Bethpage State Park Ecology

The 50th Anniversary of Earth Day is a momentous milestone! To make this annual celebration even more unique, Earth Day is going digital! While   we are instructed to stay home, there is truly no reason to feel bad about it. The silver-lining is that April 22, 2020 will probably be the most eco-friendly Earth Day this planet has ever seen! For the first time since the holiday's creation, there will be no mass gatherings, parades or events which means far less pollution and litter! Instead, this year, we will have to stay put and work with what we have...which, when you think about it, is much more than what we need to celebrate! We have the Internet and the beauty of the nature that exists right in our very own backyards. There are so many activities to participate in to honor this day, we just have to get creative! I'm also here to tell you that you do not need to search far and wide for ideas either-- as an ecologist for Bethpage State Park (with a passion for art), I e

  Warblers are a favorite spring migrant. Over three dozen warbler species can be observed in New York. The warbler shown above is a Black-and-White Warbler ( Mniotilta varia) .                 Greetings everyone. I'm hoping that this post finds our park patrons and blog visitors safe and well. While social distancing has been at the forefront of all our minds lately, I want to redirect our focus towards something that could give us a greater sense of closeness. What if I told you there is actually a select group of neighbors you can   get to know today? Not neighbors of the human-kind but the avian-kind! Yes, I'm talking about the birds that are new to the area...the feathered visitors that traveled to be here for the arrival of spring!           Just as they do every year, spring birds are coming to town. Since we live in the Northern Hemisphere, many of these visitors have traveled hundreds of miles from southern habitats, even as far as the tropics. This journey is