Birdwatching in Freshkills Park

Tottenville Station waiting room, the Staten Island Railway.

A building at the Tottenville Station of the Staten Island Railway(SIR).

Doug Elliott gestures while talking with two birdwatchers.

March birdwatchers on a bridge looking out to an osprey nest site.

Near a site for an osprey nest are weeds and trees from last year's growth.

Freshkills 2011

Birdwatchers at Freshkills Park in March.

Freshkills 201

Andy in a red jacket shooting video at Freshkills Park.

Infrastructure: is this a vent in the pond?

A small group of birdwatchers gather near a waterway between the mounds of Freshkills Park.

Freshkills 201

Throughout the landscape of Freshkills Park, one finds connections to underground infrastructure systems.

A small group of birdwatchers gathers near a waterway that flows between the mounds at Freshkills Park.

A road follows a waterway in Freshkills Park. It is March and the light is pale.

Flare station, power lines, fences along a road in Freshkills Park.

Freshkills 201

A flare station across the water in winter light with fences.

Gravel roadbed with pond, water fowl, flare station, and West Mound.

Two water fowl floating with a bus and a flare station beyond.

A group of birdwatchers along a fence across from the West Mound.

Looking through an opening in the fencing, we see sand piles and heavy equipment on the West Mound of Freshkills Park.

A plastic water bottle stuck in a chain link fence.

On March 27, 2011, I traveled to the Tottenville Station by public transportation: subway, bus, and finally the Staten Island Railway. Pictured here are the waiting areas at the Station where I waited for the rest of the group to arrive by car from nearby neighborhoods. We came to watch birds in Freshkills Park; they brought binoculars. Andy, a man in a red parka, brought his video camera. He worked at the community TV station. Doug Elliott and another fellow from the NYC Parks Department led the tour and choose the stops. The whole group got in and out of the bus to look around.

When I look at these photos, I think about the pale winter light of March. The dried weeds and cut back dormant grasses are straw toned as they cover parts the landscape. Below the flare stations, bands of color shift from brown weeds to water to grayer gravel, more weeds, chain link fences, concrete barriers, more plants. While the color is low key and there is less vegetation in general, it seems easier to see the form of the terrain as well as the elements of infrastructure: openings to the underground, fences, and vents.

andrea callard