Nature Blog Network

When you think “city” you don’t always think nature, right?  If the first thing that comes to your mind is concrete and steel and lots and lots of people, then you’re probably not alone.  I’d go so far to say that most city-dwellers, even those with some inclination towards nature, probably even agree that urban areas are a desert for life beyond the sewer rat and cockroach variety.  They’d, of course, be wrong.  Life typically finds a way, and often in manners that are pretty miraculous.

While most of the NBN blogs typically involve leaving the teeming masses to find solace in nature beyond its limits, which is great in and of itself, there remain those hardy souls who seek out life in the midst of chaos, nature’s reminder that it never really goes away though you may have to look a little harder for it.  It’s a subject I’ve touched upon before in previous networking posts focusing on bloggers from New York City and Singapore, both metropoli in the truest sense of the word whose bloggers I absolutely encourage you to support, but we’re going a bit further now, looking inwards to the belly of the beast to see what greenery we can find there.  It’s the difference between living in a city and hosting a nature blog and hosting a nature blog about the city.

I hope your brought your subway tokens, or at least some money for the cab fare?  Can you tell I’ve never lived in a city, all my reference points are based on movies from the 80s…

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- Not to sound nationalistic or anything, but there’s hardly a better place to start that Washington, DC, which just so happens to be a city with some significant greenspace.    With a catchphrase of getting outside, inside the beltway, The Natural Capital can help you do just that.

- London is a big city, so big even it’s exurbs can be considered cities in their own right.  The Birds in the Meadow is based in Tottenham, one of those exurbs with enough parks and meadows to find the titulat birds, as well as other stuff.

-  Bugs are a big part of urban fauna, and there are scarcely any bugs more charismatic than dragonflies.  I mean, come on, “dragon” is right there in the name.  I expect you have to be a pretty tough dragonfly to cut it in Detroit, good thing Urban Dragon Hunters is on it.

- Most urban nature enthusiasts are aware of the famous NYC Red-tailed Hawk, named Pale Male by admirers, and his life in the Big Apple.  But there are several Red-tails in addition to the celebrity ones in the area and Urban Hawks keeps tabs on most of them, in addition to less dramatic examples of nature in the city.

- If the photos at Walks with my Camera are accurate, and I have no reason to think they aren’t, then the amazing insect life Les finds is right in the shadow of metropolitan London, which is pretty cool in and of itself.

- There’s probably not a blogger who better encapsulates the idea behind this post, at least in name, than The CIty Birder.  It’s also an excellent place to keep up on local bird walks in the NYC area.

- Osage + Orange from the Chicago area is a blog with a horticultural bent, which seems apt considering Dave is a horticulturalist.   The insight into the relationships between plants and humans seems especially appropriate for one with an interest in urban nature.

- Based in Maine but covering topics from all over, The Vigourous North is a field guide to inner-city wilderness areas all over the continent.  Lots of interesting stuff can be found here.

- Written in French (with translation available) but full of nice photos of flowers in the Montreal area, Flora Urbana offers much for the nacent urban ecologist north of the border.

- Last but not least, for daily photos of nature scenes across London, check out London Daily Nature Photos.  It is what it says, no more nor less.

UPDATE: I can’t believe I forgot Trees, plants, and more considering it was sitting right there in my comment section.  Please check it out, it’s a plant blog from right in the middle of the city, where skyscrapers grow taller than trees.

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So you see, you don’t always have to leave the city limits in the rear-view mirror to enjoy the wonders of the natural world.  Nature is, after all, in the eye of the beholder.  We may try to deny it, but we’re as much a part of it as anything else on the earth.  And it’s evident even in places we don’t always think to look.

For next weekI’m looking to head to the left coast of the US, for those green rainy states in the northwest corner.  Bloggers from Washington, Oregon, and why not, Idaho and Montana too, rejoice, your time to shine has come.

North by northwest

If you write or know of excellent NBN blogs from that part of the world, please let me know at naswick (at)gmail (dot) com.

Till next time!