Matt Gross for The New York TimesCyclists in front of the Akin Free Library in Pawling, N.Y.When it comes to the finer points of nature, I often feel at a loss. When I see a bird turning lazy circles in the sky, the feathers at the tips of its wings spread like fingers, I am pretty sure it’s a hawk — though what kind, I have no idea. A rose is a rose is a rose, I know, but what is it if it’s not a rose? I can tell deciduous from conifer with all the certainty of a sixth-grader, but about the onl