we went out to dumbo this morning (after dropping ellen's dance props at her storage facility). the last time we went seining, chanda was too young to go into the water with the staff members, so i signed up for a class that a fellow nychea member had organized.
esa, the brooklyn bridge park educator, is holding a striped sea bass. it's much bigger than the one we saw
four years ago on a similar field trip. there is much less beach than there used to be, so the class has moved directly beneath the bridge.
esa used a microphone but it was still difficult to hear with the trains going by overhead.
chanda is getting ready to go out.
there wasn't a lot in the net . . green sea lettuce, a small sea bass and . .
comb sea jellies that they picked off to put back into the water.
after the lecture the staff members handed out scavenger hunt papers . .
and the group spread out to find shells and sea glass and maybe a few dead crabs . .
the currents can get rough as the east river is actually an estuary with the hudson river and the long island sound coming in from the north, and the atlantic ocean coming in from the south. the flooding during hurricane sandy was very bad and the terrain here has really changed.
the shorter beach . .
the shorter beach means that you will get wet when the barges and boats pass by . .
part of a chimney or just part of an old apartment building?
containers of different marine life that they find.
comb jellies . .
an atlantic silverside which we saw during out last visit also, and which are good examples of counter shading. they have the dark top to blend in with the dark atlantic water so as not to be seen by a hawk, and the light underbelly so as to blend in with the shiny surface of the water as seen by a larger fish predator.
an asian crab, native to china, japan, korea and russia. probably introduced to north america through ballast water.
you can tell this is a male crab from the marking on his abdomen which looks like the empire state building.
more worn red bricks . .
the park has changed so much in four years with new buildings and parks and art projects. it felt very different.
with homeschooling friends they have babysat for since the one on the left was a baby . .
the latest art installation by deboroah kass:
oy/yo.
water towers . .
day lilies!
sharing a chocolate chip/chocolate ice cream sandwich cookie from the "melt" truck.
the brooklyn bridge parks education center which only just opened in september.
