What to Do: June Environmental Education

Summer is Heating Up: June Environmental Education Events with Bedford Audubon

Have you thought about your garden’s Spring/Summer transition? We have…

Join Garden Director Mathew McDowell for his *new* Virtual Workshop –  Minding the Gap: Floral Resources Between Spring and Summer. A key to gardening for pollinators is making sure you have a variety of blooms throughout the growing season. But some times of year can be tricky. In particular, the Spring/Summer transition often has less available for bees and other flower-visiting animals. This workshop will cover plants that are likely to flower during this time, offering pollinator value and visual interest in the landscape.

Friday, June 4, 6:00pm. Cost: Free. Registration required by emailing Susan at info@bedfordaudubon.org or by calling 914-302-9713. A Zoom link will be sent to registrants prior to the workshop.

Come with us to a designated Bird Conservation Area that has 200+ species of birds including nesting Bald Eagles + Ospreys.

Grab your binoculars and join Naturalist Tait Johansson for a full day of birding on a Field Trip to Bashakill Marsh/Shawangunk Grasslands. Bashakill supports wetland-dependent breeding species like Virginia Rail, Sora, Common Gallinule, both bitterns, both cuckoos, and a large array of songbirds. The National Wildlife Refuge has breeding populations of Bobolink, Grasshopper Sparrow, and Upland Sandpiper.

Saturday, June 5, 7:30am-3:00pm. Cost: Free. Level of Difficulty: Moderate. Email Susan to register at info@bedfordaudubon.org or call 914-302-9713.

Our Dynamic Duo is heading out for a garden extravaganza!

Join us for an All-day Tour of New York Botanical Garden’s Native Plant Garden and Rose Garden. Bedford Audubon Garden Director Mathew McDowell will lead a tour of the inspirational Native Plant Garden in the morning, followed by lunch, either BYO picnic or purchased at one of their cafes. In the afternoon, Liz Stein will lead a tour of the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, which should be at its gorgeous, fragrant, colorful peak. Feel free to come for half a day, if you like. We’ll buy tickets in advance, so please register ASAP.

Thursday, June 10, 10:00am. (Start time is approximate as tickets are timed.) Cost: Admission fee. Level of Difficulty: Easy. Registration required by emailing Susan at info@bedfordaudubon.org or by calling 914-302-9713.

We’re heading north to the largest state park in the Taconic region – and you’re invited!

Join Naturalist Tait Johansson on a Field Trip to Fahnestock State Park and Environs. The deciduous and mixed forests support a representative bird community, and some of the breeders at this location include  Ruffed Grouse, Acadian Flycatcher, Purple Martin, Blackburnian Warbler, and Canada Warbler.

Friday, June 11, 7:30am-12:00pm. Cost: Free. Level of Difficulty: Moderate. Registration required by emailing Susan at info@bedfordaudubon.org or by calling 914-302-9713.

Get your hands dirty while learning in the garden.

Join Garden Director Mathew McDowell for an interactive, hands-on Workshop – Chop to It: Pruning and Dividing Perennials. Pruning and dividing your garden plants is an easy way to address maintenance issues and can even be used to benefit pollinators by extending or delaying flowers. Join us in the Leon Levy Native Garden at Bylane Farm for a workshop and volunteer session. We’ll go over tools, cuts, and timings to keep your garden fresh and vibrant. After the demonstration we’ll be working in the garden, so bringing your own trowels and bypass pruners is recommended.

Saturday, June 12, 10:00am. Cost: Free. Level of Difficulty: Easy-Moderate. Registration required by emailing Susan at info@bedfordaudubon.org or by calling 914-302-9713.

Visit toxin-free, pollinator-friendly gardens at your own pace!

Once again, we’re proud that our Leon Levy Native Habitat Garden is part of the Healthy Yards Westchester Pollinator Garden Tour. Visit our garden and/or dozens of other private and community gardens, wildflower meadows and more that are part of this tour. Visit https://www.healthyyards.org/tour/ for a list of places to visit along with detailed descriptions.

Sunday, June 13, 10:00am-4:00pm. No need to register. Mathew McDowell will be at our garden from 10:00am to 4:00pm to show you around and answer any questions.

It’s official, you’re invited to  special evening that only comes once a year!

We’re referring to our virtual Annual Meeting and Lecture, of course. The business part of the meeting begins at 6:30pm with a brief year-end review and financial snapshot followed by our Board elections. Bedford Audubon members in good standing are eligible to vote in the election. If you are a current member and can’t attend the Annual Meeting virtually, you can vote by proxy. Please email Suzanne Cahill at executivedirector@bedfordaudubon.org to request a proxy (or if you have questions about your membership status).

Following the meeting at 7:00pm, we’re proud to introduce Dr. Michael Rubbo for a Lecture: Wild Suburbia! The Booming Wildlife of Westchester County. Dr. Rubbo of Pace University will discuss the diversity of large mammals found in Westchester County.  He is currently working on a project with scientists from Teatown Lake Reservation, Rockefeller Preserve, and Westchester County Parks to document the distributions of large carnivores in Westchester’s many parks and preserves.  Their findings suggest that these animals have adapted quite well to the suburban environment.  Dr. Rubbo will also discuss some simple strategies homeowners can employ to minimize conflicts with our wild neighbors

Wednesday, June 16, 6:30pm (Annual Meeting): 7:00pm (Lecture). Cost: Free. Registration required by emailing Susan at info@bedfordaudubon.org or by calling 914-302-9713. A Zoom link will be emailed prior to the meeting.

Oh, the things we’ll see…

Join Naturalist Tait Johansson for the Third Thursday’s Bird Walk on Maple Avenue in Katonah. We’ll be on the lookout for breeders at this location including Spotted Sandpiper, Cliff Swallow, Common Raven, Blue-winged Warbler, Pine Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Eastern Towhee.

Thursday, June 17, 7:30-9:30am. Cost: Free. Level of Difficulty: Easy. Registration required by emailing Susan at info@bedfordaudubon.org or by calling 914-302-9713.

Celebrate Father’s Day on a bird walk in an open area that is great for birding and botanizing!

Tait Johansson is joining forces with Westchester Land Trust and Healthy Yards for their Feathers and Fathers Bioblitz Bird Walk at the Tom Burke Preserve in Bedford Hills. The 7.5 acre preserve provides meadow, forest canopy, and wetlands habitat for local bird life. At the suggestion of the property’s neighbors the land trust named the property the Tom Burke Preserve after Thomas Burke who died on September 11, 2001, in the attack on the World Trade Center. Mr. Burke lived on McLain Street across from Knapp’s Field.

Sunday, June 20, 7:30-9:00am. CLICK HERE to register for this event.

If insects decline, birds will decline, freshwater fish will decline, bats will decline, some mammals will decline, and so on and so on and so on!

Join us for the Bylane Book Club this June by reading an enthusiastic, witty, and informative introduction to the world of insects and why we—and the planet we inhabit—could not survive without them. Melanie Brocklehurst will lead the discussion of Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects by Ann Sverdrup-Thygeson.

Insects comprise roughly half of the animal kingdom. They live everywhere—deep inside caves, 18,000 feet high in the Himalayas, inside computers, in Yellowstone’s hot springs, and in the ears and nostrils of much larger creatures. There are insects that have ears on their knees, eyes on their penises, and tongues under their feet. Most of us think life would be better without bugs, but life would be impossible without them.

With ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson as our capable, entertaining guide into the insect world, we’ll learn that there is more variety among insects than we can even imagine and the more you learn about insects, the more fascinating they become. Buzz, Sting, Bite is an essential introduction to the little creatures that make the world go round.

This book is available to borrow from the Westchester Library System or is available to purchase across a variety of platforms in print, electronically and on audio.

Monday, June 21, 7:00pm. Cost: Free. Registration is required by emailing info@bedfordaudubon.org or by calling 914-232-1999. Weather permitting, we will meet in-person on the patio at Bylane Farm. We look forward to seeing you!

Photo Credit: Bylane Farm Spring 2021 by Susan Fisher