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Against the Grain
“The founding of the earliest agrarian societies and states in Mesopotamia occurred in the latest five percent of our history as a species on this planet. […] Measured by the roughly 200,000-year span of our species, then, the Anthropocene began only a few minutes ago.” And look what we don’t that tiny bit of our…
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Iced Out
The other day, this young Great Blue Heron landed close to me by the Valley Water. I guess it was on the other side, but I hadn’t noticed it. Some people walking over there must have spooked it. I had just seen something small and dark run into the plants by the side of the…
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Trees in Winter
Look at this diabolical face! The downy upper portion of the leaf scar points to Butternut (Juglans cinerea). This one, on the other hand, baffled me. I couldn’t find it in Core and Ammons’ Woody Plants in Winter. (It is in there, though.) iNaturalist people provided the identification: this is the incredibly common Ailanthus (Ailanthus…
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Raptor Wednesday Holiday Delay
An American Kestrel male in Green-Wood. Same American Kestrel and a Northern Mockingbird. .Aerial Boxing Day?
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X Marks The Spot
Well-seasoned greetings from Backyard and Beyond! All the surly elf interns and incontinent reindeer on staff join me in wishing you the best in these dark times. Happy holidays — go on, take as many as you like – and onward into the new year! Who ho who ho who!
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Unwrapped
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a large Bald-faced Hornet nest being whipped around by the wind way up a tree overlooking the Dell Water. More recently, I looked up and saw nothing. A clump of hornet paper stuck on a bush was my first clue. I scanned the ground up the slope with…
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Lichens
This is the first printed image of a lichen. 1542: Leonhart Fuchs’s De historia stirpium commentarii insignes… (and the title keeps going, as they were wont to). This copy is from the special collections department at the LuEster T. Mertz Library at the NYBG. This book and several others were on display during a recent…
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On Denialism
Did you see Trump’s Coal Ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft, say she believes “both sides” of the science on climate change? She and her husband, the Kentucky coal king, are major contributors to Trump’s campaign and inauguration. They also funnel money into his hotels, one of the major conduits of corruption flowing to the…
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Hooded Merganser
A female Hoodie hanging out on the Sylvan Water with some Mallards and Canada Geese. She was not nearly as tame as the other waterfowl. One of the Mallards was hollering. The Hoodie made some horse grumbly-grunty noise as well. It may have been because of the Red-tailed Hawk perched high up on the southeastern…
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Amber Jelly
Under two mature oaks, one red and one willow. Windfall branches from the canopies after a recent rain-snow storm. (Over-exposed coin just over an inch across for scale.) Both trees’ branches were sporting this jelly raisin-like stuff. It seems to be Amber Jelly Fungus (Exidia ricsa). I’ve never see this at eye-level or below, only…
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Backyard and Beyond 