This is such an optimistic topic, but it reminds me (sadly) of the wholesale slaughter of the beautiful Canada geese that took place in Prospect Park this past year. It brings up important questions of how we choose to co-exist with thriving wildlife in a large city.

@ML: The pigeons in Manhattan are not only larger than those I've seen in other cities (DC, Chicago, Boston)--it also looks like there are more fancy varieties here than there were in the 1970s.

Some are now dappled and many are red/albino. I wonder if this is due to crossbreeding between wild types and those that are raised by pigeon enthusiasts.

Wild Life - also includes Bedbugs!

Robert Sullivan is right that the word "nature" comes from the Latin for "to be born," but "environment" comes from words meaning "around," not "see."

forget skunks and opossums, I saw a raccoon in downtown Jersey City last Tuesday evening at around 8:00. Pretty wild!

I trapped a raccoon in my backyard this weekend in a humane trap. S/he killed one of my chickens! The culprit has been relocated and now resides in Queens.

I'm not sure if "old stand" is the same as "old growth, but the forest in Inwood Hill Park isn't old growth, according to a park ranger I spoke to years ago on a hike w/the Shore Walkers. It was cut down by George Washington's army during the Revolutionary War so the could see the British coming. However, it is the only park in Manhattan that has its natural landscape & wasn't "designed," like Central Park.

BTW, I once saw a pheasant in Inwood Hill on a picnic. (I was on the picnic, that is--not the pheasant!)

Read Dr. Jon Way's book "Suburban Howls" to understand the eastern coyote or coywolf.
http://www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/FieldUpdatesAndNews.html

if your guest would distinguish what variety of park (city/ state/ county/ etc.), we would have a much better idea of what he is talking about.

I've been freelancing from home in Westchester but came into Manhattan today to work in the client's office. I love watching the birds--finches, chickadees, jays, cardinals, mourning doves--at the feeder when I'm at home. Walking through Midtown Manhattan this morning, I was startled at how large the pigeons appeared! And of course they're so much tamer than the birds I feed. I have to watch where I step so I don't trip over them.

Sullivan's article is a great introduction to the wilds within. The larger point is that we all need to look more closely at what surrounds us. As an amateur naturalist, I've been documenting the plant and animal life of Brooklyn and surroundings at my blog Backyard and Beyond, http://matthewwills.com/

I'm always impressed with the diversity of flora and fauna around here; I just had a skunk sighting (and, unfortunately, smelling) last night in downtown Jersey City. Any word lately on the coyotes of Columbia?