Backyard
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In the Back 40: Mummified Millipede
I found this in the Back 40 (inches) last week. It’s probably a leftover from last year. The Back 40, to bring you up to speed, is my small, fenced & walled concrete slab of backyard. Here, near the west coast of Brooklyn, USA, I get what I think is a fair (and wondrous) amount…
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Quince blooming in the rain
The local quince tree, a cultivar of Cydonia oblonga. This is not your average NYC street tree; it’s not even on the official street tree list. But there you go. It’s here, it’s blooming, and it usually fruits — smaller pomes than you see in the supermarket. Actually, you probably don’t see quince in the…
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Interior insect
I found this insect working its way up the bathroom wall Sunday while I was flossing. I love the sharp triangular shape of the wings. If anybody knows what it is, or where it fits among the hexapoda, let me know. It was less than a quarter-inch long, which made for challenging photography, and a…
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Living with wildlife
I found this fine website on living with urban wildlife set up by Portland OR’s Audubon. It’s on the other coast, so they have some different species, but the ideas are the same. The border between nature and city has always been permeable, and as cities expand the border grows even less sure. It behooves…
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In the Back 40
A little proto-spring cleaning in the Back 40 reveals some early signs of life. Just in time! Some greenery, mostly tenacious sunflowers just popping up, and a little patch of moss. But there were some creepy-crawlies in the mix: Earth worm. Found under a pot, moved into the compost bin. I think these are spider…
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Above Brooklyn
A perfect morning, clear, clean, and warming up. Carrying fourteen pounds of feline for his appointment with a… uh, cat scanner… I saw the following birds: busy, loud house sparrows, staking out their nesting sites, squabbling over nesting material; starlings, sailing like kites; a lone silent crow flapping by; at least one noisy blue jay…
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Natural object: Ginkgo
This is the tip of a knobby spur twig of a gingko branch that had been knocked down in the snow some weeks back in Prospect Park. I brought it home and popped it in some water to see if it would leaf-out. Slowly, but surely, it is. It has an undersea look to it…
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Mimus polyglottos
The Back 40 (Inches) is what I call my rented backyard. It is in the southeast corner pocket of a Brooklyn, NY, USA, block. Next door to the south, over a brick wall, is a double Land Rover parking space sandwiched between two ruins (house, carriage house; all owned by the very idle rich). Next…
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Blow downs in Prospect
More than 50 trees were brought down in Prospect Park during this weekend’s terrible storm. Several were venerable. I haven’t made it to the park yet, but I fear I will be missing some old friends. I still mourn a fine old white oak, which might have dated back to near the birth of the…
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Gowanus Lady
This week, the Gowanus Canal, a relic of the Industrial Age that runs through the soft underbelly of Brooklyn, was declared a Superfund Site by the EPA. I’m inordinately fond of the ol’ toxic sewer outlet, which is also known as the Lavender Lake, although I prefer to borrow Kipling’s “great greasy green” aliteration. It’s…
Backyard and Beyond 