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.”

  • Reading

    Before Silent Spring, Rachel Carson wrote three books about the sea, which have now been brought together in a single Library of America volume. Some of the science is dated, but these are still delightful and worthy books, and any beach-comber, actual or metaphorical, would do well to have this volume in hand. Catchy title,…

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  • Not This

    Maternal mortality in the US is 23.8 deaths per 100,000 births, far outstripping other “Western” countries. France, the next highest, has 8.7 per 100,000. New Zealand has 1.7. Look for more women to die because of the fundamentalist/fascist SCOTUS decision yesterday. See: Poland, Ireland, El Salvador.

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  • Spiders

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  • Raven…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

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  • Ravens Continued

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  • Scene

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  • Vespula squamosa

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  • Host and Diners

    On Wednesday, I passed by again to see what was cooking, but the plant and surrounding vegetation had been cut back. Damn!

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