mthew
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A Forest in Times Square…
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: .. but the beavers might take a little longer. My friend, the botanist and all around urban nature superhero Marielle Anzelone, is fundraising for a PopUp Forest in Times Square. Sounds crazy, right? A bit of forest in the resolutely artificial, corporate-gagged, light-pollution-bathed, Elmo-stalked, tourist-duped nightmare they’ve made of…
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Word-Hoards
Kame, karst, kettle, key, kill, kipuka, kiss tank, knob, knoll, krummholz, kudzu. These are all the entries under the letter K in Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape, put together by a team of 45 writers and with an introduction by Barry Lopez. What a treasure trove! Sometimes, I’m down on the ol’ species…
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Foxy Thoughts
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: In our hyper-specialized society, “amateur” is far from a noble description. It is, in fact, usually the opposite, a term of disparagement, insult, attack. Meanwhile, in the sports-entertainment industry, it has lost all meaning, corrupted by the NCAA’s exploitative hypocrisy and the corporate/nationalist perversion of the Olympics. But the…
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Lil’ Snapper
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: A baby Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) has the unfortunate characteristic of blending in quite well with a road. South Cross Road, in Bradford, Mass., to be exact. While in the area last week, I saw several Painted turtles and a few others I could not identify who didn’t make…
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Geese
A goosey alignment: Brant and Canada. Branta bernicla and Branta canadensis. The Branta genus also includes the Barnacle Goose and Cackling Goose, which have been known to hybridize.
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Remains of the night
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: Out Madaket way, a row of arbor vitae had been cut back recently because they were crowding the road. Underneath were dozens of bodies. Was it the work of a serial killer? No, some owls had been feeding. Pellets are what these regurgitated masses of prey vomited up by…
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Raptor Wednesday
Away-way out on the ice, a young Bald Eagle hangs out in New York Harbor. With so much ice on the Hudson last week, the birds were in search of open water and their favored prey, fish. This picture was taken from the pier at Bush Terminal Park; that’s New Jersey in the distance. The…
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Crawly
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: One must really keep the eyes peeled and rolling in a fine frenzy. Look out! Down on the sidewalk, a little under 1.5″ long, easily mistaken for a turd or cigarillo butt. But, actually, it’s the larva of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), that gloriously large yellow and…
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1843 All Over Again
Green-Wood Cemetery is large, its paths many. Recently I came across this and remembered I’d been here last May, but not since. The remains of the nest are still relatively protected. Robins will sometimes use old nests to build new nests atop of, so perhaps this coming May I’ll remember to return again and see…
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300 Year Old Tulip Tree
Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: At the northern end of Clove Lakes Park in Staten Island is a Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) said to be 300 years old. I would not say it is extraordinarily tall, but it certainly is large-boled. That head on the right is a child’s, three others are hidden behind the…
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