I was feeling guilty because I haven’t properly ventured into NYC nature the last two months. I have some good excuses — I’m newly immunocompromised and have been getting sick a lot, and also it’s been really freaking cold! But instead of writing about some random bird (no offense) I can see from my window, I came up with the idea to hand out some superlatives to what I think are my creatures of the year. These superlatives are all supremely subjective, as I have both invented the categories and chosen the winners, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless.

Honorary Creature of the Year

This award goes to an entity I encountered that is not technically a creature but is existentially a creature. And I am pleased to announce the winner is the corpse flower, Amorphophallus gigas, that bloomed at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in January! I stood in the freezing cold for two hours with my friend Rafa waiting to see and sniff the flower. It reeked! What a day!

Best Pigeon

This award might seem self-explanatory, but it is deceptively difficult to choose a best pigeon. What criteria make one pigeon better than another? Is it uniqueness or adhesion to conventional pigeon beauty standards? Is it spunk, personality, feats of daring and adventure, or a compelling life story? I will no doubt revisit these questions in future years. But this year’s best pigeon is this pigeon, which I saw in Chinatown in February, whom I felt an urgent need to document for how much they represented a platonic ideal of a pigeon in my mind. In many ways a perfect little guy. Congratulations!

Most Exciting Sighting

Just one day after I saw the perfect pigeon, I went on the Classic Harbor Line’s seal tour and saw so many seals that I wanted to cry! There may be no better creature than a seal, in all its blubbery heft, adorable aerodynamic nature, and capacity for lounging. I had never seen seals before in NYC and I am now determined to see them each year. Just look at this fellow!

Most Unexpected Sighting

On one of Gabriel Willow’s bird walks in Prospect Park, we stumbled upon a termite hatch — when winged termites called alates emerge from their nests in large swarms. I had never seen this before, nor did I even know termites had wings at any point in their life (the alates shed them after they mate). It was strangely magical watching the little termites whizz up from the log like white pinwheels, like snow falling in reverse, and it was also a treat to see some blue jays and a baby rat nearby feasting on the hatch.

Best Baby
This year’s best baby award goes to this baby robin I encountered outside one of the entrances to the American Museum of Natural History. It’s hard work being a baby, but this fledgling is doing their very best, and already appreciating culture!

Biggest Horseshoe Crab Orgy

This award is determined not by the biggest horseshoe crab orgy that happened in NYC this year, but the biggest one I saw (and remembered to photograph.) This year, we have 13 lucky winners!

Congratulations again to all the winners. If you have any suggestions for future categories, suggest away. And if you have any superlatives of your own, I’d love to hear about them. Anyway, thank you for reading this newsletter! I hope it’s inspired you to go out and see some creatures this year. If you’re feeling the need to see even more creatures, you’re in luck! January is chock-full of fun events. There’s a ton of winter birding, the first full month of seal cruises, and a hike to the Alley Giant in Queens! Stay warm, rest well, and see you in Zohran’s NYC!

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January

🦌 Oh Deer! Deer Exploration Hike: Jan 2 @ 1pm. Even when school's out, our parks are still the city's natural classroom! Bring your kids to parks throughout the city during Winter Recess. With programs led by our Urban Park Rangers, kids will get to experience nature in a hands-on and fun way. Oh deer! Learn more about this majestic species and explore the park in search of signs and traces of its presence. For kids.

🐦 Intro to Birding in Central Park with NYC Bird Alliance: Jan 3 @ 8:30am. Are you curious about birding but don’t have much (or any) experience? Join NYC Bird Alliance in Central Park, a birding hotspot, where you’ll learn the basics and spot everything from lively warblers to finches, woodpeckers, ducks, and more! Registration required, capped at 15.

🌳 Alley Giant Hike: Jan 3 @ 11am. Urban Park Ranger hiking guides will introduce you to the hidden gems of New York City. This hike will take you to the oldest living organism in New York, the Alley Giant. Comfortable walking footwear highly recommended.

🦆 Winter Waterfowl in Van Cortlandt Park: Jan 3 @ 1pm. Our Urban Park Rangers will guide you to the best viewing spots in New York City to see winter waterfowl. Birding programs are appropriate for all skill levels and beginners are welcome.

🐦 Intro to Birding in Central Park with NYC Bird Alliance: Jan 4 @ 8:30am. Are you curious about birding but don’t have much (or any) experience? Join NYC Bird Alliance in Central Park, a birding hotspot, where you’ll learn the basics and spot everything from lively warblers to finches, woodpeckers, ducks, and more! Registration required, capped at 15.

🦅 Bald Eagle Watch in Inwood Hill Park: Jan 4 @ 10am. Throughout the winter, many Bald Eagles from upstate will fly south to NYC to hunt along the open, unfrozen sections of the Hudson River. On our walk we will hopefully be able to observe some of these mighty raptors soaring above the river or perched along the forest scouring for fish to prey upon!

🌲 Winter Tree ID in McCarren Park: Jan 4 @ 11am. Trees have a special place in our environment. Join us for a walk of McCarren Park to learn tips and tricks in identifying New York City’s greenest residents, even when they aren’t dressed in their summer best.

🦆 Winter Waterfowl in Springfield Park: Jan 4 @ 2pm. Our Urban Park Rangers will guide you to the best viewing spots in New York City to see waterfowl. Birding programs are appropriate for all skill levels and beginners are welcome. Discover which waterfowl have returned for the winter season.

🦆 Winter Birding at Mount Loretto Unique Area, Staten Island: Jan 10 @ 8am. Discover a diversity of wintering birds with Staten Island resident and birder, Anthony Ciancimino. The diverse habitats found at the park make it the perfect place for all-year round birding. Registration encouraged.

🐦 Winter Birds with the Young Conservationists - Finches: Jan 10 @ 10am. Winter doesn’t mean the birding has to stop! Discover the birds that spend the colder months with us. Join Young Conservation Council member Ryan Mandelbaum this winter in a three part series: finches, gulls, and ducks. Registration required.

🌲 Forest Bathing in the Winter Landscape at Wave Hill: Jan 10 @ 12pm. Bundle up and explore Wave Hill’s serene winter landscape using all of your senses. Led by certified nature therapy guide Cindy Olsen, this immersive experience invites you to slow down, breathe deeply, and awaken your mind and body as you connect with nature. $30, including admission to the grounds.

🐦 Winter Birding at Pelham Bay Park: Jan 11 @ 9am. Join NYC Bird Alliance to explore New York City's largest park! Pelham Bay Park's forested areas, salt marshes, and grassy meadows offer rich habitat for a variety of migrating birds.

🐦 Winter Birding at Wave Hill: Jan 11 @ 9:30am. The Hudson River Valley hosts an impressive diversity of bird species, even during the winter months. Explore Wave Hill’s tranquil gardens and woodlands with birding guide, Haley Scott to observe birds in their winter habitat. Birders of all levels encouraged. A limited number of binoculars, monoculars and walking sticks are available to borrow at the Perkins Visitor Center. Free with admission to grounds, registration encouraged.

🌾 Volunteer Landscaping and Cleanup at Ridgewood Reservoir: Jan 11 @ 10am. Join NYC H2O and the NYC Parks Department as we remove invasive plants and plant native plants at Ridgewood Reservoir!

🦉 Owls and Owl Pellet Discovery in Staten Island: Jan 17 @ 11am. Learn about all about owls and dissect their pellets to see what they eat. You will be surprised by your discovery.

🌲 Winter Tree ID in Inwood Hill Park: Jan 17 @ 1pm. Trees have a special place in our environment. Join the Urban Park Rangers for a winter walk around Inwood Hill Park to learn how to identify trees even after their leaves have fallen.

🐦 Highland Park and Reservoir Birding: Jan 18 @ 10am. Located in both Queens and Brooklyn, Highland Park boasts forested areas, reservoir, and a community garden. Join NYC Bird Alliance in search of winter migrants in this beautiful outdoor space.

🐦 Winter Birds in Marine Park: Jan 18 @ 11am. Join us on this Ranger led walk along the park identifying various marshland birds and winter waterfowl. Rangers will talk about the adaptations winter birds have to make to survive the harsh winter conditions

🍄 Fantastic Fungi Winter Mushroom ID Hike in Seton Hills Park: Jan 18 @ 11am. While plants enjoy their winter's sleep, many fungi are active in our parks! Join the Urban Park Rangers on a hike through Seton Falls Park to explore seasonal mushrooms. Participants will learn about the crucial role that mushrooms play in an ecosystem and how natural decomposition takes place.

🐿️ City Squirrels in Forest Park: Jan 18 @ 11am. New York City is home to an amazing abundance of wildlife. Our Rangers will guide you to the best wildlife viewing spots in the urban jungle. Squirrel Appreciation Day is January 21. Learn more about New York’s most visible mammal and how they survive the cold winter months without hibernating.

👣 Animal Tracking in Alley Pond Park: Jan 18 @ 12pm. Join the Rangers to unravel the mysteries of wildlife behavior, migration patterns, and ecological interactions. As humans, we have been captivated by the footprints, scat, and other traces left behind by animals, using these clues to gain insights into their secretive lives.

🦭 Winter Shoreline Wildlife Watch in Lemon Creek Park: Jan 18 @ 1pm. Explore the shore on World Snow Day! Raritan Bay features many species of winter waterfowl and seals can often be seen basking nearby. We will use binoculars and spotting scopes along the beach to view wildlife.

🐦 Winter Birding at Rockaway: Jan 19 @ 11am. Join NYC Bird Alliance to explore the Rockaways with bird guide Russell Jacobs - a vital habitat for shorebirds. Winter is a perfect time to get an upclose look at these beaches often closed during the summer months for breeding birds.

🦇 Bat Cafe - The Cities That Never Sleep: Jan 20 @ 7pm. Join us in person for our live discussion series, Bat Cafe, and discover how bats adapt to life in the urban jungle. This evening program explores how light pollution, noise, and city structures shape the nightly journeys of these remarkable animals. Enjoy a short film and lively discussion over drinks as we uncover how bats thrive, and sometimes struggle, in cities that never sleep.

🦅 Bald Eagle Watch in Inwood Hill Park: Jan 24 @ 10am. Throughout the winter, many Bald Eagles from upstate will fly south to NYC to hunt along the open, unfrozen sections of the Hudson River. On our walk we will hopefully be able to observe some of these mighty raptors soaring above the river or perched along the forest scouring for fish to prey upon!

🐦 Winter Birds in Rockaway Community Park: Jan 24 @ 10am. Join the Urban Park Rangers on an exclusive tour of the closed Edgemere Landfill to find bird species in this grassland ecosystem. Registration required. Registration begins on Monday January 12.

❄️ Winter Sensory Perception Hike in Alley Pond Park: Jan 24 @ 1pm. Explore the sights, sounds, smells and feel of winter on this exploratory hike. Connect with nature in fun and new ways while learning more about the season.

🐦 Winter Birds in Kissena Park: Jan 25 @ 11am. Our Urban Park Rangers will guide you to the best viewing spots in New York City to see migratory winter birds. Birding programs are appropriate for all skill levels and beginners are welcome.

🦉 Owl Pellet Discovery & Dissection in Pelham Bay Park: Jan 25 @ 11am. Did you know an owl's gizzard packs the undigested parts of their prey into a ball called a “pellet”? Join the Urban Park Rangers to dissect an owl pellet and learn all about the unique adaptations of owls and enjoy an exciting walk along the Kazmiroff Trail as we search for the owls in the wild!

🦆 Winter Waterfowl in Central Park: Jan 25 @ 1pm. Join the Urban Park Rangers and learn to identify migrating waterfowl that overwinter at the Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Bring binoculars if you have them!

🐦 Birding at Floyd Bennett Field with Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy: Jan 31 @ 9:30am. Join NYC Bird Alliance and Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy at Floyd Bennett Field, one of NYC's top spots for spotting winter wildlife! This former airfield-turned-natural haven offers a variety of habitats, from marshes to meadows, making it the perfect place to spot winter visitors like shovelers, scoters, and mergansers. Registration highly encouraged. 

🪨 Fort Tryon Rocks!: Jan 31 @ 1pm. New York City is the site of ancient earth-shaking and earth-shaping events. The bedrock that anchors the city’s skyscrapers tells a story of a place going back more than a billion years. The island of Manhattan is built on three strata known as Manhattan Schist, Inwood Marble, and Fordham Gneiss.

Ongoing:

🦭⛵ Classic Harbor Line Seals, Seabirds, and Winter Wildlife Ecocruise: On this NYC boat ride, our expert tour guides and renowned Urban Naturalists, Gabriel Willow or Russell Jacobs, will regale you with fascinating tales of these iconic islands and historic waterways. They'll illuminate the stories of the migrating birds who inhabit the harbor this time of year. Once used as islands for quarantining immigrants with contagious diseases in the 19th century, Swinburne and Hoffman are modern day 'abandoned islands', reclaimed by nature as a breeding ground for birds, and a winter 'haul out' destination for Gray Seals and Harbor Seals. (This is an affiliate link, so if you buy a ticket I will receive a commission.)

🪼 Open Hours at the Environmental Education Center at Brooklyn Bridge Park: Get to know Brooklyn Bridge Park with monthly educational themes, a 250 gallon aquarium filled with critters from the East River, a 10’ scale model of Brooklyn Bridge Park, crafts, a reading corner, and much more. Open weekly on Thursdays 3-5 PM, Fridays 3-5 PM, and Saturdays 1-5 PM.

🦪 Shoreline Cleanup with the Billion Oyster Project: On Thursdays at 2pm, loin us in collecting debris from New York City's shorelines to prevent it from re-entering the waterways when the tide returns. This is important in achieving our goal of protecting the biodiversity that lives near our reef sites.

🌹 New York Restoration Project: Everyone deserves access to high-quality public green space. If you’re interested in forest stewardship, volunteer with the NYRP in the parks of northern Manhattan clearing invasive plants, mulching, and clearing litter. Volunteer dates listed in the link above. Registration required.