning to put in an appearance. This year, on St. John, the Antillean was the omnipresent species. GTCs were around, but nowhere in the same abundance. The Crested is…

    mthew

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  • Virgin Gorda Tests

    This is the test of a sea urchin. (Test, from the Latin testa, meaning shell.) It’s unusual to find one intact. This was amid the rocks at Little Leverick Bay. These are emerald nerites, and they’re just over 1/8” long, but that emerald color does stand out in the sand. The animal, a snail, is…

    mthew

  • Virgin Gorda Reptiles

    Virgin Gorda’s dry landscape was full of lizards, which was reason for rejoicing. (I haven’t seen so many since I lived north of Naples, Italy, in the early 1970s. I’ve yet to spot one of NYC’s somewhat famous Italian wall lizards, known to live in the Bronx and to be kestrel food.) Most were 3-5…

    mthew

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  • Virgin Gorda Beachcombing con’t

    I was fascinated by the varieties of dead coral found on the beaches.This crab shell was perfectly preserved.In the water of Little Leverick Bay, I picked up a young queen conch, Strombus gigas. This is the animal that supplies conch fritter-makers from the Caribbean to Brooklyn; in some places, it’s over-harvested, and becoming rarer. We…

    mthew

  • Virgin Gorda Beachcombing

    Various intertidal snails were found on old coral, mangrove roots, rocks, coconut shells.

    mthew

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  • Virgin Gorda Hermits

    As we started our hike up to the top of Virgin Gorda Peak, the highest spot on the nine-mile-long island at 1395 feet, I noticed a nice shell on the path. Weird, I thought, considering our distance from the sea. I picked it up to find a hermit grab tightly tucked inside. I assumed it…

    mthew

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  • Virgin Gorda Insects, Spiders

    I don’t know the identity of these insects and spiders, but that doesn’t stop me — and I hope, you — from admiring them. If you’re familiar with any of these, let me know.

    mthew

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  • Virgin Gorda Birds

    I had the good fortune to spend last week on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. I’ve never been anywhere near the Antilles, Greater or Lesser, so I was quite unfamiliar with the flora and fauna. I’ll be posting shots and thoughts over the next week or so detailing explorations and discovers. In summary,…

    mthew

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