Well, more of a midwest to south thing. Google up the range maps of the brown recluse. Your population in NY seems to be an anomoly. Like the water moccasin in NJ, the incorrect sightings are plentiful. That's not to say they are not moving towards this area.
Something about a field that trees love. An abscence of competition in the roots, and full sun. How many times in our lives, when we'd see a familiar old tree in the middle of a field while speeding by. They were usually bursting with life. Can you tell what it is from this distance?
What really annoys me is what these dotards are doing to science in social media. They have a very interesting geology, or space, or landscape photo and try to pass it off as a real photo. This is not good.
I like your approach. By the way, if you look at the closeup, you'll see the hairs and yellowish scales that make this species unique (well, maybe not the scales, you'd have to look at the zoom scope).
Yes, it is a tree, and it's leaves are odd-pinnate. Odd-pinnate means there is a single terminal leaflet versus ending with two, as in Ailanthus, which is simply pinnate or evenly pinnate. And no, it's not on a lawn per se. It's right here:
Going out on the limb. Another trite one. No, I've come up with the right Genus and species, and it's not an Ash (at least in my mind). Do you want a clue?