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 Whiteness of the Squirrel

    This Gray Squirrel obviously isn’t very gray. It has been seen out and about in Prospect Park lately. Several “white” — or ivory — squirrels have been noted in the park and Park Slope in recent years, but they’re not all that common here.Like the black squirrels also seen, these are all variations on the…

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  • Cassin’s Kingbird & Co.

    In what seems to be only the second New York state record, a Cassin’s Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans) has been hanging out next to Floyd Bennett Field’s community garden. The species’ usual habitat is in the Southwest and Mexico, so it’s a long way from home. The temperature was in the 30s when I saw the…

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  • Oak

    I’ve noticed these grapefruit/softball-sized growths on the side of this big old Red Oak (Quercus rubra) before. But on my most recent pass, there was a new one. Turns out to be a fungus.

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  • Japanese Maple 3

    Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) in Green-Wood. (All three of these pictures were taken on the same day within a few moments of each other, under the same overcast light. No filtering or fiddling.)

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  • Japanese Maple 2

    Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) in Green-Wood. (All three of these pictures were taken on the same day within a few moments of each other, under the same overcast light. No filtering or fiddling.)

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  • Japanese Maple 1

    Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) in Green-Wood Cemetery. This is the first of three photos of separate trees located next to each other. All three pictures were taken on the same day within a few moments of each other, under the same overcast light. No filtering or fiddling.

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  • Rivers

    The Rivers of America series started in 1937 and ended in 1974. Sixty-five books were ultimately published. I recently tried reading the volumes on the Hudson, the Colorado, and the St. Lawrence, but I couldn’t get past the first chapter of any of them. They were too Forties for me, a whitewashed, cheerleading view of…

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  • Sassafras

    These two giants surprised me in Green-Wood recently. They’re Sassafrass (Sassafras albidum), usually seen as a rather smaller tree. I did a double-take or three. But there they were, the distinctive three leaf-shapes. And check out this bark, characteristic of old specimens: it is deeply, deeply furrowed, like the Southwestern canyon-lands.

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  • Return of the Green-Wood Merlin

    I said recently that Merlins (Falco columbarius) were comparable in size to Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata). Ummmm, well…. That’s a Merlin on the upper left. The other birds are Jays. Up to seven were in the tree recently on a very gray day, harrying the falcon until it flew off. Wheeler’s Raptors of Eastern North…

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  • Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

    I’m excited to announce this event. Please join us as Zane York and I discuss art and nature, nature and art, the art of nature, and the nature of art.

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