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.”

Wheeler Woods

  • Ground Pines Up Close

    Looking like a baby pine tree, these tree clubmosses, Lycopodium obscurum, are in fact also known as ground pines or creeping cedars.What we see sprouting from the ground of the woods is the sporophyte; most of the action is going on underground, where rhizomes spread unseen. When you see a cluster of these, they are…

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  • Floating Island

    Did the earth move? At first I though it was wind playing on the water, creating an illusion of motion. But the wind was actually pushing this reedy mass – which I guesstimated to be 50 yards wide – along. I’d happened by during the floating island’s mid-cruise, and it took about ten minutes for…

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  • New England Woods

    Wheeler Woods Conservation Area in Haverhill, Massachusetts, is a small patch of woodlands bordering Chadwick Pond. Walking there during Thanksgiving, I noticed these things:

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