Bethpage State Park Ecology

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...

This year, Girl Scout Troop #3632 set out to give back to Bethpage State Park and its birds by enhancing nesting habitat! To achieve this goal, The Troop decided they would donate hand-built bird homes for Eastern Bluebirds...the New York State Bird! While bluebirds typically nest in tree cavities, this species is also known to use artificial homes when resources are scarce and intraspecific competition is high. Over the years, climate change and habitat loss have also contributed to the need for more resources. Although artificial homes have been known to be successful, not all nest boxes will work; durability, placement and the dimensions of the box have to be just right to be utilized by Eastern Bluebirds! With that in mind, I provided recommendations.  First, I suggested The Troop use cedar wood, a hardwearing material that will ensure their homes last many seasons in the elements. Another key feature is that the boxes need a 1.5" entrance hole; this opening is sized precisely...