Field Notes
Longform writing on NYC birds, migration, and what I'm seeing in the parks.
-
The Theater With No Screen, The Beach With No Dogs
A volunteer's first months with the NYC Plover Project. Building the symbolic fence in March, learning the protocols in May, and the conversation about your dog.
-
The Rare Dog That Looks for Peents
A French spaniel saved from extinction, bred for woodcock, and how a line of them ended up in my family. What I've learned about birding with a dog in New York City.
-
The Okinawa Rail That Made Me a NYC Birder
Before NYC, before the subway, a flightless bird in a subtropical forest and a college paper I wrote post-service in Okinawa. That was the beginning of the practice.
-
The 22-Year-Old Who Helped Invent Modern Birdwatching
Florence Merriam Bailey was 22 when she became the AOU's first female associate member. She helped invent modern birdwatching from inside a movement, not its edges.
-
Celebrity Birds: The Bryant Park Woodcocks
The American Woodcocks that took over Bryant Park this spring, the sound everyone got wrong, and the window-strike story TikTok didn't cover.
-
Spring Migration 2026: Peak Timing and the Warbler Fallouts
BirdCast clocked 5 million birds over NYC on April 8–9. Where to see peak spring migration this Earth Week, and why 90°F April is changing the math.
One dispatch a month
Get new Field Notes in your inbox
Free, no sponsors. One NYC bird,
one field observation, one link
worth clicking.
Or subscribe via RSS.