Your Backyard Is Wild

by Jeff Corwin

  When their arms were tired from rowing, the families walked across the park to the East Side and the Central Park Zoo. Benjamin, Lucy, and Gabe spent a long time watching the sea lions at feeding time. They leaped out of the water and snatched fish from their trainers’ hands.

  One sea lion even hopped on the rocks and walked on his flippers for the crowd. The trainer smiled proudly at his student, and Benjamin knew how he felt. It was the way he felt, back home, whenever he taught Daisy a new trick.

  Later, the cousins sat on a bench outside the zoo, watching the cars and buses drive down Fifth Avenue. Their parents lined up at another street vendor, this time to buy them hot pretzels.

  Benjamin caught sight of a woman on the other side of the street walking seven dogs. Were they all hers? he wondered.

  “A dog walker,” Gabe told him, following his gaze. “That’s her job. She takes care of the pets while their owners are at work.” Only in New York, thought Benjamin. Daisy would never stand for that!

  Then Benjamin watched a bunch of pigeons pecking at the pavement, eating every crumb they could find. Like raccoons, pigeons were perfectly adapted to life in the city, though some people considered them pests.

  Just then, Gabe jumped off his bench and pointed into the air. “Pale Male!” he shouted.

  Lucy looked to Benjamin for an answer, but he had no idea what Gabe was talking about. He couldn’t even see what Gabe was pointing to.

  And then . . . there it was. A magnificent hawk soaring above Fifth Avenue, hovering above the bus fumes and the tour groups until it landed on the roof of a building across the street.

  “Was that . . . ?” Lucy asked.

  “A red-tailed hawk!” Benjamin cried. He could tell by its broad wingspan and its distinctive red tail feathers.

  “What’s he doing here?” Lucy wondered.

  “He lives here,” Gabe said.

  Both cousins turned to look at him. Gabe wasn’t usually the expert on animals or nature. But this time, he had a lot to tell them.

  “Lots of famous people live in the city,” Gabe said. “But Pale Male is one of the most famous animals—so famous that I’ve read about him in school.”

  “Well, what’s his story?” Benjamin prompted his cousin.

  “Pale Male moved to New York about fifteen years ago,” Gabe said. “Or that’s what the experts think. Bird-watchers saw him building a nest in Central Park, but he didn’t last long there because he was chased away by crows. That’s when he moved across the street! He perched on an apartment building instead of in a tree and built his nest in some fancy stonework above a window.”

  “So he still lives there?” Lucy asked.

  “Now he does,” replied Gabe. “But not without a fight. The owners of the apartment building tried to make changes to the stonework . . . until people complained. Pale Male and his mate had raised many chicks in that nest, and they’d become part of the neighborhood. Nobody wanted to see them hurt or moved. So now they’re back in their old nest.”

  “And that was really him?” Lucy asked, as breathlessly as if she’d seen a movie star.

  “I’m not really sure,” Gabe admitted. “But red-tailed hawks are unusual in New York. If it wasn’t him, it definitely could have been another bird in his family.”

  “That’s an awesome story,” Benjamin said.

  Gabe grinned. “I never paid much attention to it before. You know . . . it’s like the animals in my yard. I never paid attention to them—I hardly knew they were there. You guys have shown me a whole new side of the city. I was supposed to be your tour guide! But I’ll never see New York in the same way.”

  Benjamin thought back to what he’d imagined his trip would be like. He’d thought it would be all about the city’s famous landmarks, but instead it was all about seeing the city’s natural wonders. It wasn’t what he had expected—it was even better. And he would never see New York in the same way again, either!

  Before he went to bed that night, Benjamin took out his notebook. Observe and record: it was like his family’s mantra, an easy way to remember how scientists always looked at the world. Benjamin realized he’d done a lot more observing than recording on this trip. He’d been too busy having fun! He didn’t want to forget anything he’d learned, though. And he didn’t want to forget even one detail that he might share with his classmates back home.

  He opened the notebook and turned to the pages where he’d done some quick sketches of animals. Now it was time to write about them. To write about all of New York, actually . . . he didn’t know where to begin!

  Benjamin chewed his eraser and thought about the most exciting place he’d seen in the city. It wasn’t the subway or the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Heights or even Central Park. It was a place that few tourists would see, but a place that contained some of the city’s greatest surprises.

  He turned to a new page and wrote Your the name of it across the top: Your BackyardIs Wild. And then he went to work!