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.”

  • Springpink

    Just about the perfect spring color.If you hurry, you can see the real thing at the magnolia madness at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

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  • Neighbor

    There’s a Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioica) on the street around the corner. This Midwesterner is a fairly uncommon tree here in the city, but a few are scattered on the streets and in the parks. It is on the official street tree list, in the form of the suggested cultivar “Espresso” (cute). Male and female…

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  • Spring’s sprung

    Spring officially started early this morning, but it’s been bursting out for more than a month now. These pictures are from last week in the Brooklyn Bridge Park.

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  • Ah, spring!

    Spring was not far behind this year.

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  • Interior Moth

    An old frenemy returns to the apartment stairwell. Meal moth, Pyralis farinalis.

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  • Colorless green ideas sleep furiously

    Until spring awakens them.

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  • DHB, FBF

    Yesterday, we took a walk along Dead Horse Bay and the North 40 Trail at nearby Floyd Bennett Field. Before we knew it, we’d been outside for more than six glorious hours.This is a transitional time, with both winter and spring bird species finding themselves rubbing shoulders, so to speak. The large raft of Greater…

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  • Winter: What is it good for?

    Tomorrow is the last day of winter, a measure now more astronomical than seasonal. What did we miss this year? Snow, and the recharging of our water supplies with the spring thaw. Gateway NRA spent the last couple of months sending out warnings about the fire hazard created by zero snow cover, strong coastal winds,…

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  • Field Trip: Squam Swamp

    This is a Nantucket Conservation Foundation property of 294 acres on the northeastern end of the island. The Foundation, which keeps a substantial portion of the island free of the monstrous SUV-scaled houses now built there, has produced an excellent paper interpretive guide to the mile-long trail. Hardwood forests are rare on Nantucket now, but…

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  • Hellebores-a-poppin’

    6th Street, Park Slope. Genus Helleborus was named after the Greek words for “killing” and “food,” since members of the family are often toxic. Also known as Lenten Rose. Much hybridized, popular as a very early bloomer. Another batch on Sidney Place, the Block of Perpetual Renovation, in Brooklyn Heights. The native wildflower False Hellebore,…

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