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.”

  • Beechdrops

    Beechdrops or Epifagus virginiana is a parasitic herbaceous plant. It doesn’t have chlorophyll. The plant taps into the roots of a beech to siphon off sustenance. Epifagus means “upon beech.” This is a winter view: these stalks will persist through the season. The small summer flowers are white and purple; they are evidently pollinated by…

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  • Mammal Monday

    This squirrel was first spotted with a mouth full of leaves. It was lining this arboreal snug. The big leafy bundles in trees, sometimes mistaken for bird’s nests, are summer squirrel nests. (Actually, none of our birds build nests of leaves.) In winter, squirrels want something more substantial: a tree hole, an attic…. A squirrel…

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  • A Philosophical Botany

    In Plants as Persons: A Philosophical Botany Matthew Hall’s argument doesn’t strike me as provocative, but for others grounded in anthropocentrism, zoocentrism, Cartesian dualities, and very out-of-date biological understanding, it may. “Plants and humans share a basic, ontological reality as perceptive, aware, autonomous, self-governed, and intelligent beings,” he writes. As fellow eukaryotes, plants and animals…

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  • Blue Dragonfly

    Detail of a cyanotype ca. 1910 by Bertha Jacques (1863-1941), on exhibit at NYPL. Photographed through glass, so a poor reproduction of the blue.

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  • Beech

    Looking up at another weeping form.Looking at the spear-like buds packed with spring.

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  • Hammer and Tongs

    In the depths of a Callery pear tree, whose fruit was simultaneously being ravaged by Monk Parakeets, this determined Red-breasted Nuthatch hammered away at nuts ferreted out of a neighboring arborvitae. From food tree to anvil tree, over and over again.While Green-Wood has been awash in White-breasted Nuthatches, a few Red-breasted have been present as…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    Plump silhouette, tail pumping up and down? Get some optics on that bird!And oh, those colors! A male American Kestrel. Note the tell-tale whitewash of a ready perch, no doubt used by any number of birds.Any height in a habitat is a perch for small falcons on the lookout for prey. Green-Wood is rather rich…

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  • Trees for Tuesday

    I like the way this tuliptree bifurcates and bifurcates again. Stripped of their greenery, the deciduous trees are especially beautifully revealed in winter.

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  • Mammal Monday

    The signs of raccoons are everywhere in Green-Wood, particularly at the base of trees where they leave their poop piles. They sometimes also leave an impression…. We were surprised to spot this one sleeping in the rough on a chilly day. You’d think it would be snug in some tree hole somewhere waiting for the…

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  • Festive Seasonal Things

    If you must buy gifts, consider books, actual books, including the ones I’ve written about lately. What have you been reading? (Comments are open below…) Here’s one more:Mark Frith’s graphite drawings of ancient English oaks, a majestic crew of survivors depicted in the winter of their dishabille. UChicago Press is distributing the book in the…

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