Who comes to NYC in the middle of winter? Who stays here and thrives? Candace wants to know, so she throws on her binoculars and heads out.

Winter can be tough in NYC: black ice, gray snowbanks, overheated apartments, bitter wind rushing up the cross-streets from the river. But Candace delights in the cold and relative quiet: only the hardy are out in the Park.

For birders like Candace, the spring and fall migrations are the busiest times in the Park, but Candace likes to see who’s around when the Park would seem to be at its least hospitable. NYC tends to be slightly warmer than surrounding areas, and waterfowl are drawn to the open water that can be found in the Park, especially around the Reservoir.

Here we are right in the middle of NYC, not, as you might have guessed, in some polar region.

Of course there are the usual gulls and Canada geese, but there are visitors specific to winter, as well: the American Black Duck, for example, and Ring-Necked Ducks. Candace feels lucky to have spotted this pair of Wood Ducks, wants them to feel welcome and safe here in her home.

Candace also likes the Pool, another favorite spot of the winter visitors. She sits by the waterfall and thinks about being a bird.

She thinks about flying around and looking down from the sky at NYC, spiky and slushy and harsh, with this open space smack in the middle of it all, and thinking, hey, now there’s a place I’d like to spend the winter. She’s not a bird, but she feels the same.

Candace is made from another of my husband’s old suits, a beautiful light gray Holland and Sherry fabric with subtle blue stripes. Her camo pants are from pajama bottoms, her sweater is from a sweater sleeve, and her boots are from an old handbag with styrofoam tray soles. I crocheted her infinity scarf from some wool given to me by my friend Elizabeth. Who knew I could crochet? I learned, sort of, when I was in middle school and when I picked up the crochet hook it all came back to me: I suddenly remembered how I have never been able to tell where you’re supposed to stick the hook in. This lack of clarity gives the scarf a haphazard look which I’ve decided was intentional.

Candace’s binoculars were a little problematic. The problem is, her eyes are extremely far apart. Perhaps this improves her depth perception?

Special thanks to my son Jonathan for the birdie pics.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —

over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

—from “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver