Perspective

PERSPECTIVE December 2017

BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH SCIENCE AND NATURE

Editor’s Letter

For many people, the wilderness may seem far away. Many people may feel like it’s unreachable, somewhere between the rainforests of South America, the deserts of Africa, and the mountains of Asia. The truth is that nature is all around us, hidden in plain sight. The aim of this magazine is to remind us of the wonders of nature, a force which sustains humanity every day. We hope to inspire our readers through stories of explorers who have embarked on their own adventures in their very own backyards.

This issue highlights several opportunities for people who are passionate or curious about nature to go outside and explore, even in the heart of one of the world’s biggest cities. Some of life’s greatest treasures (and sights) are found where one least expects.

Throughout the pages of this issue, you will be invited to go outside, find the closest park and start looking around. You might not only find an amazing wild creature, but also an escape from your daily routine, a break from work, or even an excuse to kick off your shoes and feel the grass between your toes, again.

Jorge Castillo-Castro Editor, photographer and writer

Editorial Board

• Daniel Combs

• Salgu Wissmath

• Daniel Owen

• Sallie Sauber

• Erin Clark

• Terry Eiler

• Kelsey Brunner

Cover: A Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) rests on the branch of a Sumac tree in a restored salt marsh in Randall’s Island Park, New York.

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Tropics in New York Alejandro’s journey researching the rain forest thousands of miles away

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Urban Birding Discovering New York’s feathered neighbors.

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Tropics in New York Alejandro’s journey researching the rain forest thousands of miles away

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A

lejandro Arteaga is a Venezuelan

How did you get involved in this area of study?

researcher who focuses on ecology

It is a long story that goes back to my childhood.

and the evolution of amphibians and reptiles in the tropics. For the last eight years, his investigation has lead in the

discovery and description of 12 species of frogs and snakes, with several more on the way. A big part of this work was done thanks to the advantage of living in Ecuador, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. Now, Alejandro is living in New York as a Ph.D. Fellow of the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History. In this interview, we discuss with him the challenges and advantages of studying tropical diversity while living in the Big Apple.

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The moment that I saw a coral snake crawling into what was then my house in Venezuela, my parents freaked out and tried to kill it. From that moment on, I tried to stop everybody that acted negatively towards snakes. That led me to study herpetology in Ecuador. My dream was to go into the field and try to find and discover a new species of amphibian or reptile. Then, in 2011, I managed to complete the dream of finding and describing a new species and helped to contribute to the knowledge of herpetology in the neotropics.

Why did you decide to apply for the American Museum of Natural History’s RGGS program?

The first time I visited the AMNH was two years ago. I didn’t know that they had a Ph.D. program at the time.

During that visit, aimed at recording the number of scales for several species of snakes I was studying, I met Dr. Chris Raxworthy, who told me about the program. At that moment, I wasn’t interested in a

Left: Alejandro measures a collection of Ecuadorian snail-eating snakes to get morphometric data for describing new species.

Right: A specimen of Peruvian Snail-Eater (Dipsas peruana ) lays on a measuring board. In order to be able to describe new species, researchers have to measure and collect data from several specimens to find the morphometric characteristic that defines new species.

Ph.D. because I was already working. Then I became interested because I saw the number of publications they were putting together, and how cool it was working with this team, which combined with the fact that I wanted to create new, faster method for

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This is a Peruvian Snail-Eater (Dipsas peruana) from the Ecuadorian Highlands collected in 1922. The number of scales and other details in the head are important when scientists are identifying species.

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identifying and describing species in the tropics

What are your plans after finishing the program?

before they go extinct. I figured I couldn’t get this

I want to go back to Ecuador to put into practice

knowledge in Ecuador so I decided to apply and then got accepted into the program What are the challenges of researching tropical biodiversity while living in New York?

everything that I have learned in the program and to continue to pursue the goals that I had started to accomplish there already. That means trying to find, name and protect as many species of amphibians and reptiles as possible in the least amount of time.

One of the biggest challenge is not having instast access to the species that you study. Originally, the

A message for the next generation of researchers

information is collected during field expeditions

passionate about amphibians and reptiles?

and then analyzed in the lab. If the assumptions you

My main piece of advice would be that they need

made in the field are flawed, you need to collect more data. I will have to plan another expedition, and it can take some time to me before I can go back and get the information that I need.

What are the advantages of researching the topic of biodiversity in New York?

to act fast. There is no time to lose, and the most important step that they need to take is to invest in both getting the best education, but also finding one, two, or even three mentors that can actually guide them through the whole process. Informal mentors can really make it or break it. Finding a combination of quality education, experienced mentors, and a

On the other hand, it is great to be in a place with so

supportive group of people is the best advice I can

many amazing researchers that actually are able to

give.

help you and work side by side. At the same time, the AMNH has the second biggest collection of

...

amphibians and reptiles on the planet. This allows

Follow Alejandro’s work at www.tropicalherping.com.

me to instantly access a wide range of knowledge.

If you are interested in the American Museum of

Finally, it offers new software and new techniques to

Natural History’s RGGS program, visit www.amnh.org/

perform analysis that are not available in Ecuador.

our-research.

All of these are amazing advantages to speed up the process of species description.

Right: A jar of snail-eating snakes has been preserved in alcohol. The American Museum of Natural History houses one of the largest herpetological collections on the planet with over 335,000 specimens. Researchers like Alejandro can access specimens from all over the world.

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Urban Birding Discovering New York’s feathered neighbors

Previous page: Richard Lieberman , of the New York City Linnean Society, leads a group of bird watchers n Central Park. The group goes for a walk in the park weekly .

Right: A Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) rests on the flood lights at Icahn Stadium in Randall’s Island Park, New York. There are several Red-Tailed Hawks individuals living in different areas of the city; not only in parks but also in buildings and other structures.

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A Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) rests on a Sumac tree in a restored salt marsh in Randall’s Island Park. This warbler is looking for insects in the tall grasses at the marsh. The nearby windows of the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center show us how close urban environment and the wildlife are.

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A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) looks for crabs and tiny fish to eat at the estuary of East River in Randall’s Island Park. The estuary is part of the marsh that was recently restored by Randall’s Island Park Alliance. The place is now home to different kinds of herons, kingfishers, and others species of animals.

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I

t’s 7:20 in the morning, and after getting off the subway at West 72nd Street, I’m walking toward Strawberry Fields. It’s a cold October morning.

I pass a group of birdwatchers staring at a

Pine tree in front of them, enthusiastically looking through several pairs of binoculars. As I join the group, the participants quickly point out an olive colored bird jumping from branch to branch. “It’s a Pine Warbler,” they say, “A short-distant migrant Warbler that spends the winter in the area.” The sun is just starting to warm up the park when the group makes several other sightings: sparrows, flicks, and thrushes, even a Bald Eagle way up in the sky. Groups like this one, led by Richard Lieberman from the New York City Linnaean Society, gather weekly in Central Park and other green areas in the city of New York.

But what is it that brings these people together? To answer this question, I ventured through the city alongside these birdwatchers to find out just what sparks their passion.

The city has 28,000 acres of green places like Central Park in Manhattan, Van Cortland Park in the Bronx, and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. New York City is located at a geographic nexus of the Atlantic Flyway Bird Migration Route, which encompasses some of the hemisphere’s most productive ecosystems, including forests, beaches, and coastal wetlands.

Most animals that migrate through these paths come from the Canadian Arctic and the northern Atlantic Coast and travel through the Caribbean to South America. This is one of the reasons why the city has become a hot spot and transit hub for more than 350 species of birds. After a long flight, migratory birds pass over the city and land somewhere in the metropolitan area to rest and feed. High numbers of individuals of a single species can be found during migration in this area.

As I stroll along with the group, Janet Wooten, a member of the New York City Linnaean Society, pauses occasionally to register the name of every species that the group spots in her notebook, in which she also includes the number of animals observed. After seven and half hours of walking through Central Park, she bids the group farewell and goes back to her home near Central Park to upload all the sightings to eBird, the longest-running citizen-science project where birdwatchers from around the world upload their sightings online. With

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the accumulated data on eBird, researchers can run different analyses to understand the patterns of species distribution.

While walking, I start talking with several participants about how the pure passion for these animals propels people to travel around the globe. Some of them mention their birding plans for the next summer going to places like Costa Rica and Panama. This activity drives approximately 18 million people from the United States to travel around the country and the world every year, creating a billion-dollar

revenue for the national and international tourism sector. Clearly, this is a passion that people take very seriously, both now and throughout history. In 1890, New York resident Eugene Schieffelin collected and released around 41 species of European birds in the Big Apple, just to have the animals that were mentioned in various plays by William Shakespeare within observation distance. Most of the animals died because they couldn’t adapt to the extreme climate, although there was one species that survived the bitter winter: the European Starling. Originally, 80

Above: Two birders talk about the importance of a good pair of binoculars at the fall birding tours at Bryant Park a few blocks away from Times Square. Bill has been going on walks for bird watching for the past four years, while Mary has just started with the practice.

Next Page: Over 150 Canada geese (Branta canadensis) fly over West Pond in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York. Behind, the skyline of lower Manhattan rises above the horizon. On Oct 22, 2017, a group of 28 people led

by Joseph Landesberg, part of the South Shore Audubon Society, sighted 23 species during a two-hour walk around the pond.

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birds where released. Now, it’s estimated that the

engage all of our senses.” Perhaps this is the reason

population in Canada, the United States, and Mexico

that more people get involved with birdwatching

has reached more than 150 million individuals, which

every single day.

are displacing native species.

Michelle Dreger on a walk that she is leading for an

think. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service,

introductory group of birdwatchers. To participate,

there are around 47 million birders across the

people can simply show up at the Prospect Park

country. Most of them, 41 million, practice this

Audubon Center every Saturday at noon. Michelle

activity in their backyards, meaning that they travel

also lends binoculars to those who don’t have any.

less than a mile to observe birds. According to Gabriel

She mentions to me that she lives a few blocks

Willow, a birding guide for Audubon New York, there

away from the park and that she got involved in this

a couple thousand birders in the city. “Birds are all

activity after her retirement.

around us,” Willow said. “They are very colorful and

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Later in the week, I am given the opportunity to join

Janet and Richard aren’t as unique as one might

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A big part of the active birding community in New

York is composed of retired citizens, although youth

that are flying, soaring, and gliding through the air,

has an important presence in the field, as well. During

and it’s just a friendly activity to do in your free time.

a walk in Bryant Park, I begin talking with August

After all, birdwatching has become an activity that

Davidson, 15, who has been active in the birding

brings people of all ages and backgrounds together,

community for a few years. He mentions that his

recovering the too-often-lost connection between

father introduced him to birdwatching, but nowadays

humans and nature. This may be the essential link

he has become a much more serious birder than his

needed to conserve the green areas around not only

old man. “But it’s still something my family can enjoy

New York City, but around urban areas across the

doing with me,” he said.

country and the globe.

After a while, I start to understand the attractive nature of birding that brings these people together— the curiosity inherent in exploring the city with new eyes, paying extra attention to all the little details

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