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.”

  • Break The Fast

    I’m reading Ian Tattersall’s excellent but pretentiously entitled Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Ancestors. It is serious food for thought. But you may not want to read this post during breakfast… Our hominid ancestors of some two million years ago were far from top dog; in fact, they were the prey…

    See more

    ,

  • Galls and Crane Fly

    A two-fer in this shot of a Witch Hazel leaf:This is a boom year for the Witch Hazel Cone Gall-maker (Hormaphis hamamelidis), an aphid. Read more about these tiny insects and how they force the American Witch-Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) to create these protective cone forms around their young. For more about the endlessly fascinating galls…

    See more

    , , ,

  • Mud, Marsh, and Meadow

    LAST minute update: Looks like the 2 train is not running to Flatbush this weekend; MTA using bus transfers between Franklin and Flatbush. As part of NYC Wildlife Week, I’ll be heading to Four Sparrow Marsh Sunday for a low tide walk starting at 1pm. Join us. It should be a spectacular day. Register for…

    See more

  • Viburnum Leaf Beetle (Corrected)

    If you read this, you are probably also reading Marielle Anzelone’s Spring series at the New York Times. If not you should be. Yesterday’s article introduced us to the Viburnum Leaf Beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni) an invading species which devours Viburnum species, especially Arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum). EDITED & UPDATED 7/28/15: I was incorrect about this. VLB…

    See more

    ,

  • Ranger Robin Says

    Irrepressible Ranger Robin — either just out of hibernation or on a work-release program, she’s vague about details — stopped by after a visit to Prospect Park this week: “The signs have been up since Sunday warning about the take-over of the heart of the park by something called Googa Mugger. The Neathermead and surroundings…

    See more

    ,

  • Native Flora Garden

    In the Brooklyn Botanic Garden yesterday morning. It was still dripping from the rain under the trees, even though it had long since stopped raining. Our woods in leaf always hold onto the rain. Next to the present NFG, the Garden is working on a major expansion to allow for less shade-dominated habitats found in…

    See more

  • Roses

    Roses are everywhere in my neighborhood. Here’s a hybrid of these over-fiddled with flowers that I particularly like, found overflowing on the Block of Perpetual Renovation. They remind me of Rosa rugosa.

    See more

    ,

  • Cardinal Chicks

    Looking somewhat like Muppets, two Northern Cardinal chicks realize there is no food forthcoming from the camera. Normally at this stage in their careers, they are all about open mouths — wide, wide mouths, like so:These birds will quickly get bigger, feather out, and fledge, or fly out from the nest. (This site gives details…

    See more

    , , ,

  • Never the same beach twice

    The Cliff along Nantucket’s north side is a time-and-tide whittled slice through the north side of the terminal moraine, the long pile of glacial till left over when the ice retreated. Long Island was made the same way, and its north side has cliffs like these, too. The cliff here is eroded by the sea,…

    See more

  • In the Vale

    And in a rare personal appearance, your blogger, and Mrs. Wills’s son, points not to the glorious dream of a Soviet future à la Lenin nor to the Cape May warbler we saw practically eye-to-eye in the Vale of Cashmere yesterday, but to another of the stuffed teddy bears and My Little Ponies hanging from…

    See more