Neighborhood natural history: Balm for a pandemic

Human routines have been shattered by the pandemic; nothing is as it was. Unable to travel in our disorienting world, I've begun taking daily natural history walks through my urban Washington, DC neighborhood. These explorations have provided me with a sense of place, of seasonality, and even wonder, as I've encountered ecological interactions both comfortingly familiar and entirely new to me. Though human lives are disrupted, the natural world’s predictable cycles and amazing organisms can help ground us, inspire us, and connect us.