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.”

trees

  • 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.)

    mthew

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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.)

    mthew

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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.

    mthew

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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.

    mthew

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  • White Oak

    The pale underside of some Eastern White Oak (Quercus alba) leaves found on Mt. Taurus.This is another specimen of the tree, two weeks later, in Green-Wood. It’s been a spectacular fall. Same tree, with some Hedgehog Galls. I also explore these fuzzy galls a little more here.

    mthew

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  • Resin

    A fist-sized clump of resin. Usually associated with coniferous trees, this frozen waterfall of hydrocarbons, and several others, were on a deciduous tree I couldn’t identify on the Lyndhurst estate in Tarrytown. (The grounds are a 19th century landscaper’s dream, rich with exotica.) Resins seem to have a defensive function, battling insects and smaller threats.…

    mthew

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  • What a fall!

    The Lullwater. Wood Ducks and a Pied Grebe and turtles and meadowhawks.Red Maple (Acer rubrum) burning up the Vale.

    mthew

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  • Palisades

    One last boating trip of the year.The Commodore headed up the Hudson for a look at the leaves.A hazy afternoon made for some impressionistic views.

    mthew

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  • Beechwood

    This is an approximation of the light on this appropriately yellow-blazed trail on Saturday afternoon. It was a tonic that cured what ailed us. Whatever it was that ailed us. The sun had a been a little spotty before this, and the scrubby oaks atop the hill were mostly fallen, so coming into this batch…

    mthew

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  • The forest for the trees

    A hike in the fall woods is always a sensual and philosophical experience.I was in a yellow light under oaks and beeches in an overcast sky, later speared through by shafts of sunlight.Yes, both the woods and I were speared. My eyes kept shifting from the whole to the parts. Walking over even relatively smooth…

    mthew

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