As Seen On:

From the August 2004 Conservationist

Prospect Park

By Carolyn Steinhoff Smith

A 526-acre island of nature nestled among the hustle and bustle of New York City, Prospect Park is a unique haven for both wildlife and people. It's also home to the first urban Audubon Center in the United States.

The Audubon Center in Prospect Park opened in 2002 after a four-year, $5 million dollar renovation to restore a former boathouse to its original beauty. The boathouse's original design was inspired by the Sansovino's Library of St. Mark, from sixteenth-century Venice. In the 1960s, a group of community members saved the boathouse from demolition just 48 hours before it was to be torn down. Now, with a new lease on life, the boathouse-originally built in 1876-is making brand new imprints in the memories of the thousands who visit the park each year.

Partnership and Gathering

The Audubon Center is operated as a partnership between the Prospect Park Alliance and Audubon New York, and as evidenced by an ever-increasing number of visitors to Prospect Park-from fewer than one million annually some 20 years ago to more than six million per year since 2003-the Audubon Center is located in what could arguably be called a perfect setting. Glenn Phillips, executive director of the Audubon Center, believes in the harmony of gathering-in all of its forms-and is of the opinion that Prospect Park and the center are well-placed resources that certainly benefit all who visit.

"Prospect Park is a perfect example of the good that comes of the thoughtful design of public space. The park brings not only all kinds of people, but all kinds of beings together. As time passes, we hope the Audubon center will help more and more people see and appreciate the world around them."

He said the National Audubon society is now reaching out to urban areas, and Prospect Park was an excellent location to start a more urban outreach than in the past.

"Audubon Centers have usually been located in rural or suburban areas," he said. "We need to reach urbanites with the message of stewardship. The Prospect Park Alliance-a private/public partnership dedicated to the historic landmark park-is responsible for all the work in the park, and the Audubon Society is supporting the joint mission to educate the public about birds and their habitats, and the need for people to be active stewards of the environment. The work of the alliance is a shining example of the kind of stewardship that the Audubon Society wishes to inspire."

He invited me on a walk, and soon after we stepped out the door of the center, we came upon a black-crowned night heron standing at the edge of the Lullwater-the watercourse the center faces.

"Night herons are the park's most common herons. We see them every day from March to November," said Phillips. "They eat fish and frogs, but actually, they'll eat anything they can get their bills on. I've even see them climbing through trees trying to get Eastern kingbird nestlings. The adult kingbirds have to chase them away." As if to answer Phillips, the heron gave out a raspy call.

Basic Bird Skills

"One of our main goals is to help people see Prospect Park as a home for many species of birds," Phillips said. "That's why the center is completely wheelchair accessible. We believe everyone should be able to learn about and appreciate nature." To this end, staff from the center invite kids they meet during walks through the part to join the Green Team, a conservation program for kids ages 9-12.

The center also teaches visitors basic observational skills. "We teach people to look not just for birds' colors, but also for their shapes," said Phillips. "Once people learn to distinguish shapes, they can look for clues in colors and movements. We have mechanized bird models that move in ways characteristic to different species, so visitors can learn to spot them outdoors."

Mechanical woodpeckers peck, owls turn their heads, and chickadees hop. Outside, visitors can find all the species they learned about in the center, according to Phillips, reinforcing the knowledge and techniques taught to them by volunteers and staff. During our walk, he showed me several helpful tips about how to use binoculars to watch birds. When I followed his instructions, I could see the black-crowned night heron's large, sharp bill.

The Audubon Center also teaches visitors to identify birds by listening as well as looking-in fact, when opening, each of the center's doors makes the sound of a different bird. One can hear the calls of mourning doves, red-eyed vireos, wood thrushes, house wrens, chickadees and red-tailed hawks simply by taking a walk through the center!

Bird Area

The Audubon Society has designated Prospect Park as an "Important Bird Area" in New York State. Depending on the season, visitors can spot nearly 200 species of birds in the park, scarlet tanagers and a variety of migrating warblers among them. Phillips said he saw 14 species of warblers in the park in May 2003. The park has also become a wintering ground for the pied-billed grebe.

According to center staff, there are now at least three nesting pairs of red-tailed hawks in Brooklyn. The Community Committee of the Prospect Park Alliance-a coalition of local groups-once invited legislators to a picnic, hoping to help them understand the value and needs of Prospect Park. During the picnic, the assembled group watch red-tailed hawk fledglings learn to fly. "It was a powerful moment," Phillips recalled.

Exhibits

One exhibit allows children to build their own park-a hands-on experience almost every child seems to enjoy immensely. "They can move the trees, building, streams and waterfalls around on a magnetic map," said Phillips. By deciding where to put a baseball diamond and where the woods should go, children often come to appreciate the respect for nature that underlies the park's layout.

Upstairs inside the Audubon Center is the Con Ed Discover Nature Theater, a space where children can explore nature through play, theatrical presentations, and film. The center has a large collection of puppets children can use, and toy versions of many of the birds and other animals that live in the park. "All center activities are designed to get people outdoors," said Phillips.

Restoration In Progress

A major park restoration project has been underway since 1994. Led by the Prospect Park alliance, the project aims to restore the park back to its original design specifications, created by famed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux. Restoration efforts include removing invasive species and replacing them this tupelo trees, a native with brilliant fall colors. The tupelo also provides high-fat fruits important for migratory songbirds.

By the time Conservationist readers read this article, a dried, hollowed-out area-not much more than a tangle of brambles for the past forty years or so-will have been filled with water, again becoming a lake in the park's extensive watercourse. DEC is replacing invasive water plants, such as phragmites, with diverse native species like rushes, cattails, pickerelweed, arrow arum and duck potato. These natives provide much better food and nesting material for birds and better habitat for fish than do phragmites.

"A hundred and fifty years ago, there was no watercourse here," Phillips said. "Today, there are recreational opportunities, wildlife habitat, fish, insects, dragonflies and birds."

Before the restoration began this lake had all but disappeared due to a lack of maintenance and soil compaction that occurred when visitors walked off paths to avoid this problem in the future.

A Precious Resource

Local residents-and tourists from around the state and the country-can participate in family programs the Audubon Center offers, spend time with wildlife in diverse habitats ranging from woodlands to wetlands to lakes and streams, and learn to observe hundreds of species of birds. These opportunities are the benefits of a lot of hard work by the Prospect Park alliance and its partners.

Prospect Park has always been Brooklyn's centerpiece, but as I left after my visit, I felt a renewed sense of gratitude for the park as an urban treasure. By looking around with open eyes, I realized that the intentions of Olmstead and Vaux are almost certainly being fulfilled-with plenty of help from the Audubon Center and a renewed commitment to an old boathouse.

If You Go

The Audubon Center in Prospect Park offers visitors a wide range of educational activities and opportunities, including boat tours along the Lullwater and nature walks on the Lullwater Trail. Ongoing programs include Prospect Park Nestlings, a weekly time of storytelling, music and crafts for 3-5 year-olds and their care-givers, the Prospect Park Green Team, a drop-in conservation program for children ages 9-12, Introduction to bird Watching that includes guided tours, the Hands-on DISCOVER Carts that allow visitors to use science tools, design a meal for a duck, see what lives in the park, and more.

The Audubon center also schedules free DISCOVER NATURE Tours on most Saturdays and Sundays. For more information, call (718) 287-3400.

Photo: Prospect Audubon Center, Steve Nanz