Locations

The meadow at Green-Wood.
With outlaying outposts. This area has been hopping, throbbing, buzzing, stirring with life this summer. They got rid of the monotonous deathscape of grass, hard to maintain on this slope anyway and bought in the Rubeckia, Monarda, Solidago… and with these came the animals. As clear an example of “if we build it, they will come” as you can imagine. Many of the invertebrates which have graced this blog this summer were spotted here.

Paerdagat Ecology Park opened this summer with limited hours. It lies behind this fence at the edge of the Bergen Beach neighborhood here in Brooklyn.
A boardwalk leads through various regional habitats. There’s a docent on staff. The western edge of Marine Park, another NYC Parks property, stands as stark reminder what will happen when an area is left to fend for itself: they pulled junked car after junked car out of that local dumping ground recently. The fence here is sadly indicative of the dangers of the human animal.
The blooming sumacs were swarming with pollinators when we were there. Barn Swallows were feeding their young overhead. But phragmites, porcelain berry, cottonwood, and black locust (which can radically change habitat) are all over the place. Left unchecked they will overwhelm the time, effort, and money put into this place.