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Back 40 Snail
A snail in the Back 40, hunkered down on the fence. Invasive Cepaea nemoralis, no stranger here. Showed up on Friday. Some mucous glue holds this onto the vertical surface, the animal withdrawn deep into the whorls of the shell.
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American Chestnut, Prospect Park
Stumbled on another American Chestnut in Prospect Park. A city of leaves on a hill.
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Cattails in Autumn
The rooftop cattail colony on Furman St. Uh-oh, is that phragmites in the corner? There goes the neighborhood!
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99 Percent
of the trees at Occupy Wall Street‘s Liberty Square (f.k.a. Zuccotti Park) are Honeylocusts, Gleditsia triacanthos. Click on image to open big. There is a lone London Plane, Platanus ‘x acerifolia‘ in the northwest corner, or right-hand side of the picture. (Sorry, the creepy mobile police observation tower was off-limits for a more encompassing picture.)…
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Springtime in November
It was like spring in Prospect Park today. Late spring, even, except for the rich fall colors of the leaves and the lack of birdsong. How warm was it? There was a woman wearing a bikini in Nelly’s Lawn. Among other sun-worshippers were the turtles, brought up out of the murk by the warmth.A few…
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Big Brooklyn Tree
A recent post by my fellow naturalist co-conspirator Melissa at Out Walking the Dog mentioned “state champion trees.” I was curious to find out more about these. To be on NY state’s Big Tree Register, trees are awarded points based on their height in feet plus trunk circumference in inches plus 1/4th of average crown…
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Brown Rat
A young Brown Rat, Rattus norvegicus, expired in Prospect Park. A cosmopolitan species, found on every continent except Antarctica, these rats thrive in dense conglomerations of humans because we provide so much for them to eat, and such nice places for them to burrow. Robert Sullivan’s Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the…
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G Train Roses
This morning, these roses at the corner of the patriotic intersection of Washington & Lafayette were still going strong. Ruins of Halloween in the background.
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Autumnal Details
Autumn lingers…. I keep expecting to be greeted by an embrowned world when I venture outside.
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Ranger Robin Sez
Rogue Ranger Robin, hardly haven broken a sweat after running the Occupy The F’ING NYC Marathon, verges between chagrin and rage over the state of our parks: “Uh-oh. Pragmites have colonized the Vale of Cashmere. The end — complete take-over by this invasive — is near. By next spring, in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised…
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Backyard and Beyond 