My birding efforts for 2026 officially began up on the roof of my Astoria apartment during a predawn snow squall on New Year’s Day, straining … Read More
2025: First Impressions
The start of each new year represents a fresh slate of unknown opportunities, a whole new seasonal cycle to be celebrated and explored. There is … Read More
Short-Lived Celebrities: How to Make Our City Safer for Wildlife
The now world-famous Eurasian Eagle-Owl known as Flaco has died. Released from his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo by unidentified vandals in early February … Read More
Guide to a Patch: Randall’s Island
Randall’s Island is something of an enigma to most New Yorkers. Located at the confluence of the Harlem and East Rivers, where three of the … Read More
Various Vagrants of the Spring Season
The excitement of peak spring migration is one of the most anticipated holidays in the birding calendar year. In contrast with the prolonged, more casual … Read More
Old Hood, New View
At the end last year, I bid a fond farewell to the lovely neighborhood of Astoria, where I had lived since December 2019. I spent … Read More
Winter on the Upper West Side
This January, I officially finalized my departure from Astoria and moved the last of my things into the Upper West Side apartment. Though this is … Read More
Farewell, Astoria Park: Ode to a Patch
Endings are often emotional experiences. My time in Astoria, which began 2 years ago in December 2019, is rapidly coming to a close. Although I … Read More
2021 – The First 100
I’ve always appreciated the seasonality of birding. When you’re paying close attention to the goings-on in the world outside your windows, the annual cycle of … Read More
Life in Queens: A New Patch
My recent move from Nassau to Queens was one of the final big events in a very eventful 2019. A few months out, I’d consider … Read More