For a couple of years now, I’ve been taking photos on my morning walk through Prospect Park and posting a few on my blog, almost daily. At the start of the pandemic, I got a telephoto lens, and many of the photos since have been of birds. In my neighborhood, I’m now much better known now as a local guy who photographs birds than as a novelist or critic. Not sure if that’s true online yet? On my old blog, the bird content has pretty much overwhelmed the writing content—probably a major branding error on my part.
It turns out that on Substack, the platform hosting this newsletter, there’s a pretty simple solution to the confusion I’ve created, called “sections.” Starting today, I’m going to send out bird photos via this Substack, too, in a new section of this newsletter called Album—but only to those of you who sign up! If birds are not so much your thing, do nothing. If, however, you would like to see a few birds a few times a week, go to your subscription settings for my newsletter by clicking here:
You’ll see a green check in the box next to Leaflet. That means you’re subscribed to the little essays that I post here from time to time. If you also want to subscribe to the birds, check the box next to Album, too. (And if you want birds and no words, feel free to uncheck Leaflet and check Album.)
Here are a few sample birds, from the last couple of weeks. Don’t worry—unless you sign up for Album, these will be the last birds you’ll see. (Also, yes, I know, raccoons are not birds.)