Photo Credit: Miles Todaro
Cosponsored by South Fork Natural History Museum and Cornell Cooperative Extension.
SoFo Representative: Melanie Meade, South Fork Natural History Museum Environmental Educator.
Be part of a Citizen Science project and help scientists see how our Northern Lined Seahorse population is doing by counting seahorses. We will wade into the bay to help pull in a seine net and learn about seahorse habitats and behaviors that help them survive in their natural environment – an eelgrass meadow.
Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.
Drawing by Susan Rubin
Workshop Leader: Muriel Appelbaum. Muriel is a working artist with an MFA in Studio Art from Pratt Institute in NYC. She mostly draws from nature—landscapes, people, and live animals. See her artwork at www.murielappelbaum.com.
Drawing is another way of tuning into the natural world around us. When we look closely at a landscape or a seascape, we notice more about it. The same thing happens when we look closely at a leaf or at an animal. Notice how very different the shape of a box turtle’s shell is from the shell of a water turtle. Right! I guess that’s why it’s called a box turtle. Once I observed the difference in the shape of the two turtle shells, I could draw the outlines of the two shells. And the more I looked at the turtles, the more I saw. Observing differences is a good way to start tuning in to nature. If I had a dark-blue colored pencil, and one with a lighter blue lead, I could easily show myself the difference between the two colors on a piece of paper. Then I could look at the blue sky and notice it’s a different color near the horizon, compared to straight up. Now I could use the two blue colors in my drawing to show the difference. Shapes, colors, shadows—they tell us more about the natural world. I will be leading a drawing workshop at SoFo on most Wednesdays in July and August and on most weekends starting in September. Join us when you can. We’ll be using our observational skills to draw the natural world around us.
Additional Program Dates:
Thursday, August 30— 10:30am
Saturday, September 15— 10:30am
Sunday, September 23— 10:30am
Saturday, September 29— 10:30am
Photo Credit: Xylia Serafy
Cosponsored by Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt and the South Fork Natural History Museum (SoFo).
The Native American fishing tribes are given credit for the naming of this moon, since sturgeon were most readily caught during August. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because, as the moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze. Join Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt and SoFo on this one-hour, leisurely-paced hike through open-field trails. Afterward, stay for light refreshments and convivial conversation.
Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.
Cosponsored with the South Fork Natural History Museum and the Concerned Citizens of Montauk.
Walk Leaders: Representative of Concerned Citizens of Montauk and Eleni Nikolopoulos, South Fork Natural History Museum (SoFo) Environmental Educator.
Join the Concerned Citizens of Montauk and the South Fork Natural History Museum for a fast-paced trail walk along the bluffs at Shadmoor State Park in Montauk. We will be joined by a representative of the CCOM who will tell us about how they are working to help the community preserve the natural environment of Montauk and the importance of water quality in our local ecosystems. This trail walk will be full of interesting conversation while we take in the beautiful Montauk scenery. Join us and get to know what’s going on in Long Island’s easternmost community.
Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.
Drawing by Susan Rubin
Workshop Leader: Muriel Appelbaum. Muriel is a working artist with an MFA in Studio Art from Pratt Institute in NYC. She mostly draws from nature—landscapes, people, and live animals. See her artwork at www.murielappelbaum.com.
Drawing is another way of tuning into the natural world around us. When we look closely at a landscape or a seascape, we notice more about it. The same thing happens when we look closely at a leaf or at an animal. Notice how very different the shape of a box turtle’s shell is from the shell of a water turtle. Right! I guess that’s why it’s called a box turtle. Once I observed the difference in the shape of the two turtle shells, I could draw the outlines of the two shells. And the more I looked at the turtles, the more I saw. Observing differences is a good way to start tuning in to nature. If I had a dark-blue colored pencil, and one with a lighter blue lead, I could easily show myself the difference between the two colors on a piece of paper. Then I could look at the blue sky and notice it’s a different color near the horizon, compared to straight up. Now I could use the two blue colors in my drawing to show the difference. Shapes, colors, shadows—they tell us more about the natural world. I will be leading a drawing workshop at SoFo on most Wednesdays in July and August and on most weekends starting in September. Join us when you can. We’ll be using our observational skills to draw the natural world around us.
Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.
Additional Program Dates:
Saturday, September 15— 10:30am
Sunday, September 23— 10:30am
Saturday, September 29— 10:30am
Photo Credit: Richard Lewin
Walk Leader: Andy Sabin, President, South Fork Natural History Museum (SoFo) Board of Directors.
Of ancient lineage, the Snapping Turtle—which can grow to a length of three feet from head to tail and weigh as much as 70 pounds—will be the main subject of this adventure with Andy. You’ll also get to know the Eastern Painted Turtle and perhaps meet up with the aptly named Stinkpot Turtle. Children love this annual walk.
Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.
Photo Credit: Derek Keats
Program Leader: Frank Quevedo, Executive Director, South Fork Natural History Museum.
The numbers of shorebirds around the world have been declining. Global recognition of this decline has resulted in the creation of World Shorebirds Day. The day will be commemorated by a worldwide shorebird count to encourage conservation and recognition of these birds. Join SoFo on this Third Annual World Shorebirds Day honoring these magnificent birds. No experience necessary to join. Binoculars are a must, a field guide to birds of eastern North America is recommended.
Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.
Jennifer Skiff is an award-winning journalist, author, and animal advocate. Her best-selling inspirational books, The Divinity of Dogs and God Stories, are published in seven languages. For more than a decade Jennifer traveled the world as an investigative environmental correspondent for CNN. Her independently produced programs about animals have aired on the Discovery Channel and other networks throughout the world. Among other honors, she’s received the prized Environmental Media Award.
Passionate about animals and their welfare, Jennifer works with charities throughout the world to bring relief to abused, exploited, and abandoned animals. She led the successful campaign to build the first bear sanctuary in Laos and initiated and supervised the release of twelve chained monkeys back into their natural habitat in Indonesia. Skiff is the chair of the Humane Society of the United States Maine State Council, chair of the SPCAHC Trustee Council, advisor to Animal Aid USA and the Institute for Humane Education, and a trustee of the Dogs’ Refuge Home in Australia. In 2015, she was featured in the book One Hundred and One Reasons to Get Out of Bed: Small World Steps, Big Planet Heroes along with Dame Jane Goodall and Sir Richard Branson. In 2018, she was celebrated for her contribution to animal welfare at Parliament House, Western Australia.
With her favorite Aussie and beloved rescue dogs, Jennifer spends her life in perpetual summer between Maine and Australia.
Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.
Program Leader: South Fork Natural History Museum (SoFo) Environmental Educators.
If you have ever been to the museum and spoken to any of our educators, you know how much we care about preserving the healthy, natural environment of the South Fork. This falls naturally into the mission of the museum itself which is to stimulate interest in, advance knowledge of, and foster appreciation for, and preservation of, the natural environment. The SoFo staff has decided that—to uphold the mission of the museum—we need to take direct action to help keep Long Island habitats pollution-free. That’s why we are doing our “SoFo Cleans the Beach” programs. We hope you will join us for this program to pick up as much trash as possible. We will tally what type of trash we find and, when we are finished, weigh it out. Over time, we will be able to get an idea of the kind of trash that is washing up on our beaches—and we can knowledgeably advocate avoiding those materials in the future. We’re excited to continue this program and hope you will join us in reaching our goal of keeping our hometown beaches pollution-free!
Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.
Program Leader: Colleen Henn, Clean Water Coordinator of the Eastern Long Island Chapter Surfrider Foundation.
This workshop will inform community members about the Surfrider Foundation’s efforts to improve the water quality of local marine environments. Participants will have the opportunity to: collect water samples and view past test results of other samples, learn about fecal bacteria, why it can be harmful to humans and the marine environment, and why it occurs, and find out how they can reduce pollution in our waterways in order to properly enjoy recreation in our local waters. Overall, this program seeks to teach the community about pollution in water bodies, why it is detrimental, and how each one of us can be part of the solution.
Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.