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.”

Patches

Tree pits. Without trees. A long stretch of 37th Street between the cemetery and the train yard has had a rough history when it comes to trees. An orphan street, it’s the site of dumping of garbage, tires, flat TV screens. Semis and boats get parked there. Last year, someone was farming several of these plots (peppers, squashes). A recent replanting filled many of the empty pits with new trees, but there are still plenty of pits filled with whatever the wind and the birds have dropped.
Look closely, and you start seeing the animals that congregate in even little patches of habitat. This nymph grassphopper, for instance.
Pale Field Ant.
Long-legged fly.
Lacewing larva.
Stilt bug.
One of the minute seed weevils.
Another grasshopper.
Fourteen-spotted Ladybug larva.
Another little weevil.

Saving the most unexpected find for tomorrow…

mthew

2 responses to “Patches”

  1. Chuck McAlexander

    Nature at it’s fractal best! A universe in a drop of water which is part of a biome in a speck of dirt which is a source of food for the grasses and other plants, which serve as a community for bugs and a multiverse for microbiota, which serves as food for larger life, which…….. and it all returns to the drop of water eventually.

    Reply
  2. Paul Lamb

    Nature always wins!

    Reply

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