Earth Day New York City!

Bring on the rain! Finally some much needed rain hit the city just in time for earth day and offered relief for the diversity of plants that have transformed our city early making it look more like late May than April.

To celebrate earth day online I decided to post some of my favorite New York City nature pictures from this spring.

Above is Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) a native wetland plant that has a foul namesake odor I found growing in Staten Island. The odor attracts pollinators but discourages larger mammals.

One of the most abundant and well studied birds of North America, the Red Winged Blackbird ( Agelaius phoeniceus). 

Above is a discarded Oyster shell in Conference House Park which was historically a popular oyster farming location, it was so popular it was the boroughs most important industry from 1880-1905 and the evidence remains scattered  above and buried just under the surface of the soil.

This Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) was likely planted considering the location I snapped this photo-but is one of my favorite trees mostly because of the heart shaped leaf and tree architurture as well as reminding me of western riparian areas I studied for so long and it’s close relative Fremont Cottonwood-my all time favorite tree.

Even in New York City there is an abundance of diversity and nature and we need to work together to protect and celebrate it! Happy Earth Day!!