L E T ' S G O O U T !
A Birder’s Year in the West Village

Text and Photographs by Keith Michael

For centuries, the environs of the West Village on Manhattan island have been a destination: as a Native American Lenape fishing outpost, the sylvan Dutch Greenwjck homestead (meaning green inlet or cove), and the bucolic 18th century English village of Greenwich (far from “city life” downtown). It is still one of New York’s most distinctive neighborhoods.

Birds have always made their homes here. Populations may have changed since 1609 when Henry Hudson first arrived, but avian life still flourishes. Keith Michael’s West Village Bird List has grown to 103 species, garnered during daily walks with his Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Millie.

With humor, curb-side observation, and a relish for adventure in the everyday, Let’s Go Out! captures the avian goings-on of these storied blocks. The feathered rhythms of street-life, family-raising, and urban chutzpah provide a balm to the human-generated anxieties of traffic jams, first nights, and hand-held devices.

"Let's Go Out!" Millie looks up, ready to go!