On Sunday, February 25, 2024, members of the AYLUS Oakland Gardens branch went to Alley Pond Park Environmental Center to join the event for animal tracking. The people who helped us with this event are the Urban Park Rangers. We appreciate the help of Ranger Adam, Ranger Eric, and Ranger Gloria for helping us during this hike. In this event, the park rangers educated our members on how to track animals, types of animal feces, environmental conservation measures, and more.
Today during this event many members came to this event. There were at least 70 members at this event. Because the rangers saw how large our group was they decided to split up our group into two parts. The members 11 and under were in one group and the older members were in another group. In addition to animal tracking, we made our own animal tracks out of terracotta colored clay and rubber molds. Some of the animal tracks included baby chicks, coyotes, red foxes, and many different types of reptiles. The rangers informed us that we could bring our tracks home. This made many of our members exhilarated.
We also touched and observed animal fur such as coyotes and foxes. Our members observed that the fox fur was soft while the wolf and possum fur was hard and bristly. Furthermore, the park rangers told us that these animals weren’t hunted and were killed by natural causes. This made many of our members relieved because they thought that the park killed these animals.
Finally, we saw a real life model that looked exactly like a coyote. This was because it was a taxidermy coyote. Everything about it was real except for the eyes. The eyes seemed to have resin over it. Ranger Adam told us that this taxidermy coyote had been here longer than he had worked here. This statement was proven as it was falling apart. This compelled Ranger Adam to tell us not to touch the fragile object.
Ranger Gloria showed us, in the 11 and under group, some phragmites. She told us that these phragmites signify that there is a body of water near it. Furthermore, the phragmites were an invasive species. The specific body of water at that park, called “Alley Pond Creek”, was an estuary. Ranger Gloria explained to us that an estuary was a mix of water, with both freshwater and saltwater. Our members went near it in hopes of seeing a muskrat. We didn’t see any but we sighted a nest.
Our members were very excited to be a part of this event. This event was very different from all the other events we had. We are thankful for this opportunity to go to this event provided by New York City Urban Park Rangers! Our members were grateful that we had the chance to learn this. In the future, we will work more on environmental conservation and provide a safer environment for these animals that we learned about today to grow and thrive in.
Our volunteers:
Jia Qi Liu(Angela): 2 hours
Sophia ShiHan You: 2 hours
Stephanie ShiRan You: 2 hours
Hong Hao Liu(Alfred): 2 hours
Jennie Cheng: 2 hours
Patrick Guan: 2 hours
Ricky Song: 2 hours
Vicki Lin: 2 hours
Hannah Liu: 2 hours
Evina Liu: 2 hours
Ioklee Lin: 2 hours
Ioknor Lin: 2 hours
Anthony Lin: 2 hours
Iokseng Lin: 2 hours
Iokting Lin: 2 hours
Song Hou: 2 hours
Huaxin Zhu: 2 hours
Adley Zhu: 2 hours
Hannah Cheng: 2 hours
Vicky Sun: 2 hours
Ethan Dai: 2 hours
Collin Lo: 2 hours
Hannah Zheng: 2 hours
Emily Zheng: 2 hours
Ling Yu Hao: 2 hours
Matthew Lin: 2 hours
Thea Jiang: 2 hours
Rainie Zheng: 2 hours
Kingsley Jiang: 2 hours
Tian Xiang Ding: 2 hours
Aidan Zheng: 2 hours
Blake Han: 2 hours
Yuxin Liu: 2 hours
Tong Ren: 2 hours
Le Ren: 2 hours
Yichen Liu: 2 hours
Hao Chen Liu: 2 hours
Junzhe Ling: 2 hours
Darren Li: 2 hours
Austin Li: 2 hours
Zihao Wang: 2 hours
Joe Wang: 2 hours
Solar Lau: 2 hours
Solara Lau: 2 hours
Erica Wu: 2 hours
Hangxu Yu: 2 hours
Vincent Yang: 2 hours
Stanley Yang: 2 hours
Erica Li: 2 hours
Evaline Yuel: 2 hours
Sebastian Wong: 2 hours
Runyi Liu : 2 hours
Huaiqian Liu : 2 hours
Andrew Zeng : 2 hours
Zoe Zeng : 2 hours
Ryan Wang : 2 hours
JiaYuan He : 2 hours
Aiden Lin: 2 hours
Brandon Lin : 2 hours
Jiaheng Yu : 2 hours
Liam Cheung : 2 hours
Athena Luo : 2 hours
Shawn Wu: 2 hours
Evolet Wu: 2 hours
Jasper Wu: 2 hours
Report by: Sophia ShiHan You, Hong Hao (Alfred)Liu, Stephanie ShiRan You, & Jia Qi Liu (Angela)
Report reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
