South Fork Natural History Museum & Nature Center

Young Birders Club Meeting
2023-08-19 10:00 (America/New_York) | SOFO
Birding is a great way to make new friends, learn about the environment, and get outdoors. Join our Young Birders Club! The Club meets at 10 AM on the third Saturday or Sunday of every month and is open to anyone ages 8 to 18 who is interested in learning about birds. Since Long Island has many great habitats that are home to a wide variety of species, we concentrate on birding in local areas.
Please bring binoculars if you have them (we will have a few pairs to lend) and a field guide to birds of the Eastern United States. If you don’t have a field guide we’ll have one for you to use.
Club Leader: Frank Quevedo, SOFO Executive Director
This FREE program is for ages 8-18. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

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Zenergy, Outdoor Movement Class with Karen Meyer
2023-08-17 16:30 - 17:30, 2023-08-14 16:30 - 17:30, 2023-08-10 16:30 - 17:30, 2023-08-07 16:30 - 17:30, 2023-07-24 16:30 - 17:30, 2023-07-20 16:30 - 17:30, 2023-07-17 16:30 - 17:30, 2023-07-13 16:30 - 17:30 | SOFO
A delightful combination of Yoga-like stretches, Qi Gong, 5 element dance, and a lot of joy! Life Lovers of all ability levels are encouraged to join. Breath, stretch, move, listen and relate. Be in right relationship to self, to others, and to Nature. Feel alive, relaxed and Zenergized!
These classes will be held outside embraced by the beauty of Nature, on a wooden deck, protected from the sun. Please wear comfortable clothing and bring a yoga mat.
The one-hour classes will be held on Mondays and Thursdays at 4:30PM, through the months of July, August, and September.
This program is for adults.
Zenergy Leader: Karen Meyer

Sofo Members: $10 per class, Non-Members: $20 per class.
Limited reservations. Please contact Karen directly if you have any questions, and to make reservations. She can be reached at 917.843.2555 or at moonheartmeyer@gmail.com.

2023 Annual Panel Discussion with the SOFO Shark Research and Education Team and Q&A
2023-08-16 14:00 | SOFO
Join us for an update on the successes of this year’s field season, ask the Team your shark questions, and find out how they go about their shark studies.
In addition, you’ll find out about the second year of the Team’s affiliation with the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) project to evaluate the potential impacts on various shark species from undersea power transmission cables which are planned by the Sunrise Wind Project.
Program Presenters: SOFO Shark Research and Education Team
This FREE program is for all ages. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

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SOFO’s East End Outdoor Nature Education Program with Crystal at Inlet Pond County Park, Greenport
2023-08-16 13:00 | Greenport
This program is a part of the SOFO series of outdoor education programs held monthly on the third Wednesday of the month. It is geared toward homeschooling families, but all families are welcome to take part. Crystal has designed these programs to include a variety of activities to strengthen language development, literacy, math, and science. Programs will take place at various locations on the Twin Forks of Eastern Long Island. This, the second of the series, is at Inlet Pond County Park in Greenport.
Program Leader: Crystal Possehl-Oakes, SOFO Environmental Outdoor Education Specialist
This program is for children ages 3-7
For the program there is a charge of $5 per child. The fee includes the participating adult. Enrollment is limited for each program.

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Befriending Bugs with Jeffry Petracca
2023-08-12 18:00 - 19:30 | SOFO
Join Entomologist Jeffry Petracca from the Long Island Aquarium for a discussion of insects and spiders. Learn some basic bug facts and meet some of the stick bugs, beetles, spiders and so much more from the Aquarium’s living insect zoo. A meet and greet with these animals up close and personal will show just how beautiful and friendly bugs can truly be!
Program Leader: Jeffry Petracca, Entomologist and High School Educator
This FREE program is for adults, teens, and children ages 4 and older. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

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Birding with Frank─Shorebirds at Shinnecock
2023-08-12 11:00 | Shinnecock
Summer is the best time to view some of the fifty or more species of shorebirds that comb the beaches, sand flats, and marshes of Long Island. On this walk, we will visit Shinnecock Bay in Southampton and focus on plovers, yellowlegs, oystercatchers, and sandpipers as they feed by wading in shallow waters.
Walk Leader: Frank Quevedo, SOFO Executive Director
This program is for adults, teens, and children ages 8 and older.
For nonmembers, there is a $15 fee for Adults and $10 fee for children for this program. This program fee will also provide non-members with free admission to the museum on a day of their choice. Members are free. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

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MUSEUM CLOSED: Outreach Event
2023-08-06 13:00 - 16:00 | SOFO

A Day in the Life of a SOFO Pond─A Pop-up Exhibit
2023-08-06 13:00 - 15:30 | SOFO
When we stand at the edge of a pond, we tend to notice the larger animals, like frogs, turtles, and birds. But why do those animals choose to live at or visit the pond? We would have to get into the water to see the multitude of smaller animals that keep a pond healthy, but mud would be easily stirred up by a diver or ROV. Join Crystal after she has collected pond water in a variety of containers, leaving plenty of time for the mud to settle and creatures to start moving, and help collect and identify the secret life in the pond using a variety of magnifiers and microscopes. This pop-up exhibit will be held the first Sunday of the month, April through September, so stop by to see how pond life has changed from a spring pond to a summer pond!
Program Leader: Crystal Possehl-Oakes, SOFO Environmental Outdoor Specialist
This program is for all ages.
For nonmembers, there is a $15 fee for Adults and $10 fee for children for this program. This program fee will also provide non-members with free admission to the museum on a day of their choice. Members are free. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

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Ocean Dunes and Beach Walk, Spanish Interpretation Available, Cosponsored with East Hampton Historical Society and the Amagansett U.S. Life-Saving & Coast Guard Station
2023-08-05 10:00 | Amagansett
Join SOFO on a guided walk from the East Hampton Lifeboat Station Museum parking lot along the dunes trail to the ocean beach, observe migrating whales from the beach with a spotting scope, and enjoy an ocean beach scavenger hunt.
Walk Leader: Melanie Meade, SOFO Director of Education
This FREE program is for adults, teens, and children ages 8 and older.

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Zenergy, Outdoor Movement Class with Karen Meyers
2023-08-03 16:30 - 17:30 | SOFO

MUSEUM CLOSED: Maintenance
2023-08-02 | SOFO

Full Sturgeon Super Moon Hike with Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt (FLPG)
2023-08-01 20:30 | SOFO
Join FLPG and SOFO on a leisurely-paced hike through open-field trails. The Native American fishing tribes are given credit for the naming of this moon since sturgeon were most readily caught during this month. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because, as the moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze.
Hike leader: Dai Dayton, President, Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt
This FREE program is for all ages.

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SOFO'S 34TH ANNUAL SUMMER GALA
2023-07-29 18:00 - 22:00 | SOFO

Young Environmentalist Society (YES!) Meeting
2023-07-29 10:00 - 11:30 | SOFO
The mission of SOFO’s Young Environmentalists Society, known as YES!, for ages 10 to 16, is to engage young minds in developing a fuller awareness and understanding of the current state of our environment. The group works together and, through experience-based learning, place-based learning, critical thinking processes, and local activism, develops strategies for individuals and the community that are designed to shape how we live on this planet now and in the future. The Club meets on the last Saturday of each month, from 10AM to 11:30AM.
Club Leader: Mare Dianora, an educator and the mother of two sons, is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice involves building community and exploring connections to home and place.
This program is for ages 10 to 16.
This is a FREE program, thanks to the generosity of a foundation that prefers to remain anonymous. There is bilingual support for Spanish-speaking participants. The date may change for this program. Please contact SOFO at (631) 537-9735 or info@sofo.org for up-to-the-minute information.

MUSEUM CLOSED ALL DAY FOR GALA PREPARATION
2023-07-28

Nature Hike Through the Long Pond Greenbelt─From Crooked Pond to the Truman Capote Stone with Dai Dayton
2023-07-22 08:00 - 10:00 | Bridgehampton
Join Dai for this moderately paced 3-mile hike through oak/hickory forest with views of Crooked Pond, (which of the thirteen coastal plain ponds that make up the Long Pond Greenbelt, Crooked Pond is acknowledged as the best occurrence of a coastal plain pond in the Greenbelt and possibly in all of New York State) Long Pond (which is about a half-mile long), and Deer Drink Pond, and the ecological communities that surround them.
Hike Leader: Dai Dayton, President, Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt
This FREE program is for all ages.

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East End Outdoor Nature Education Programs with Crystal
2023-07-19 13:00 | Sag Harbor
This program will be held at the Elizabeth Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Sag Harbor.
The series of outdoor education programs will be held monthly on the third Wednesday of the month. It is geared toward homeschooling families, but all families are welcome to take part. Crystal has designed these programs to include a variety of activities to strengthen language development, literacy, math, and science. Programs will take place at various locations on the Twin Forks of Eastern Long Island. This, the first of the series, is at the Elizabeth Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Sag Harbor.
Program Leader: Crystal Possehl-Oakes, SOFO Environmental Outdoor Education Specialist
The program is for children ages 3-7 with an adult companion.
For this first program, there will be no SOFO fee. However, there will be a U.S. Fish and Wildlife $4 parking fee which can be paid at the Refuge’s kiosk. For subsequent programs, at other locations, there will be a fee of $5 per child. The fee includes the participating adult. Enrollment is limited for each program.

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Paleontology Playground: Creating and Learning About Fossils
2023-07-16 11:00 | SOFO
Join Environmental Educator Nikole in a hands-on program where kids will learn about fossils through exploration and creation. Nikole will guide participants through examples of fossils, help them to create their own fossils with shells and clay, and give them the chance to aid in hatching “living fossils” which will be on exhibit at the museum.
Program Leader: Nikole Holowat, SOFO Environmental Educator
This program is for children ages 8 and older
For nonmembers, there is a $15 fee for Adults and $10 fee for children for this program. This program fee will also provide non-members with free admission to the museum on a day of their choice. Members are free. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

Sign Up Here!

Shinnecock Bay Seine-Netting for Exotic Fish from the Gulf Stream Current
2023-07-15 11:00 - 13:00 | Shinnecock
Join Rob “Rockfish” Gelling for a marine biological adventure at a site that could provide an opportunity to collect tropical fish species carried up the eastern seaboard by the Florida Gulf Current. Get caught up in the excitement of seeing juvenile coral reef finfish spawned in warmer latitudes and then conveyor belted northward to Long Island bays near ocean inlets throughout the summer and early fall. Our team of marine explorers, if we are successful, can look forward to coming to the museum and seeing the exotics and other interesting natives we collect this day in our display tanks!

Program Leader: Rob Gelling, SOFO Environmental Educator and Aquarist
This program is for all ages.
For nonmembers, there is a $15 fee for Adults and $10 fee for children for this program. This program fee will also provide non-members with free admission to the museum on a day of their choice. Members are free. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

Sign Up Here!

Young Birders Club Meeting
2023-07-15 10:00 | SOFO
Birding is a great way to make new friends, learn about the environment, and get outdoors. Join our Young Birders Club! The Club meets at 10AM on the third Saturday or Sunday of every month and is open to anyone ages 8 to 18 who is interested in learning about birds. Since Long Island has many great habitats that are home to a wide variety of species, we concentrate on birding in local areas.
Club Leader: Frank Quevedo, SOFO Executive Director
Please bring binoculars if you have them (we will have a few pairs to lend) and a field guide to birds of the Eastern United States. If you don’t have a field guide we’ll have one for you to use.
This FREE program is for ages 8-18

Sign Up Here!

Visit to the East End Classic Boat Shop
2023-07-12 10:00 | Amagansett
The Boat Shop is a busy place with much to experience and learn for both beginner woodworkers and experienced shipwrights. Its members are actively engaged in building and restoring classic wooden boats – preserving skill sets passed down from generations of skilled craftsman. Members come from all walks of life, including metal workers, writers, cabinetmakers, artists, carpenters and doctors. The society operates from the Hartjen-Richardson Community Boat Shop a well-appointed, modern building filled with a wealth of equipment, tools and machinery used to construct new boats of classic design and restore vintage watercraft.
Program presenter: Representative from the East End Classic Boat Society
This FREE program is for adults, teens, and children ages 10 and older.

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CLOSED FOR OUTREACH EVENT: 3-4 PM
2023-07-11 15:00 - 16:00

Celebrate Shark Week at SOFO!
2023-07-11 10:00 - 2023-07-18 16:00 | SOFO
Tuesday July 11, through Tuesday July 18 celebrate Shark Week with the South Fork Natural History Museum (SOFO)
Free Admission to the Museum for Children ages 12 and under during Shark Week!
