Category Archives: Events

Public Appearances, Spring 2024

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MY LAST PUBLIC APPEARANCE IS THIS WEEKEND, JUNE 1st!

June

Saturday, June 1st

1-3pm: Pollinator Safari, East 4th Street Community Garden, Kensington, Brooklyn

We’ll survey the garden looking for “pollinators”, i.e.: insects and others visiting the flowers blooming all around the garden.

Explore the garden’s plants and flowers, and learn how to see them in new ways with urban naturalist Chris Kreussling (aka the Flatbush Gardener). We’ll “hunt” for pollinators, and other flower visitors,around the garden. As we try to identify them, we’ll learn about the garden’s biodiversity and ecology.

Me hosting the NYCWW Pollinator Week Safari in my Front Yard, June 2014. Photo: Alan Riback

Previous engagements this season. It’s was a busy one, with something every weekend – except for Memorial Day weekend – from mid-April to the first weekend of June.

April

Sunday, April 14th

Bush Terminal Piers Park, Brooklyn

11:00 am – 1:30 pm: Removing invasives, planting native plants.

THursday, April 18th – Monday, April 22nd

Attending the Northeast Natural History Conference in Albany, NY.

Thiursday, APril 25th, 5:50 – 7:00 pm

CANCELLED NYC Pollinator Working Group, Monthly Working Committee Meeting. This is a closed meeting for members of the Working Committee, only.

The meeting was cancelled, but if you are interested in joining and working with us, please fill out the Membership Application and let us know!

Friday, April 26th – Monday, April 29th

City Nature Challenge Observation Period!

Check out the CNC:NYC 2024 Event List. As a Brooklyn Borough Captain, I’ll be attending the following events in Brooklyn. Many of these events have limited space for participants, or require advance registration, so check the links if you’re interested.

Friday, April 26th

10-11am: NYC Parks Kids Week: Spring Scavenger Hunt, Herbert Von King Park

4-6:30pm: City Nature Challenge: Teen Bioblitz! at Brooklyn Brige Park.

Saturday, April 27th

10am-1pm: City Nature Challenge: Ecology Park Cleanup and Tour

4-6pm: Billion Oyster Project Sunset Park Field Station Experience, Bush Terminal Piers Park

Sunday, April 28th

11 am -12:30 pm: City Nature Challenge McGolrick Park Bio-Blitz

Tuesday, April 30th – Sunday, May 5th

City Nature Challenge Identification Period. Results will be announced on Monday, May 6th.

May

Saturday, May 4th

10 am – 4 pm: GreenThumb GrowTogether, Herbert Von King Park, Brooklyn.

Registration by noon May 3rd recommended, but walk-ins are accepted.

I’ll be co-presenting on creating habitat for pollinators (and others) in community gardens.

Saturday, May 11th

2 – 4:30 pm: The Great Flatbush Plant Swap, Flatbush Food Co-Op, 1415 Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn (Q Train, Cortelyou Road stop).

I’ll be bringing native plants from my garden. And I’ll be on-hand to answer questions about gardening, native plants, and habitat gardening.

Sunday, May 19th

11 am – 1 pm: McGolrick Park Nature Walk – Gardening Ecology

Please Reserve Your Spot!

“Garden vitality and health are key to building a sustainable, nurturing environment for all living creatures. Please join us for a garden ecology session with Chris Kreussling (The Flatbush Gardener). We’ll study plants, insects, and animals and how they all work together to create a harmonious habitat.”

Field Trip Report, Marine Park, September 2023

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Torrey Botanical Society Field Trip, Marine Park

I just finished [2023-10-28] uploading the last of my photos and iNaturalist observations from the Torrey Botanical Society field trip to Marine Park on Saturday, September 16. I had a huge backlog of photos from my 2nd trip to the Adirondacks this year (warranting its own blog post), and I’m slowly catching up.

Mud fiddler crab (Minuca pugnax)

Our Trip Leader was Priyanthe Wijesinghe (cradling the handsome crab above), Torrey Council member, and keen iNaturalist observer of Marine Park: roughly 75% of his iNat observations are from that area of Brooklyn. As often occurs with Torrey field trips, there were several heavy-hitter botanists attending. Some more of us — myself included — could be considered more general naturalists. Altogether, on iNaturalist we documented 130 different species (taxa) that day, only 47 of which were plants.

For my part, in my observations of the day, I documented 37 plant species (80% of the total), and 78 overall (60%). Even more exciting for me, 13 of the species were new to me! (On iNaturalist, at least.) A good part of that is the benefit of having so many keen and knowledgable observers on-hand to point out and identify interesting organisms.

Autumn olive (Eleagnus umbellata)

The other is the unusual habitats accessible in the park, mostly sandy shoreline meadows and salt marsh. And, as our visit was timed to coincide with low tide, we had access to things washing up on the shore, as well. Each of these habitats presents its own challenges and opportunities for organisms to survive and thrive. So there are many specialists that won’t be found outside of such areas, making them critical for sustaining the biodiversity of New York City.

Salt Marsh Meadow

Here are some of the species that I first photographed that day, most of them habitat specialists. This list is likely to change as identifications are corrected and refined.

Moon jellies (Aurelia) Pickleweed (Salicornia) - very salty

Saturday, August 12, Wave Hill, Bronx: Bees, Butterflies and Blooms

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Toxomerus marginatus on NOID Asteraceae, Wave Hill, June 2021

Saturday, August 12, join me at Wave Hill in the Bronx. I’ll be leading two Native Pollinator Walks, part of their Bees, Butterflies, and Blooms weekend of events. My walks will step off at 11am and 1pm from the Perkins Visitor Center, where the gift shop is located.

I’ll be staffing their Pollination Station information table between walks.

For a list of all that weekend’s events, Saturday and Sunday, August 12th & 13th, see:
https://www.wavehill.org/calendar/bees-butterflies-blooms-weekend

Wild Garden, Wave Hill

Brooklyn CNC 2023 Events and Locations

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City Nature Challenge (CNC) 2023 is happening at the end of this month, from Friday, April 28, through Monday, May 1. Since 2019, I’ve been a Brooklyn “Borough Captain” for New York City’s participation.

This year, there are events happening all over Brooklyn on both Saturday and Sunday of CNC. All events listed here are free and open to the public. Some may offer, or recommend, registration.

Groundhog (Marmota monax)

You can find a complete list of all New York City CNC 2023 events on the official iNaturalist Project.

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