A Park, Its History, Its Wildlife
For several years, I have photographed wildlife in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Such regular and extensive photographic work brought more to my eyes than I could simply see through a camera lens. How people see the natural world of a city, how we can affect wildlife around us, how our ties to nature have evolved over decades and even centuries — all became more and more fascinating. Through this site, through photographic prints, and through video, I have tried to bring this to New Yorkers and others.
— Hugh Sansom Tuesday, 28 January 2025
Great Blue Heron “Two Toe” on the ice covering Prospect Park Lake, Sunday, 3 February 2019
Photographer Hugh Sansom
One moment moved me to start photographing wildlife in Prospect Park with a determination nearing obsession. Winter. My son, then thirteen, was humoring me in walk through the park. Near the Well House, we had just turned to walk back to Park Slope. Out of the corner of my eye, something big in the air — “bird of prey?!” But it was clearly larger, coasting to land on the ice covering Prospect Park Lake. I asked my son if he minded going back. We walked down to the ice, and there was a Great Blue Heron, the heron I would later nickname “Two Toe” (seen here in 2019 and in 2023). I have photographed Two Toe and many more birds, insects, animals, plants since then.
