South Fork Natural History Museum & Nature Center

Birding for Beginners Walk in Vineyard Field
2025-02-08 10:00, 2025-01-04 10:00 (America/New_York) | SOFO
Explore Birding as a new hobby─take a walk with volunteer docents Cindy & Dave in the Vineyard Field behind the Museum and learn how to identify the birds that we might find, including blue jay, black-capped chickadee, starling, northern mockingbird and red-tailed hawk. Listen to the voices and observe the behavior of the birds to help identify them. No prior experience required. Bring binoculars if you have them.
Program Leaders: Cindy Lenkiewicz and Dave Polek, SOFO Docents
This FREE program is for adults, teens, and children ages 10+. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

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MUSEUM CLOSED: Maintenance Day
2025-02-05, 2025-01-08

Let’s Make a Bird Feeder!
2025-02-02 10:30 | SOFO
Birds that overwinter in colder regions need lots of calorie-dense foods to survive in the winter. Make a seed or suet-filled treat to attract birds to your yard! Everyone will take home a biodegradable/compostable item that you can hang outside to help the birds.
Program Leader: Rebecca Rogers, SOFO Environmental Educator
This program is for adults, teens, and children ages 5+.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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East End Environment Series: Bats on the Beach, Bay, and Beyond with Delaney Costante
2025-02-01 16:00 - 17:00 | SOFO
Join SOFO for light refreshments and a presentation with Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences graduate student Delaney Costante about her research on local bat species.
Understanding the distribution and habitat use of bats is important to their conservation. While many people know about bats in the woods, relatively few realize that there are bats in coastal ecosystems as well! She uses passive acoustic monitoring to better understand where bats are spending their time. In this talk, you’ll learn about our local bat species, why they’re so important to their ecosystems, and that you just might find them at the beach!
Program Leader: Delaney Costante, Graduate Student, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University
This FREE program is for adults, teens, and children ages 10+. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

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Celebrate World Wetlands Day─Wetland Walk
2025-02-01 10:30
In celebration of World Wetlands Day, we’ll go on a leisurely-paced walk through one of our local wetlands and learn about the different species that call the wetlands home.
Walk Leader: Erin Hwong, SOFO Environmental Educator
This program is for adults, teens, and children ages 5+.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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Make Your Own Nature Suncatcher
2025-01-26 14:00 | SOFO
Make a sun-catcher window decoration using natural materials. We will have pressed flowers, leaves, and recycled cardboard, or bring your own!
Program Leader: Sydney Mantione, SOFO Environmental Educator
This program is for adults, teens, and children ages 5+.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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Owl Storytime & Craft
2025-01-26 10:30 | SOFO
Winter is a wonderful time to listen for our local owls since they are setting up their breeding territories, calling to their partners or warning other owls away, and an early sunset lets younger family members listen “at night.” Join Crystal as she reads her 6 year old’s favorite owl story, learn about our local owls, and make a paper bag owl puppet to take home.
Program Leader: Crystal Possehl, SOFO Outdoor Education Specialist
This program is for families.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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Owl Prowl with Frank Quevedo
2025-01-25 18:00 | SOFO
Listen for the whinnying sound of the Eastern Screech Owl or maybe the seven-note hoot of the Great Horned Owl on this nighttime owl prowl that marks the beginning of our owls’ courtship season. Frank will present a slide show of our native owls and then lead a walk into the field to search for these nocturnal raptors. Bring binoculars and a flashlight. Limited enrollment.
Program Leader: Frank Quevedo, SOFO Executive Director
This program is for adults and teens.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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Celebrate Observe the Weather Day─Cloud Hunting
2025-01-25 10:30 | SOFO
Join SOFO in celebrating Observe the Weather Day by making a “Cloud Hunt” viewer using cardboard. Then, we’ll take our “Cloud Hunt” viewers outside and go for a short walk through Vineyard Field to learn about the different types of clouds and what they look like.
Program Leader: Erin Hwong, SOFO Environmental Educator
This program is for adults, teens, and children ages 5+.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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Seal Cruise, co-sponsored with CRESLI
2025-01-25 10:00 - 12:00 | Southampton
For the second year in a row, the Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island (CRESLI) and the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center (SOFO) are co-sponsoring seal cruises. Join us as a CRESLI scientist leads 2 hour expeditions to view, photograph, and gather information about the diversity and distribution of the seals in Shinnecock Bay. You’ll learn about the different species of seals in our waters, as well as the characteristics and behaviors that allow these animals to thrive. You’ll hear about the history of seal exploitation and recovery and see these animals in their natural habitat.
CRESLI Seal Cruises on the RV Peconic around Shinnecock Bay will meet and board 30 minutes before the listed departure time at the dock area (address: Stony Brook Marine Station, 8 Little Neck Road, Southampton, NY 11968).
This program is for adults, teens, and children ages 8+. The cost for the cruise is $40 per person.
Spaces are limited and registration is required. Registrations can be made by visiting cresli.org.

Young Environmentalists Society (YES!) Meeting
2025-01-25 10:00
SOFO’s Young Environmentalists Society (YES!) is led by Mare Dianora, an interdisciplinary artist whose practice involves building community and creating connections to home and place. YES! is open to young environmentalists, aged 10-16 and Junior members ages 5-9, who want to help prevent climate change as they discuss various challenges and ideas that can impact our precious environment. The program includes guest speakers and field trips and explores topics such as climate change, aquaculture, environmental career goals, water conservation, local ecology and more.
Club Leader: Mare Dianora, an educator and the mother of two young sons, is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice involves building community and exploring connections to home and place.
This is a FREE program, thanks to the generosity of a foundation that prefers to remain anonymous. The date may change for this program. Please contact SOFO at (631) 537-9735 or info@sofo.org for up-to-the-minute information. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

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MUSEUM CLOSED: School Group (10 am - 1 pm)
2025-01-22 10:00 - 13:00

Nature Art Workshop with Tony Valderrama─Making Wildlife and Habitats with Model Magic
2025-01-18 13:00 - 14:00 | SOFO
Celebrate your favorite creatures while learning to sculpt with model magic! Explore the different habitats and wonders of this planet’s amazing animal species! $10 materials fee.
Program Leader: Tony Valderrama, Local Native American Artist
This program is for adults, teens, and children ages 5+.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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NYSOA Annual Winter Waterfowl Count
2025-01-18 | Montauk to Shinnecock
DAWN TO DUSK
At one time a great variety of waterfowl wintered on Long Island; now, due to habitat loss, food scarcity, and the introduction of nonnative species of water birds, our wintering population of waterfowl is slowly diminishing. To assess this situation and record the number of overwintering waterfowl, the New York State Ornithological Association (NYSOA) sponsors an annual waterfowl count throughout the State.
Count Leader: Frank Quevedo, SOFO Executive Director
This FREE program is for adults and teens.
If you are an experienced or intermediate birder, we would be delighted to have you join us. To do so, call Count Leader Frank Quevedo at 631.537.9735 for detailed information.

SOFO’s East End Outdoor Nature Education with Crystal at Calverton Ponds Preserve, Manorville
2025-01-15 13:00 - 15:00 | Manorville
SOFO is offering a monthly program which will take place on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 1 pm for children ages 3 to 7 years and is geared toward homeschooling families. Programs will have a variety of activities to strengthen language development, literacy, math, and science and will take place at various locations on Eastern Long Island.
There is a $10 per child admission/material fee, participating adult included.
Program Leader: Crystal Possehl-Oakes has worked as an environmental educator at SOFO since 2005 and part-time since 2019 after her son Wyatt was born. Wyatt and I look forward to meeting you and learning with you!
This program is for children ages 3-7.
There is a $10 per child admission/material fee, which includes a participating adult. 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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Searching for Seals with SOFO
2025-01-12 11:15 | Westhampton
Several species of seals come to visit Long Island during the colder winter months in search of food. The three most common species that visit Long Island at this time of year are harbor seals, gray seals, and harp seals. Join us for a guided walk during low tide and learn more about these mammalian winter visitors and how to safely view them.
Walk Leader: Rebecca Rogers, SOFO Environmental Educator
This program is for adults, teens, and children ages 8+.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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Make Your Own "Fossil" Shark Teeth
2025-01-11 10:30 | SOFO
Learn how to identify shark species by examining their teeth, from sharks living today and from fossils. Discover how shark teeth can become fossils. Make your own shark tooth “fossil” out of clay.
Program Leader: Victoria Panuccio, SOFO Environmental Educator
This program is for adults, teens, and children ages 8+.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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Winter Window “Glass” Art with Upcycled Materials
2025-01-05 10:30 | SOFO
Make a winter-themed stained glass window ornament out of recycled materials and paint!
Program Leader: Rebecca Rogers, SOFO Environmental Educator
This program is for adults, teens, and children ages 6+.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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: New Year's Day
2025-01-01

Story Time: Meet Our Salamanders
2024-12-29 10:30 | SOFO
Join us for some stories and meet some of our local salamanders including Spotted Salamander, Eastern Newt and Eastern Tiger Salamander.
Program Leader: Crystal Possehl-Oakes, SOFO Environmental Outdoor Educator
This program is for families.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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Young Environmentalists Society (YES!) Meeting
2024-12-28 10:30 | SOFO
SOFO’s Young Environmentalists Society (YES!) is led by Mare Dianora, an interdisciplinary artist whose practice involves building community and creating connections to home and place. YES! is open to young environmentalists, aged 10-16 (and Junior members ages 5-9), who want to help prevent climate change as they discuss various challenges and ideas that can impact our precious environment. The program includes guest speakers and field trips and explores topics such as climate change, aquaculture, environmental career goals, water conservation, local ecology, and more.
Club Leader: Mare Dianora, an educator and the mother of two young sons, is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice involves building community and exploring connections to home and place.
This FREE program is for ages 10-16. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

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December School Break Walks: Winter Bingo
2024-12-27 10:30 - 11:30 | SOFO
Join SOFO’s Environmental Educators for our December School Break Nature Education Programs!
These programs are for children of all ages.
For non-members, there is a $15 fee for adults and a $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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December School Break Walks: Tracks & Scat
2024-12-26 10:30 - 11:30 | SOFO

MUSEUM CLOSED: Christmas Day
2024-12-25

December School Break Walks: Winter Birds at the SOFO Bird Feeders
2024-12-23 10:30 - 11:30 | SOFO

SOFO’s East End Outdoor Nature Education with Crystal at Elizabeth Morton Wildlife Refuge
2024-12-21 13:00 - 15:00 | Sag Harbor
SOFO is offering a monthly program which will take place on the 3rd Wednesday of the month and the following Saturday at 1 PM for children ages 3 to 7 years and is geared towards homeschooling families. Programs will have a variety of activities to strengthen language development, literacy, math, and science and will take place at various locations on Eastern Long Island.
We will continue our adventures on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, learn about some of our backyard birds with some stories, simple nature journals, and worksheets to take home.
Program Leader: Crystal Possehl-Oakes has worked as an environmental educator at SOFO since 2005 and part-time since 2019 after her son Wyatt was born. She and Wyatt look forward to meeting you and learning with you! There is limited enrollment for this program.
For this program there will be a fee of $5 per child, which includes a participating adult. Advanced registrations are required for all events. Please note: registration for this program closes at 4 pm on Friday, 12/20.

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East End Environment Series: Eastern Tiger Salamander Tracking Research Update
2024-12-21 10:30 | SOFO
Join SOFO for a presentation with Reptile & Amphibian Specialist Jake Kushner about SOFO’s Eastern tiger salamander tracking study. Over the past Spring/Summer, Jake has been tracking Eastern tiger salamanders in the Long Pond Greenbelt using radio telemetry. This presentation will include a quick introduction to and demonstration of this important tracking technique, followed by an update about the data collected thus far. Light refreshments will be available.
Program Leader: Jake Kushner, SOFO Reptile & Amphibian Specialist
This FREE program is for adults, teens, and children ages 10+. Advanced reservations are required for all events.

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Young Birders Club Meeting
2024-12-21 10:00 - 11:00
Birding is a wonderful 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 of every month and is open to anyone ages eight to 18 who is interested in learning about birds. Since Long Island has many great habitats that are home to a wide variety 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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