A few days ago there was a post about the back field at Stillwell Woods Preserve. Huntington Oyster Bay Audubon had requested that the county refrain from mowing the field until sometime in the late fall in order to preserve the habitat for birds, butterflies and other insects. We are meeting with the Commissioner of the Parks Department to discuss a management plan for the preserve with the goal of developing this area into a field environment once again, one that’s dominated by taller native grasses and wildflowers, either naturally or through a restoration project undertaken by volunteers. Stillwell is unappreciated as a preserve and we would like to see it protected from further "development" such as the front section of the area has endured.
With this in mind, I am creating a species list to present to the Commissioner during the meeting. If anyone hikes or birds there, could you please send me your sightings (of birds, reptiles, mammals, plants and insects) privately? I will add this information to my own personal Stillwell species list (I live in the neighborhood and have been visiting the preserve for years). I have been visiting Stillwell on a almost daily basis and am pleased to observe that not only are the butterflies going crazy for all the milkweed that has been allowed to spring up, there were high numbers of birds utilizing the field including song sparrows, red winged blackbirds, willow flycatchers, indigo buntings, goldfinches, and towhees among others. The wooded area plays host to brown thrashers, blue winged and common yellow throat warblers, white eyed vireos, house wrens, coopers hawks, screech and great horned owl, etc. Baby birds are everywhere and each night I am serenaded by birdsong as I wind my way through the trails. Any assistance that we could receive as we present our "case" to the county that Stillwell Woods Preserve deserves to be treated with much more respect would be very appreciated! If we are to convince county officials that the fields are worth a responsible management plan we need proof that this will be worth our efforts. Thanks!!! Stella Miller President Conservation Co-Chair Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society "Conservation is sometimes perceived as stopping everything cold, as holding whooping cranes in higher esteem than people. It is up to science to spread the understanding that the choice is not between wild places or people, it is between a rich or an impoverished existence for Man." Thomas Lovejoy -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
