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.”

  • The Earth Abides

    Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: At the end of Emile Zola’s 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine, a train full of soldiers hurls along the rails into Paris. There’s no one is control of the thing, for, after much madness and jealousy, the engineer and the fireman have killed each other. The doomed train is…

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  • Stormy thoughts

    Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: “Climate change is almost always abrupt, shifting rapidly within decades, even years,” writes Brian Fagin in his book on about the Little Ice Age. That period, which interrupted the interglacial warming phase that has seen the rise of human beings to overwhelm the planet, lasted roughly from 1300-1850, and…

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  • Douglas-cones

    This color! Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) cones start out red. As they mature through the spring, they turn this surprising and delightful purplish.Then they green as the chlorophyll comes into its own. In the fall, they will dry out and turn tan-brown, opening to release up to 50 tiny seeds per cone. A tree has to…

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  • Raptor Wednesday

    The absences must be marked as well as the presences. Last spring, a pair of Osprey nested on this very tall light post above the parking lot at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Barely a twig remains. To my knowledge, this was the first such nest on the New York Bay edge of Kings County. (You’d have to…

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  • Young Snap

    Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond: Four, count ’em four, Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta) were basking in the tiny, northernmost pond on Pier One at Brooklyn Bridge Park the other day. Fools keep releasing these invasive, potentially disease-carrying pet-trade animals. Some do it for religious (!) reasons! The effects of all this can be seen…

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  • Blue Monday

    Barn Swallow. Hirundo rustica. At Bush Terminal Park. Unusually, there was at least one Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) with the Barns there that day. I see Trees more commonly at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where it’s the Barn who is rare.The blue here is on the greenish side, as it is wont to be depending…

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  • Eastern Tent

    Here are two examples of Eastern Ten Caterpillars (Malacosoma americanum), which are often mistaken for Gypsy Moth caterpillars. The invasive Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar dispar) was introduced to Massachusetts in 1869 by some idiot who wanted to improve silk production: they got loose and have been a serious threat to our eastern hardwood forests ever…

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  • Birds and Flowers

    From 1982, a set of stamps illustrating each state’s bird and flower. A gift from a friend whose father was a stamp collector. (Click on image to get larger version.) Montana’s, in case you were wondering during the special election: Western Meadowlark and bitterroot. In the election to fill the seat vacated by the new…

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  • Nesting

    American Robins (Turdus migratorius) arrive early, or they never go very far, especially in a mild winter. Last week, they were already feeding their young. There’s plenty of time for a second brood this season. Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula), on the other wing, are late arrivals. Last week, this one was only then weaving her…

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  • Charismatic Megaflora

    Fagus sylvatica.Quercus alba.I came across this play on “charismatic megafauna” here, which explores the fact that bigger is not necessarily oldest. * The neo-confederate Jeff Sessions is the knife at the throat of our basic liberties, and the point man for the Republican dream of a Potemkin democracy overlaying a practical autocracy.

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