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Environment & Nature

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'Embracing the Winter Night' by Carol Procopio
'The View' by Beth Atkinson
'Nogh Van Gogh' by Ann Fox
I Never Saw a Poem As Lovely As a Tree exhibit
I Never Saw a Poem As Lovely As a Tree exhibit

TREES 

By Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

By Tara Mae

Art, nurtured and nourished by nature, is a sustenance that sustains the soul. The Firefly Artists’ newest exhibit, I Never Saw a Poem As Lovely As a Tree, is the harvest grown from a sort of artistic cross-pollination featuring works inspired by Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Trees.”

Through painting, sculpture, glasswork, pen and ink drawings, collage, and other mediums, the show, which opened at the Northport gallery on Oct. 18 and runs through Nov. 16, roots itself in the aspect of nature that is its muse. The juried exhibit features the works of approximately 32 visiting artists as well as 20 Firefly members. 

The theme serves as a creative catalyst and reverence for the surrounding environment. 

“An artist came in with a fire in her eyes about ‘Trees,’ and that became the prompt. It was a fantastic subject for so many folks…We get inspiration from everywhere; we are nothing if not creative,” said Firefly Artists Managing Partner Katheryn Laible.

Inspiration found in nature may actually be planted by memory or emotion. As a course of communication, art transcends both distance and time. Beth Atkinson, a  managing partner emeritus, who maintained her Firefly membership when she moved to North Carolina, thought of the poem during a Zoom brainstorming session with her colleagues. Her father, an art teacher and artist in his own right, would recite it when she as a child. 

“We have so many fabulous artists on Long Island, and we have quite a few artists who work with landscapes and nature…I started to think about many of our artists at Firefly — almost all of them have pieces that apply,” Atkinson said.

‘Trees’ is a verbal manifestation of the esteem so many local artists have for the natural world; the Firefly Artists put out an open call to any interested participants, and received an enthusiastic response. This resulting effort broadens the scope of the art and is also an opportunity to introduce new creators to the space.  

“We like to do juried art exhibitions; they are how we have gotten many new members for our gallery. ‘Trees’ felt universal enough that we would have plenty of interest and be able to choose best pieces for the show,” she added. 

Across many different mediums, an artistic arboretum grew from the chosen entries. Though they vary in style and genre, the creative copse they form immerses viewers in verdant vibrancy. 

“This is a beautiful exhibition. We are so blessed on Long Island to have such a robust and talented community of artists. Getting to showcase them is a privilege,” Laible said. 

By spotlighting the work of nonmembers, the gallery branches out into a larger artistic network and makes inroads establishing lasting relationships; many members began as guests artists. 

Current members, six of whom anonymously juried I Never…, did not submit their work for selection, but their art is present elsewhere in the gallery and excavates the essence of the poem.

“Trees are taken for granted,” Firefly member Carol Procopio said. “The tree that inspired my piece sits on my front lawn; I have known it since 1965. Every day when I take my dog out, I look at that tree and it amazes me.”

Instead of poetry in motion, the exhibited pieces employ the studied application of appreciation. Like “Trees,” they require the audience to recognize that beauty, even when familiar, is never banal. 

“Living on Long Island, near the water and near one of the cultural centers of the world gives me a huge ‘canvas’ to work with as an artist. There’s nothing like an historic tour of Northport or a stroll through lower Manhattan to fire up the imagination,” Firefly member Ann Fox said.  

Love for location, whether present or conjured from remembrance, is a shared attribute of the Firefly artists. The community they foster is not necessarily bound by proximity but rather attributed to shared artistic passion. 

Formed in 2011, originally all members lived on Long Island. But, as some of them moved away, they remained connected to the gallery. “Most of Firefly artists stay with us a very long time, even me, who now lives in North Carolina; I just ship my work to Firefly” Atkinson said. 

Comprised of current and retired art teachers, art enthusiasts, parents, and grandparents, members belong to the gallery as long as they pay their dues.

Membership fees go to practical matters such as rent — the gallery is located in the historic former residence of The Northport Hardware Company — and philanthropic pursuits such as scholarships. No one associated with the gallery takes a salary. Three managing partners, Laible, Drigo Morin, and Jennifer Lau, oversee and organize operations. 

“Firefly is one of those places that has been a savior for many of our artists; they needed a community and we gave them that. I think the best part is that we try to make money, not so much for the gallery but rather for our artists and our local artists,” Atkinson said. 

Art, at its core, is an intimate conversation conducted on a communal level. It is a language of emotion and consideration. A project of true passion, the Firefly Artists seeks to plant seeds of understanding in order to cultivate wisdom through wonder. With I Never…, visitors are invited to partake in casual contemplation.  

“I love watching people come in and experience the art, especially when they bring their kids in. It really nice way to connect with all different people…” Laible said. 

A reception for the exhibit will be held on Saturday, November 4, from 3 to 5 p.m. Located at 90 Main Street, Northport, the gallery is open Monday to Wednesday from  11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 631-651-5545 or visit https://thefireflyartists.com.

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Speakers at the October 31, press conference, from left to right, Adriene Esposito, Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Chris Gobler, Professor at Stony Brook University, and Peter Scully, Deputy Executive of Suffolk County.

New 2023 Map Shows Record Number of Harmful Algal Blooms and Dead Zones Across Long Island

Scientists at Stony Brook University have completed their assessment of water quality in Long Island’s surface waters for 2023 and the news was not good –the announcement was made today at a press conference on the shores of Great South Bay. During the months of April through September, every major bay and estuary across Long Island was afflicted by harmful algal blooms (HABs), oxygen-starved, dead zones, and fish and turtles kills.  Excessive delivery of nitrogen from onsite wastewater has been cited as the root cause of these disturbing events.

“Some aspects of 2023 were the ‘new normal’ for Long Island, but there were disturbing, unexpected outcomes as well” said Dr. Christopher Gobler, Professor of Stony Brook University.  “This was the worse year for harmful algal blooms on Long Island, ever.”

Gobler explained that there was a record-setting five shellfish bed closures in five locations covering thousands of acres across Long Island due to the occurrence of blooms of the saxitoxin-synthesizing alga, Alexandrium. Saxitoxin causes the human health syndrome, paralytic shellfish poisoning.  These five closures in April and May were following by an additional closure that began in May and extended into the summer that was caused by a bloom of Dinophysis in Moriches Bay that reached record densities.Dinophysis contains okadaic acid, a gastrointestinal toxin and the 2023 bloom was record-setting.

“While a Dinophysis bloom in the Flanders Bay region in 2011 had been globally deemed the most intense Dinophysis HAB ever recorded at two million cells per liter, the event in Moriches Bay exceeded 100 million cells per liter, and sustained densities in the millions for over a month.”, commented Gobler.

On the heels of these spring events came something new for Long Island, namely a HAB called Pseudo-nitzschia that contains a neurotoxin known as domoic acid that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning.  The bloom covered south shore regions from Islip through Quogue across much of Great South Bay, all of Moriches Bay, and western Shinnecock Bay.  Beyond detecting tens of millions of cells per liter, this bloom was also producing the toxin domoic acid, representing a new public health threat.

“This algal toxin has never been seen in Long Island waters and has had significant mortality effects on marine mammal on the west coast.  Its high density in regions that had been previously flushed by the New Inlet that closed in 2023 suggests that, in addition, to excessive nitrogen loads, poor flushing contributed to this event.”, said Gobler.

And the HABs did not stop there.  In mid-July, a rust tide began on the east end of Long Island, starting in Shinnecock Bay and ultimately spreading through all of the Peconic Estuary.  Rust tide is caused by the alga, Cochlodinum, that is ichthyotoxic, meaning it can kill fish and has been responsible for fish and shellfish kills on Long Island.  The 2023 rust tide was the earliest start ever for a Rust Tide, and this was also the longest lasting rust tide as the event extended into early October.  In 2012, the Gobler lab published an article in an international, peer-reviewed journal identifying the ability of excessive nitrogen to intensify these HABs, and in a 2019 publication, they identified the increase in summer water temperatures since the 20th century as a factor allowing these blooms to occur all summer in NY waters.

The HABs also extended inland in 2023 as there were more than were two-dozen lakes and pind that experienced outbreaks of blue-green algal blooms, a serious concern for both human and animal health.  The south fork of Long Island was called out for hosting the ‘Dirty Baker’s Dozen’ as 13 water bodies in this region experienced these toxic blooms in 2023.   For the past seven years, Suffolk County has had more lakes with blue-green algal blooms than any other of the 64 counties in New York State, a distinction that is likely to be repeated in 2023.  Blue-green algae make toxins that can be harmful to humans and animals and have been linked to dog illnesses and dog deaths across the US and on Long Island.

The 2023 water quality impairment map also documented more than 30 distinct low oxygen ‘dead zones’ across the north shore, south shore, and east end of Long Island.  All life in the ocean outside of some bacteria require oxygen to persist, a fact motivating the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to strive for all water bodies at all times to have no less than 3 milligrams of dissolved oxygen.  All 30 dead zones failed to meet this standard.  While fish kills were not widespread in 2023, a lack of oxygen did contributed fish kills in locations on the south shore.

Over the years, the occurrence of harmful algal blooms and dead zones has contributed to the collapse of critical marine habitats such as seagrass, major fisheries on Long Island such as bay scallops and hard clams, and coastal wetlands that help protect waterfront communities from the damaging impacts of storms.  Groups such as The Nature Conservancy have been working for more than a decade to revive and restore these habitats and shellfish but have been challenged by events such as those witnessed during the summer of 2023.

Excessive nitrogen coming from household sewage that seeps into groundwater and ultimately, into bays, harbors, and estuaries or, in some cases, is directly discharged into surface waters, is a root cause of the maladies of 2023. Excessive nitrogen stimulates algal blooms that can, in turn, remove oxygen from bottom waters as they decay.  Suffolk County and Nassau County recently completed ‘subwatershed studies’ that identified wastewater as the largest source of nitrogen to surface waters and set goals for reducing nitrogen loading from septic systems as a defense against these impairments.

Despite the gloomy news, there were some signs of hope in the data.

“In Long Island Sound, the western dead zone in 2023 was significantly smaller than it was 20 year ago thanks to sewage treatment plants removing 60% more nitrogen and reducing the flow of nitrogen into the western Sound”, said Gobler. “This proves that reductions in nitrogen loading does improve water quality.”

Counterbalancing this high note was the growth of a second dead zone in central Long Island Sound emanating from Smithtown Bay suggesting this region now needs significant reduction in nitrogen loading.

The report on the summer of 2023 was compiled by the Gobler Laboratory of Stony Brook University that has been monitoring and sampling Long Island’s waters on a weekly basis every summer since 2014.  Data was also generated by the Long Island Sound Study which is funded by US Environmental Protection Agency.  The data was reported weekly on News 12 and Newsday as part of their weekly Water Quality Index.

The study was supported by the Chicago Community Trust and an anonymous donor.

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Joseph Pierce, associate professor in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature and the inaugural director of Stony Brook University’s Native American and Indigenous Studies program. Photo courtesy Stony Brook University

Stony Brook University named Joseph Pierce, associate professor in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature, the inaugural director of a Native American and Indigenous Studies effort as the university plans to hire three new faculty in this nascent undertaking.

Next year, the southern flagship school of the State University of New York plans to add staff in the English Department, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies and Anthropology.

“I have been eager for this to start,” said Pierce, a member of the Cherokee Nation who has been at the university for a decade. “We have so much to contribute to broader discussions that are happening around the world. The university is better by including Native American studies.”

Andrew Newman, professor and chair of the Department of English at SBU. Photo courtesy Stony Brook University

Andrew Newman, professor and current chair of the Department of English, who is also chair of a committee advising Axel Drees, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, described Pierce as having a “real national profile,” adding that he was the “right person to be the founding director.”

Starting next fall, students at the university can minor in Native American and Indigenous Studies, where they can study the history, art, social and political interests, languages and cultures of Indigenous peoples.

The focus on Native American Studies will emphasize transdisciplinary topics such as environmental justice and sustainability.

Earlier this year, Stony Brook won a competition to develop Governors Island as a climate solutions center [See story, “SBU will develop $700M climate center on Governors Island,” April 26, TBR News Media].

Indigenous scholars should have a “seat at the table,” said Newman, “as they are globally one of the demographics most impacted by climate change.”

Islands in the Pacific are disappearing, Guam is undergoing “significant environmental degradation,” and fires in the Pacific Northwest and leaking pipelines in the United States and Canada are “disproportionately affecting Indigenous peoples,” Pierce added.

Indigenous groups relate to the land in a way that’s different from others, approaching it as stewards and caretakers, Pierce said.

“We see land as a relative,” he noted. “We’re asking very different questions about what it means to care for a place and to care for the environment and to care for the life that sustains it.”

The New York City government proposed plans for flood relief on the lower East Side of Manhattan in the event of future storms like Hurricane Sandy. The proposals included building massive walls and raising elevated platforms, including clearing thousands of trees.

Numerous indigenous groups objected and protested against such plans, Pierce said.

In an email, Carl Lejuez, Stony Brook University’s provost, suggested that a significant piece of Governors Island is climate justice, so the link between the Governors Island effort and indigenous peoples “fits naturally with the goals of the New York Climate Exchange.”

Axel Drees, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at SBU. Photo courtesy Stony Brook University

Lejuez credited Drees as a “driver of this in collaboration with Professor Pierce.” Lejuez added that his office is “definitely providing support to see it come to fruition.”

The most crucial component in the start of this effort is hiring faculty.

“If we build the core faculty across the university, we can definitely consider expanding research and curriculum opportunities,” Lejuez wrote.

Student interest

Students from the Anthropology Department recently invited Pierce to give a talk about some of his current research.

“It was evident that a lot of them have an interest in working toward understanding humanity, what it means to be human,” he said. They also have an understanding of how anthropology as a discipline has sometimes historically “adopted rather unscientific and proto-eugenic methods” in describing and analyzing Indigenous Peoples.

Students are eager for an alternative perspective on the acquisition and acceptance of knowledge.

Pierce believes students have considerable interest in Native American Studies. His courses about Latin American indigenous populations are full.

“There are numerous students who are interested in Native American and Indigenous studies but don’t quite have a cohesive plan of study that’s available to them,” Pierce said. “This is remedying that disconnection.”

Long Island students grow up in numerous towns and communities with Native American names, such as Sachem, Wyandanch, Montauk and Setauket.

Newman added that the staff hopes the new effort can do some “outreach to local schools and provide professional development with kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers. It would be an important mission for the university to educate Long Island as a whole about Native culture.”

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The free event will be held on Oct. 30 at 4 p.m. at Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts, Theater Two, 100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook.

By Daniel Dunaief

Want to hear characters from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein discussing artificial intelligence? Or, perhaps, get an inside look at an interaction between a scientist studying penguins and a potential donor? Maybe you’d like something more abstract, like a thought piece on aspects of memory?

You can get all three at an upcoming Science on Stage performance of three one-act plays written by award-winning playwrights that feature the themes of cutting edge research from Stony Brook University.

Ken Weitzman Photo courtesy of SBU

On October 30th at 4 p.m. at Staller Center for the Arts’ Theater Two, which holds up to 130 people, professional actors will read three 10-minute scripts. Directed by Jackson Gay, topics will include research about artificial intelligence, climate change in Antarctica and collective memory. Audience members can then listen to a discussion hosted by Program Founder and Associate Professor of Theater Ken Weitzman that includes the scientists and the playwrights. The event is free and open to the public.

Funded by a grant from the Office of the Provost at Stony Brook University and supported by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, the performances are an “amuse-bouche,” or an appetizer, about some of the diverse and compelling science that occurs at Stony Brook University, said Weitzman. 

“The hope is that [the plays] generate interest and get people to want to ask the next question or that [the plays] stick with audience members emotionally or intellectually and makes them want to discover more.”

The upcoming performance features the writing of two-time Tony Award winning playwright Greg Kotis, who wrote Urinetown; Michele Lowe, whose first play made it to Broadway and around the world; and Rogelio Martinez, whose plays have been produced around the U.S. and internationally.

The short plays will feature the scientific work of Nilanjan Chakraborty, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Heather Lynch, Professor of Ecology and Evolution, and Suparna Rajaram, Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science in the Psychology Department.

“It’s a good example of what we are doing and the opportunities for us as we continue to put funding in the arts and the humanities and also in the intersection of that from an interdisciplinary perspective,” said Carl Lejuez, Stony Brook Provost, in an interview. This kind of collaborative effort works best “when it’s truly bi-directional. Both sides benefit.”

Lejuez credits President Maurie McInnis with setting the tone about the importance of learning the humanities and the sciences. Lejuez said McInnis talks during her convocation speech about how she had intended to become a physician when she attended college, but took an art history course that was part of a general education curriculum that changed her life. The sixth president of Stony Brook, McInnis earned her PhD in the History of Art from Yale University.

Lejuez highlighted a number of interdisciplinary efforts at Stony Brook University. Stephanie Dinkins, Professor in the Department of Art, bridges visual art and Artificial Intelligence. She has focused her work on addressing the shortcomings of AI in understanding and depicting black women.

The Simons Center for Geometry and Physics has an arts and culture program, while the Collaborative for the Earth has faculty from numerous disciplines. They are starting a new Tiger Teams to develop key areas of study and will offer seed funding for interdisciplinary work to tackle climate change.

Lejuez plans to attend Science on Stage on October 30th.

“I feel an almost desperation to learn as much as I can about all the aspects of the university,” he said. Not only is he there to “show respect for the work and give it gravitas, but it’s the only way [he and others] can do [their job] of representing and supporting faculty and staff” in science and the humanities.

An enjoyable experience

The participants in Science on Stage appreciate the opportunity to collaborate outside their typical working world.

Heather Lynch, who conducts research on penguins in Antarctica and worked with Lowe, described the experience as “immensely enjoyable” and suggested that the “arts can help scientists step out of their own comfort zone to think about where their own work fits into society at large.”

Lynch explained that while the specific conversation in the play is fictionalized, the story reflects “my aggregate angst about our Antarctic field work and, in that sense, is probably more literally true than any conversation or interaction with any real life traveling guest.”

Lynch believes the play on her work is thought provoking. “Science is a tool, what matters is what you do” with that science, she said.

Lynch was thrilled to work with someone new and believes Lowe probably learned about Antarctica and the challenges it faces.

Bringing talent together

The first iteration of Science on Stage occurred in 2020 and was available remotely in the midst of the pandemic. Weitzman had reached out to scientists at Stony Brook to see who might be willing to partner up with playwrights.

He  is eager to share the diverse combination of topics in a live setting from this year’s trio of scientists. “I did some nudging to make sure there were a variety” of grand challenge topics, he said.

Weitzman explained that bringing the humanities and arts together in such an effort generated considerable enthusiasm. “There’s such incredible research being done here,” he said. “I want to engage for this community.”

He hopes such a performance can intrigue people at Stony Brook or in the broader community about science, theater writing or science communication.

While the plays are each 10 minutes long and include actors reading scripts, Weitzman said the experience would feel like it’s being performed and not read, particularly because professional actors are participating. 

He also hopes one or more of the playwrights sees this interaction as an opportunity to create a longer piece.

“I would love it if [this experience] encourages a playwright to think it justifies a full length” script, Weitzman said.

Lynch wrote a pilot screenplay herself called “Forecast Horizon” that she describes as an intellectual exercise. If Netflix calls, however, she’s “definitely interested in having it live on,” she said. Writing the screenplay gave her a “better appreciation for how much more similar science is to the arts than I would have thought. Both involve solving puzzles.”

As for future funding, Lejuez suggested that the University was still figuring out how to allocate available funds for next year and in future years.

He would like to see how this first time in person goes. Depending on the interest and enthusiasm, he could envision a regular source of funds to support such future similar collaborations.

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Some of the ways SBU combines arts and humanities with science

By Daniel Dunaief

The southern flagship State University of New York facility, Stony Brook University seeks ways to bring the best from the arts and humanities together with science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Provost Carl Lejuez. Photo from SBU

Indeed, the school provides a home for the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, where researchers tap into famed actor Alda’s improvisational acting skills, among other techniques, to connect with their audiences and share their cutting-edge work and discoveries.

In addition to the October 30th Science on Stage production at Staller Theater 2, Provost Carl Lejuez recently highlighted numerous additional interdisciplinary efforts.

This past spring, the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics presented artwork by Professor of Mathematics Moira Chas. Chas created artwork that combines yarn and wire, clot and zippers to illustrate mathematical objects, questions or theorems.

The Office of the Provost has also provided several grants to support interdisciplinary work. This includes two $25,000 grants that promote the development of new research teams to explore interdisciplinary areas of scholarly work and address challenges such as Digital Futures/ Ethical Artificial Intelligence, Sustainability, Critical health Studies/ Health Disparities, Global Migration, and other areas.

Additionally, the Collaborative for the Earth brings together faculty from the arts, humanities and social sciences with behavioral science and STEM faculty. The university is starting a new Tiger Teams that will develop key areas of study and offer seed funding to tackle climate change. The funding will explore ways to create solutions that policy makers and the public can adopt, as well as ways to address disparities in the impact of climate change and ways to support people who are disproportionately affected by this threat.

SBU added interdisciplinary faculty. Susannah Glickman, Assistant Professor in the Department of History, has interests such as computing, political economy, 20th century US and world history and the history of science.

Matthew Salzano, IDEA Fellow in Ethical AI, Information Systems and Data Science and Literacy, meanwhile, has a joint appointment with the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Communication. He studies rhetoric and digital culture, emphasizing how digital technology, including artificial intelligence, impacts and interacts with social justice.

Through course work, members of the university community can also address interdisciplinary questions. Associate Professor in the Department of Art Karen Lloyd teaches an Art and Medicine course, while  Adjunct Lecturer Patricia Maudies, also in the Art Department, teaches Art + The Brain. Both of these courses bring in guest lecturers from STEM and medicine.

Stony Brook also hosts centers aimed at interdisciplinary research, such as the Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS).

One of the current goals and objectives of the IACS strategic plan is to advance the intellectual foundations of computation and data, with high-impact applications in engineering, in the physical, environmental, life, health and social sciences, and in the arts and humanities.

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By Heidi Sutton

As autumn arrives on the North Shore, so does a perennial favorite, the Setauket Artists Exhibition. Now in its 43rd year, the beloved show returns to the Setauket Neighborhood House on Sunday, Oct. 22 with a reception from 1 to 4 p.m. The exhibit with the motto “Art for a Lifetime” will encompass the entire first floor of the historic building which dates back to the early 1700s. 

A total of 35 group members will be participating with approximately 100 pieces of art in a variety of mediums including oil, watercolor, acrylic and pastel along with handpainted photographs and cyanotypes by Marlene Weinstein.

“Because we live in such a beautiful area, many of the paintings are inspired by Long Island landscapes and seascapes of the Sound. This year we are fortunate to have an oil painting of the Neighborhood House itself done by Renee Caine. Other paintings reflect artists’ travels and daily inspirations, which range from the Grand Canyon (by Angela Stratton) to the Stony Brook Grist Mill (by Robert Roehrig),” said Paula Pelletier, publicist for the Setauket Artists.

Judging the show will be Lois Reboli of the Reboli Center for Art and History in Stony Brook who will be tasked with choosing Best in Show, Award of Distinction and 5 Honorable Mentions.

This year’s exhibit is bittersweet as it is the first time without Irene Ruddock, the former president of the Setauket Artists who passed away in June. “There will be a memory board where visitors can add their memories of Irene, who did so much for the local art community,” said Pelletier who is also this year’s Honored Artist.

“I thank the Setauket Artists, especially Irene Ruddock, for this accolade. I have multiple watercolors in the show, two painted especially for this show including a watercolor of the Hercules Pavilion in Stony Brook,” said Pelletier who has been a member of the group for over 15 years.

Participating artists include Ross Barbera, Shain Bard, Ron Becker, Kyle Blumenthal, Sheila Breck, Joyce Bressler, Renee Caine, Al Candia, Gail Chase, Anthony Davis, Julie Doczi, William Dodge, Paul Edelson, Margaret Governale, William Graf, Larry Johnston, Flo Kemp, Karen Kemp, Joanne Liff, John Mansueto, Terence McManus, Jane McGraw Teubner, Eleanor Meier, Fred Mendelsohn, Muriel Musarra, Paula Pelletier, Joan Rockwell, Robert Roehrig,  Irene Ruddock, Oscar Santiago, Carole Link Scinta,  Barbara Jeanne Siegel, Angela Stratton, Susan Trawick, Marlene Weinstein, and Patricia Yantz.

“All paintings are for sale, except Irene Ruddock’s work, which is on display to commemorate our former president. There will also be matted, unframed works available in bins. Some are originals, others are giclee prints,” said Pelletier.

In addition, four paintings will be raffled off this year including “Dry Dock” an acrylic by John Mansueto; “Shadows” a watercolor by Muriel Musarra, “Welcome” an oil by Robert Roehrig, and “Westbury Gardens” a watercolor by Joyce Bressler

Pelletier is excited to unveil the exhibit to the community. “It will be a beautiful show painted by talented artists who are attuned to the beauty of the local area.”

The Setauket Neighborhood House, 95 Main St., Setauket presents the 43rd annual Setauket Artists Exhibition from Oct. 22 to Nov. 15 daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. except for special events. For more information, visit www.setauketartists.com.

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Participants of the 2023 Stone Bridge Nighthawk Watch. Photo by Kathy Ishizuka

By John Turner and Patrice Domeischel

The 2023 season of the Stone Bridge Nighthawk Watch, run by the Four Harbors Audubon Society (4HAS) in cooperation with Frank Melville Memorial Park in Setauket, came to a close on Oct. 6 with 36 Common Nighthawks observed, many of which circled overhead as they actively fed on aerial insects above both ponds. We suspected the birds were feeding on a recent hatch of aquatic insects — midges, gnats, etc. — supplied by the nurturing waters of the ponds.

The Watch runs annually from 5:30 p.m. to dusk from Aug. 27 to Oct. 6, and is designed to count Common Nighthawks migrating from New England and eastern Canada during their southbound autumn migration. Many pass over Long Island on their journey to the Amazon region of South America so Long Island serves as a “migratory motel” for this species.  

The seasonal total was 1,022 nighthawks, by far the lowest total 4HAS has tallied in the seven years we’ve been conducting the count. Previous totals (year — number of common nighthawks seen) were: 2017 — 2,046; 2018 — 2,018; 2019 — 2,757; 2020 — 2,245; 2021 — 1,819, 2022 — 1,625; 2023 — 1,022. 

We don’t have a clear reason why the total was so much lower than in past years.  The numbers were “dampened” somewhat by three days in a row of rainy weather at the Watch, the first time this has ever happened. We speculate the fires that have raged for so long in eastern Canada, where some common nighthawks breed, also played a role in either affecting reproductive success or shifting their migrational movements away from smoke and Long Island. 

We thank the many dozens of people who visited the Watch this year including two individuals from California and one from New Zealand! It was fun to be able to tally nighthawks together and to marvel at their abilities in flight and their long distance migratory exploits. 

It was also rewarding to answer the questions posed by inquisitive visitors to the park as they walked by on the Stone Bridge, inquiring what the crowd of birders were doing. Hundreds of individuals now know a little bit more about nighthawk ecology and migration and the challenges these birds face as they head to overwinter in the Amazon. 

Visitors also learned about the current plight many migratory birds face and what they can do to help birds, such as putting decals on their windows, making their pet cat an indoor cat, drinking shade-grown coffee, and limiting the use of pesticides and other chemicals. 

See you next August! 

John Turner and Patrice Domeischel are members of the Four Harbors Audubon Society.

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The Flowerfield Fairgrounds in St. James. File photo by Heidi Sutton
By Samantha Rutt

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently advised the Town of Smithtown of its consideration to acquire Flowerfield Fairgrounds, a St. James community staple. Town Supervisor Edward Wehrheim (R) has stated no objection to NYSDEC acquiring the property.

Community residents strongly feel the importance of protecting this rural area from overdevelopment. The potential state acquisition signifies a breakthrough in the longstanding controversy over a proposal for sprawling commercial development on-site.

“This is a huge step forward in the fight to preserve Flowerfield Fairgrounds for future generations,” Judith Ogden, a Village of Head of the Harbor trustee and spokesperson for the Saint James-Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition, said in a statement.

NYSDEC proposed using the Environmental Protection Fund to obtain the property. 

“New York State is committed to the conservation and protection of the state’s natural resources and recognizes the significant conservation values of the Gyrodyne property,” a NYSDEC official said. “The Environmental Protection Fund is one of the sources used to acquire lands identified as conservation priorities in the New York State Open Space Plan.” 

The Flowerfield property would then be used for open space preservation and conservation, potentially including active-use recreation amenities such as biking and walking trails.

“I am certainly happy about this development,” said Joe Bollhofer, also a member of the coalition. “We’ve been working on this for almost three years now.”

If not acquired by NYSDEC, the property has been proposed to facilitate a multistory, 125-room hotel, 175,000 square feet of office space, 250 assisted living housing units, a 7-acre sewage treatment plant and parking for more than 2,000 vehicles. 

The development plan was initially proposed by St. James-based Gyrodyne, a real estate investment trust firm that owns, leases and manages commercial properties along the Eastern Seaboard.

The state’s interest in preserving the land comes from discussions between NYSDEC, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D), former New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) and the Peconic Land Trust.

“The state has a tremendous interest in what happens to Stony Brook Harbor,” Englebright said. “The state owns 90% of the bottom” of Stony Brook Harbor.

“The water chemistry of the harbor is pristine right now, or nearly, so it will not be if they build what they have proposed for the Flowerfield property,” Englebright added. “It’s really a matter of protecting the state’s interest and the community’s interest.”

Interactions between the state and town regarding state efforts to preserve the open space portion of the site occurred several months after the Town of Smithtown rejected a controversial proposal to develop a congregate-care facility on nearby Bull Run Farm, citing the desire to protect the area’s rural character.

“Part of comprehensive planning in a community is thinking about how you’re going to develop space so that it works and you protect the integrity of the community,” Ogden said. “So if we look at that area, we don’t need to add more traffic volumes.”

The agreement between the state and town comes as the legal challenge brought upon by the Village of Head of the Harbor and nearby property owners opposing preliminary approval of the controversial plan remains tied up in the state Supreme Court. “Unfortunately, there are other issues involved here — environmental, et cetera,” Bollhofer noted.

Local residents have contributed generously to fund the coalition’s lawsuit to block Gyrodyne’s development plans from moving forward. In a press release in April 2021, Gyrodyne announced that it planned to sell the property and would consider offers for portions of the property or the entire site.

“There’s a lot of water under the bridge here,” Bollhofer said. “And we’re finally having some kind of movement from the state,” adding, “We don’t know if there’ll be other organizations that are going to be involved in helping to manage the property if it is purchased. But there are 48 acres, there’s still open space. … That’s really what we’re concentrating on right now.”

According to a recent statement by a NYSDEC representative, “The DEC has been involved in preliminary discussions with stakeholders regarding the property’s future conservation.”

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'Music of the Birds'

By John L. Turner

John Turner

From time to time I’m asked a variation of the following question: What bird-nature-environmental books did I enjoy reading or am currently reading?  This got me thinking — why not share the Nature Matters column to explore some of my favorite books on aspects of nature including a first article on birds. So beginning with this column focused on birds, future articles will focus on what I think are broader important and worthwhile books on nature and our relationship with it including numerous environmental struggles, the personalities involved in these struggles, and broader issues of planetary sustainability.

Tens of millions of Americans have an interest in birds, an interest that ranges from  mild to downright intense. Many authors have catered to this, producing thousands of books on a wide variety of bird related topics — bird identification (a future column itself on guides), migration, feathers, coloration, adventures to see birds, how to be a better birder, bird song, bird flight, the history of ornithology and birding, and conservation issues, to name a few. Hundreds of more technical books on birds have been written on such topics as evolution, anatomy and physiology, and mating systems.

So the following are a few of the books on birds I recommend you consider cracking the covers of: 

There are a number of books that are overviews of the avian world that should serve as the core of any bird library. Birds & People by Mark Cocker is an example. It is a tome,  coming in at 591 pages, and as you might guess is exhaustive in its treatment — covering all of the world’s bird families with the author providing fascinating information about each bird group with an emphasis on human interactions, folklore, and cultural significance.  

Another book that has a slightly different format but is richly informative is The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior (numerous authors). It, too, discusses the unique qualities of different bird families but before the family discussion has five chapters that delve into great detail about Flight, Form, and Function; Origins, Evolution, and Classification; Behavior; Habitats and Distributions; and Populations and Conservation. If I were able to recommend only one book for your nightstand to increase the breadth and depth of your knowledge about birds it would be this book.      

Yet another book in this genre — a comprehensive overview of birds — is Kenn Kaufman’s Lives of North American Birds. Here the author focuses at the species level rather than the family, providing basic and important information about various aspects of specific birds’ life histories such as diets and habitats used.  Also worth your consideration is the comprehensive species guide — Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion.

Shore birds — sandpipers, plovers, and the like — are one of my favorite groups of birds and they have been the focus of a number of books. Two classics are Peter Matthiessen’s The Wind Birds and Fred Bodsworth’s Last of the Curlews, a story about the sickening demise of the Eskimo Curlew, a bird once common on Long Island but now believed extinct due to the rapaciousness of uncontrolled sport and market hunting. Perhaps these books can be secured on eBay or at a used bookstore.  

The World of the Shorebirds by Harry Thurston is another worthwhile addition to your bird library replete with stunning photographs of shorebirds and the wetland habitats they frequent.

More recently, the red knot, a plump robin-colored shorebird which has declined precipitously in abundance, has been the subject of a few books including Moonbird by Phillip Hoose, The Flight of the Red Knot by Brian Harrington, and The Narrow Edge by Deborah Cramer. The first book chronicles the life of a single red knot that has lived long enough during its annual migrations to have traveled the distance to the moon and halfway back, the second a straightforward overview of the species, and the last book exploring the relationship between red knots and horseshoe crabs, the eggs of which the bird depends upon on its northbound journeys in the Spring.      

If bird intelligence is of interest to you The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman should be on your mandatory reading list. As the title suggests this book covers many fascinating aspects of bird intelligence and memory. Take, for example, the Clark’s Nutcracker, a western species, that can successfully find tens of thousands of seeds its cached scattered across several square miles, displaying memory prowess that put ours to shame.   

The Bird Way is another book by Ackerman which probes the ways in which birds talk, work, think, and play. It contains one of the most startling things I’ve ever read about bird behavior: apparently some Australian raptors (e.g. hawks and eagles), knowing how it is easier to capture animals fleeing from a wildfire, are known to pick up smoldering sticks and drop them away from a fire in an effort to expand or start a fire!     

Many books have been written about birds and their singing prowess. One of my favorites is Lang Elliot’s Music of the Birds: A Celebration of Bird Song. Besides containing many beautiful color photographs and highly informative text on the function of song, the difference between calls and songs, and how song has inspired humans for millennia, etc., the book comes with a CD filled with bird songs, calls, and the famous “dawn chorus.” 

Three outstanding books on bird migration, definitely worth your time, are A Season on the Wind by Kenn Kaufman and A World on the Wing and Living on the Wind by Scott Weidensaul. In these books the two authors document their experiences traveling around the world trying to better understand the fascinating movement of migratory birds. Songbird Journeys by Miyoko Chu is another enjoyable book on this topic.  

If the global movement of birds excites you then Eye of the Albatross by Carl Safina is a most worthwhile read.  An outstanding nature writer, Safina chronicles the travels and travails of Amelia, a wide-ranging albatross; besides learning about albatross migration and biology and aspects of the ocean environment, Amelia is a “window” for understanding the struggles all wildlife face on a planet being increasingly usurped by humans.   

Two very different books by Bridget Stutchbury are worthy reads: Silence of the Songbirds and The Private Lives of Birds: A Scientist Reveals the Intricacies of Avian Social Life. The former discusses the threats facing birds in today’s wounded world while the latter focuses on how birds interact.  

Back to Peter Matthiessen, we have his delightful overview of the world’s cranes in The Birds of Heaven. An added bonus are the beautiful paintings by Robert Bateman. The author travels around the world learning about this iconic and charismatic group of birds including the two species native to North America — Whooping and Sandhill Cranes.   

Lastly, if you’d like to see a current, real world example of bird evolution happening before your very eyes I invite you to read The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner, for which the author won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize. In this fine book the author documents the extensive studies of Peter and Rosemary Grant, who have spent their lives documenting changes to the various finches (and their bills) that live in the Galapagos Islands located off the west coast of South America and made famous by Charles Darwin.    

As Long Island turns away from summer and colder weather arrives, driving most of us indoors, why not explore the fascinating avian worlds presented in these books (and many others not covered here!) All you need is a glass of wine, a comfortable chair, and a curious mind.  

A resident of Setauket, author John Turner is conservation chair of the Four Harbors Audubon Society, author of “Exploring the Other Island: A Seasonal Nature Guide to Long Island” and president of Alula Birding & Natural History Tours.

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By Aidan Johnson

This past weekend, the Village of Nissequogue and the Friends of Stony Brook Harbor jointly hosted the first Happy Harbor Day in over 15 years at the Long Beach boat ramp in St. James.

The event, which took place Saturday, Sept. 30, helped generate tortoise awareness around Stony Brook Harbor while spotlighting other related environmental issues.

Despite considerable rainfall, the event was well attended, especially early on. Live bands played while free ice cream was handed out, and members from local organizations, such as the Sweetbriar Nature Center, helped educate attendees on the local environment.

“We had a wonderful turnout, notwithstanding this lousy weather that the morning started with,” said Nissequogue Mayor Richard B. Smith, who took part in the dunk tank to help raise money for next year’s Happy Harbor Day.

During the event, former New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) was presented with the Dr. Larry Swanson Environmental Award for his work protecting the harbor from overdevelopment.

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