'Revel in the grubby wilderness': how to spot nature from lockdown

Staying home during the pandemic presents a unique opportunity to become better acquainted with wilderness in all its forms

In May, my partner and I had a daily ritual: he would send me a photo of the robin's nest taking shape above the front door of his parents' house, where he was sheltering in place. At first, it was more a pile of twigs than a structure, but slowly, it transformed into a woven bowl. Blue eggs appeared, and then chirping baby birds. A robin nested in that same spot the year before, but we were too busy to take such close stock, to notice the changes happening just outside the door.

For many people, the outside world has shrunk in the last three months. City dwellers, with their notoriously cramped apartments and negligible backyard space, may feel especially cut-off from nature. But staying home during the first pandemic in over a century presents a unique opportunity to become better acquainted with wilderness in all its forms. Walk around the block, and you can behold scraggly neighborhood trees, birds roosting in apartment balconies, snails thriving in untended plots; under our sustained attention, these signs of life can begin to challenge our collective perception of what counts as nature.