Squawroot (Conopholis americana)

Strange things are afoot under the eaves of the trees. Or is it more appropriate to say that they’re underfoot, period? Either way, take a walk by the NYBG‘s Forest and just maybe you’ll see a few shady swindlers lurking in the underbrush.

Like the family cat or man’s best friend, trees tend to pick up their share of freeloaders as they go through life, though in this case we’re not talking about fleas or dreaded tapeworms. It’s a topic I tackled in part when we discussed the skullish blooms of the corpse plant only a few months ago. And like that pale parasite, there are other native bloodsuckers found in the forests of New York that are just as fond of mooching on their friends.
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Debbie Becker has been leading weekly Bird Walks at the NYBG for over 25 years. You can often find her on Saturday mornings, guiding new and veteran “birders” alike through the Garden’s 250 acres with binoculars in tow.

While leading my weekly Bird Walk at The New York Botanical Garden I observed a large woodpecker flying by me. I was able to see its wings with their black feathers and white markings. My first and only thought was that I had just seen a Pileated Woodpecker.

After leading birdwatching tours at NYBG for 27 years, the one bird that has always remained elusive is the Pileated Woopecker. Although they are common just miles north of the Garden, not many of these birds have ever been spotted south of Westchester County. But after careful research, I discovered that males wander during the month of April, presumably seeking new territory. It was on May 5 that I had what I hoped was a Pileated–the first for NYBG in decades.
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I have to wonder why we don’t have a spring groundhog popping up to predict six more weeks of chilly mornings and refreshing afternoons. Anyone who spent the Memorial Day afternoon in the boroughs will commiserate (at one point I felt compelled to fashion my jeans into capris–only the lack of scissors stopped me). But there’s relief beyond the swamp that is your conveniently central air-free apartment!

Get to the NYBG, find a patch of shade (there’s plenty), and note that an easy Forest breeze beats that rickety floor fan in your bedroom any day.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

I’ll admit I have a softness for roses, a fondness for orchids, and a weakness for flame-orange poppies. Still, it’s seldom I find an eyeful of flowers so inspirational as an hour spent under the leaves of the trees.

You’ll best understand what I mean while walking the trails of the NYBG‘s Forest around this time of year, arched over in each direction with lacing branches of every shape and angle. The effect is something like slipping a green gel over a stage light. Sun filters down through the canopy and dapples the forest floor with piebald images both cloudy and sharp. It cools you, or seems to, on the most scorching afternoons. And there’s a freshness to the scene that chimes in to remind you–with something resembling pride–of winter’s distance.
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Deep in the Forest, Rebecca Policello–a student from Ossining High School–treks through the underbrush. She isn’t a wayward sightseer, but rather a curious student interested in something others normally overlook: Eastern Redback salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). Spending their entire lives on land and even thriving in urban environments such as The New York Botanical Garden, the subjects of Rebecca’s study could reveal new information about the decline that is sweeping over amphibian populations worldwide.

The amphibian decline has been primarily attributed to the disease Chytridiomycosis, which is caused by a pathogenic fungus, B. dendrobatidis. Teamed up with Dr. Jim Lewis of Fordham University and Ms. Jessica Arcate Schuler of The New York Botanical Garden, Rebecca set out to determine if changes in the immediate area due to urbanization are enough to impact the salamanders’ defenses.
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It was less than a month ago (April 8, to be exact) that I posted the photo immediately below. Hints of spring, yes, but still a long way off from the effusion of gleaming greens you see further down. Try to wrap your head around the fact that these two photos were taken less than a month apart!

Photos by Ivo M. Vermeulen

More specifically, this is the Bronx! I’m led to wonder how many people step out of the subway station on Grand Concourse, fully aware of what lies just a few blocks east.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Pixels of spring green are starting to poke through the branches in the Forest. That means a finite wait until we can get out there to revel in the sound of the breeze through leafy boughs.

I’m not trying to wax poetic. I just really want to do this.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Can you believe this weather? I can’t imagine that it can last, and after this week’s earlier cold snap, I have vowed to take advantage of every warm day the winter of 2012 throws at me by getting outside and taking a walk. Today during lunch I took my new favorite stroll through the Forest. The walk takes just under an hour if you really dawdle and take your time to admire the winter landscape. This weather is perfect for this: just chilly enough to make the bare branches not seem out of place, and just warm enough to let me linger and admire all the interesting things in the Forest without getting frozen toes. So, I encourage you to take advantage of this unusual weather, too, and come visit the Garden this warm winter weekend. Come for the Holiday Train Show, but stay for the Forest. This is a rare gift, enjoy it!

My walk starts at Twin Lakes. The lakes–which just a week ago were busy with muskrats and ducks–are finally beginning to show signs of freezing.

See what the Spicebush Trail has to offer winter walkers below.

And now that we have turned the corner on the shortest day of the year and are in the midst of the Festival of Lights, all seems a little brighter, too.

Bronx River and the Forest (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

Though I’m no longer holding my breath for a white Christmas, I’m not bummed, because that just means more lunchtime walks in the Forest!