River to Creek gets started

Jump right in. Join us as we figure it all out…how do we get from here to there in North Brooklyn?  What will we find along the way?

On Saturday 6.19.10 Carolyn (Hall) and Clarinda (Mac Low) went on a trip by foot and bike from Greenpoint to Bushwick.  Along the way:

–  We visited India St. pier, gathered samples of plants there.  The concrete slab has shifted since we were last there, decaying further into the river. We found tiny little barnacles on every kind of surface. There were four cormorants diving and then drying themselves on the pier pilings, a gaggle of geese, and several birds we have not yet identified that we called “sea sparrows.” (Click on the picture for more photos of India St. and the events of the day)

– We biked from India St. to the end of Manhattan Ave.  The little park is not interesting per se, but the site across the river in LIC is very interesting–wild and gritty.  We wonder if we can get there and take some samples there at some point. [as of 6.28.10–Paul (Benney) says there is no access there.]

–  We biked from Manhattan Ave. to Bushwick.  Tried to go down the train tracks to the pea soup end Newtown creek, where we had been before, and were kicked out by police.

– We went to the “empty” lot in Bushwick (why are they called empty?  They’re never really empty… Only empty of human habitation.  This “empty lot” is almost a block square and lush with a decade of growth.).  After at least 10 years of lying fallow it is finally being built on. We  gathered many plants and Clarinda took video of the soon-to-be-cleared trees waving in the wind. Guerrilla naturalists!

– We pressed and photographed all the plants. (Click on the flowers to get to all the plants we gathered)