Bethpage State Park Ecology

  Ever hear of the expression " No rain, no flowers "?  Well its been raining for days and days and days so one could expect that Bethpage State Park will most likely have a summer of healthy, flourishing greens and gardens! Although, one does not need to wait all that long to witness the benefit of rain and the joy of nature... Focus your attention and you will notice that a vast amount of wildlife thrive when it pours. What seems like a rainy gloomy day for us humans is a positive and productive day for other species!  One group of animals I'm thinking of in particular is the birds! Captured on the left is two male Red-Winged Blackbirds. I had to laugh while photographing this scene because one of the birds had the expression of someone relaxing in a pool. To say so, is not much of a stretch either. Just as humans enjoy a dip in the pool to cool off, so do birds when there are puddles around! Pine Warbler talking a break!        Beyond just...

  Did you know that pollinator conservation and awareness is an integral part of our environmental initiatives at Bethpage State Park? Over the years we have learned that providing forage for hungry butterflies, moths, bees and hummingbirds encourages pollination and facilitates the next generation of plants. This process also helps beautify our park. No greater example exists than within our Picnic Pollinator Garden! Today this garden grows lush and tall. It contains over 100 native plants, blooming as early as April and well into October.      While the intention of creating this garden was to promote biodiversity,  it has led to far more opportunities. The first is offering the local community an outdoor classroom; a chance to explore the plant- insect interactions that make for a thriving, cohesive habitat. The second opportunity is providing an outlet for data collection. In this case, monitoring and documenting pollinating species. Data coll...

As we know, with warm weather comes new life! Birds lay eggs that hatch and become fledglings! Mammals born to litters, stay close to their siblings while parents do the work of searching for prey! This bustling activity, this time of year, means that Bethpage State Park is no stranger to a huge amount of wildlife sightings; with that, often comes added responsibility on our part as a park! Sometimes baby animals require extra attention and a little human intervention, in the event they are injured or displaced from their nests. This month, we had two separate instances where this had occurred. Luckily, staff rose to the occasion to offer a helping hand and we want to share those moments with you: The first wildlife rescue story took place on June 4th. An Eastern Screech Owl chick was found on the ground, early that morning, on our Green Course. It was noticed by park staff who were out mowing fairways by the woodline. John (a member of our maintenance crew) kindly made sure the young ...

 Upon their latest visit in October, Girl Scout Troop #3632 had one mission in mind; to leave our park better than how they found it! With the wonderful help of Troop Mom Melissa, I was able to organize and host a Girl Scout Litter Clean Up Day in the picnic/playground area of our park! The event for the day started of with a small discussion of handling trash safely. We wanted to make sure that The Scouts were not picking up anything hazardous and also not wandering into areas where they could come into contact with poison ivy. Troop #3632 is always prepared though and had high boots and long pants on for the task! Once ready, scouts paired off into twos or threes and spread out! Each girl was given a bucket, gloves and a garbage picker. Additionally, I handed out a Litter Collection Sheet.  I created it special for this event. This handout served as an audit, where the girls could tally off what kind of objects they were collecting of the ground. Listed were about 20 differ...

Did you know that our golf courses can be utilized as outdoor classrooms? Last week, I organized a special ecology field trip for Central Boulevard Elementary on the beautiful Green Course. This was a unique opportunity for students to roam and explore our fairways for a few hours. With the assistance of Bethpage District's Science Director K-12 Chris Pollatos and his staff, our park hosted four classes at once, a total of 80 students. This was our largest environmental education event to date!    To cover as much territory as possible, park staff set up different learning stations. Students were separated into groups and rotated every 30 minutes. One highlight was our new Discovery Garden. It has over 100 flora species, all labeled with identifying signage to familiarize students with different native plants.   Students were able to observe the diverse pollinators for which these plants support. Our Horticulturist Victor, gave a seasonal discussion on seeds and berries...

Last week, Bethpage State Park hosted volunteers from Leviton Manufacturing for a massive planting event! A large group of forty-five participants arrived ready to work and help with our park's Right Of Way Restoration Project.  This beautification project, in collaboration with PSEG, aims to remove invasive flora species to purposefully plant native wildflowers in its place. This not only revitalizes the green space under our telephone wires but more importantly, provides better forage and habitat for pollinators and wildlife. However, this is not a task that can be done overnight! Bethpage State Park Horticulture Staff Victor Azzaretto and Alexa Roldos spent weeks working with their weekend gardening group prepping the site before Leviton's arrival. This included clearing large patches of invasive plants, throwing down grass seed and amending the soil. Not to mention, the native plants used for this project were not bought from a nursery but propagated from seed and grow...