Wherever we are on the planet, we are embedded in the natural world. Humans are never apart from nature, even in the middle of an immense city like New York. Walking down a street in The Bronx after a storm, we see the water rushing this way and that according to the topography of the land. We hear birds sing and dogs bark. Dandelions struggle to break out of the cracks in the sidewalk. A spider spins a web on a tree branch, while ants scurry along their chemical trails to metabolize a discarded apple core. We step in a puddle teaming with bacteria. And that is only the beginning. In this course, we turn our attention to the rich and interconnected modes of life that surround us every day. We do this through a close examination of the 'backyard biodiversity' of New York, observing natural phenomena in and along shorelines, parks, gardens, vacant lots, porches, and other locations. In the process, we build a body of work through journal writing, sketching, mapping, photography, and reflection, along with periodic assignments to formalize our fieldwork into visual and textual essays. The goal of the course is to learn techniques of careful field observation and description that can support our work as urban naturalists, environmental advocates, designers, artists, and researchers.