by Erik Baard
Australia is learning that it’s traded one form of “cute overload” for another, and there might be lessons for New York City.
As reported in this article, Australia attacked its cat overpopulation problem in the interest of preserving its indigenous bird species. The trouble is, without the feline predators around, a rabbit population explosion [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Cute Overload: Cats and Rabbits in Habitat Preserves
Posted in Atlantic Ocean, Birds, Bronx, Brooklyn, Estuary, Mammals, Manhattan, New York Harbor, Parks, Queens, Staten Island, Vertebrates, tagged airport, australia, Birds, cats, conservation, cute overload, cuteoverload, ecology, environment, erik baard, feral, habitat, jfk, kennedy, nature, nature calendar, naturecalendar, neighborhoodcats, nesting, pets, rabbits, urban on January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Biggest Full Moon of ‘09 Tonight!
Posted in Astronomy, Weather, Winter, tagged american museum of natural history, amnh, erik baard, full moon, hayden planterarium, moon, nature calendar, naturecalendar, perigee, tyson, urban astronomy, urban ecology, urban environment, village voice on January 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
by Erik Baard
What a Wolf Moon this will be! Tonight will be the biggest full moon of 2009, and the glory it borrows from the sun will be reflected from every snowy rooftop, branch, and field…if the clouds break.
The moon increases in apparent size for two reasons. Routinely we observe an apparent swelling in the moonrise. Because of a [...]
A New Name for the East River?
Posted in Uncategorized on January 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Gotham Gazette published this essay proposing a new name for the East River, which runs through the central of NYC and is not a river.
And in with the New: Take a City Kid Outside!
Posted in volunteer, wildwire, tagged hour children, mentoring, nature calendar, naturecalendar, new york city, urban ecology, urban environment, volunteer, youth on December 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
(NOTE: WORDPRESS IS HAVING TROUBLE WITH POSTED DOCUMENTS. PLEASE EMAIL naturecalendar@gmail.com for an application and information!)
Save the child, save the planet.
Play matchmaker between nature and a kid from Hour Children, a group that cares for kids whose mothers are in prison or are recently released and working to start a new lives. Hour Children is [...]
Out With the Old: NYC Fossils!
Posted in Atlantic Ocean, Bronx, Brooklyn, Crustaceans, Estuary, Fish, Invertebrates, Manhattan, New York Harbor, Parks, Plants, Queens, Recreation, Staten Island, Streams, fossils, wild eyed on December 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
by Erik Baard
He walked up from below the high water mark beside the old seaplane ramp at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn and called out, “That’s it! New York City is done!”
Not comforting words from a man who measures time in mass extinctions. Paleontologist Carl Mehling is one of many native New Yorkers struggling at [...]
Eastern White Pine, the “Great Tree of Peace”
Posted in Atlantic Ocean, Birds, Bronx, Brooklyn, Edible Plants, Fungi, Insects, Invertebrates, Mammals, Manhattan, New York Harbor, Parks, Plants, Queens, Trees, Vertebrates, Winter, volunteer, tagged broad arrow, conifer, eastern white pine, ecology, environment, erik baard, fibonacci, fish and wildlife service, forest, friends of gateway, greater astoria historical society, haiku, haudenosaunee, inwood, iroquois, lic community boathouse, Million Trees NYC, native american, nature calendar, naturecalendar, new york city, parks and recreation, pelham, pilgrim, thoreau, tree planting, Trees, urban, white pine on December 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
by Erik Baard
Far inland, a wind
lifts fine snow from ancient pines.
Shimmers like sea spray.
I wrote that haiku twenty years ago intending to show the sensual commonality of contrasting locales, pointing toward our shared experiences across superficial cultural divides. Only today, while poking around data piles about pines in this tanenbaum time of year, did I [...]
Heal the Seals! Turtles Too! (Riverhead Foundation Visit)
Posted in Atlantic Ocean, Brooklyn, Estuary, Long Island Sound, Mammals, Manhattan, New York Harbor, Parks, Queens, Staten Island, Vertebrates, Water, Weather, Winter, volunteer, wild eyed, tagged Atlantic Ocean, cold stun, dolphins, ecology, environment, erik baard, Estuary, gowanus canal, injury, Julika Wocial, long island, marine mammal, nature calendar, nature community, naturecalendar, naturecommunity, neena dhamoon, new york, new york city, rehabilitation, rescue, riverhead foundation, Robert DiGiovanni, seal pox, seals, Sofia Theologitis, turtle, urban, volunteer on December 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
by Erik Baard
If a seal falls ill in the Gowanus Canal, a turtle catches an autumnal chill in Montauk, and a dolphin gets marsh bound in the Great South Bay, there’s a good chance they’ll end up as roommates at the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.
As New York State’s only authorized marine mammal [...]
Dec. 13: Newtown Pippin Apple and Beach Plum Outing!
Posted in Atlantic Ocean, Birds, Bronx, Brooklyn, Edible Plants, Estuary, Flowers, Gardens, Manhattan, New York Harbor, Parks, Plants, Queens, Recreation, Spring, Staten Island, Summer, Trees, butterflies, volunteer, wild eyed, tagged apple, beach plum, big apple, briermere farm, Bronx, Brooklyn, dumbo, edible, erik baard, fruit, hunters point, indigenous, long island city, Manhattan, native, nature calendar, naturecalendar, new york city, newtown creek, newtown pippin, nyc, Parks, pelham bay, plum, Queens, riverhead, staten, stuyvesant cove, urban ecology, urban environment on December 4, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Imagine the sandy shores of Dumbo, Stuyvesant Cove, Hunters Point, South Beach, and Pelham Bay resplendent with bushes full of white blossoms that grow into delicious fruits akin to fat cherries as summer passes. Or seeing trees at City Hall, or in a school playground just inland from the Newtown Creek, heavy with sublimely [...]
Don’t Leave Sarah Palin Lonely.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged erik baard, nature calendar, kayaking, urban ecology, environment, nature, discovery channel, ronica wynder, camouflage tv, alaska, sarah palin, adventure on November 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Discovery Channel is casting its new adventure show, set in Alaska. I’ve uploaded the application here:
casting-alaska-challenge-call_final22
Directly from Ronica Wynder of Camouflage TV:
<<Greetings Nature Calendar,
The Discovery Channel has a wonderful opportunity for all of you nature lovers. We’re now casting for a new reality tv show, the Alaska Challenge show. I have attached [...]
