Tag Archive | Stewardship
Saving Wild Orchids
Out in eastern Long Island, New York, one summer’s day a colleague and I visited a bog surrounded by dunes to determine the health of the habitat. As we approached the area we noticed pinkish/purple flowers growing throughout the bog amongst bulrushes, sedges and wild grasses. At the fen, we discovered the flowers were part […]
Helping an Endangered Orchid
When I worked for state parks in New York on Long Island, one of my responsibilities was to monitor the populations of rare plants. I do not recall what year it was, but it was in the 1990’s when we had a very dry summer. In July of that year, I happened across the crested […]
One of New York’s Rarest Plants
When I worked in Connetquot River State Park Preserve in New York, I was charged with the monitoring its rare plants and animals. Each spring I traveled a little over a mile into the preserve to look for the rare coastal blue violet. The park had the only population of this violet in all of […]
Hunting for the Elusive Pyxie
In the spring of 1976, I drove two miles on dirt roads to a remote area of Connetquot River State Park Preserve in New York where I was a biologist. The purpose of my trip was to rediscover a rare plant called Pyxie Moss (Pyxadanthera barbulata). Despite its name and looks, the plant is not […]
Who’s That Sleeping in My Feeder?
Anyone who has ever fed wild birds shares the same frustrations as I, when the entourage of neighborhood squirrels wreak havoc at the backyard bird feeding station. The squirrels spill seed, chew feeders, and scare birds away. They are clever creatures and it seems that no matter how well you try to discourage them, they […]
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