Brian Lairn on WNYC, once a month for a year on this show, we're taking some time to pay attention to one of the most important, if often overlooked, parts of New York City and surrounding

areas, the parts that are not man-made, you know, the plants and animals that sustain us.

Last month, we talked about the spring migration of wildlife via our local waterways, think eos,

horseshoe crabs, and other aquatic life forms that we talked about last month.

Today, we'll look up at the sky. From March to June, New York City's airspace belongs to all

sorts of insects and birds traveling north, as you certainly know. With me now to tell us more

about these critters, though, where to spot them and how to keep them safe, is Mariel Anzalone,

urban botanist and ecologist and the founder of New York City Wildflower Week, and Christian Cooper,

science and comics writer, host of the National Geographic TV series, Extraordinary Birder,

New York City Bird Alliance board member and author of the 2023 book, Better Living Through Birding, Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World.

Hey, Christian. Hi, Mariel. Thanks for doing this with us. Hi, Brian. Glad to be here.

Good morning. Mariel, we tend to think of habitat as something on the ground, I think. but the sky over New York is also a habitat,

at least for a few months a year. Who's using the sky right now, and where are they headed?

Oh my gosh, so many different kinds of wildlife. So it's really incredible to think about,

you think about New York City right on the ground, you walk in, you see something. But the Atlantic Flyway actually connects New York City to the larger planet.

Species come in from southern parts of the globe and fly over New York City, and they come and rest. So our natural areas are important spaces for them to take respite.

But we have birds, we have bats, we have butterflies, we even have dragonflies that come over New York City and the migrations have been happening so interesting for thousands of years. So this is something that everyone

should be paying attention to. Question, let's zoom in on your specialty. The birds, where are these

migrants coming from? Are they mostly more or less from the same place? And what's New York's role

in their journey? No, they're coming from all over, from the southern part of the world, as Mariel mentioned.

Some may be coming from Florida or may have wintered on the Gulf Coast.

Some are coming from Mexico, some are coming from the Caribbean.

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