Welcome to the meadow. This magical place is home to many different insects and wildlife. The meadow is also a great spot for aspiring ornithologists (people who study birds).
As you look around, keep an eye out for the rustle of feathers in a tree or flying overhead. Listen carefully for the trill of a sparrow, the whistle of a grackle, or the call of a woodpecker tapping away. These birds also play a very important role in the ecosystem of the meadow, helping to keep the bug population under control.
This clearing in the middle of the Demarest Nature Center is where many plants grow, including native grasses, milkweed, and wildflowers. These plants play an important role in helping our local pollinators.
What is a pollinator?
Pollinators are creatures like bees, butterflies, flies, beetles, and even some birds and bats. They play a crucial role in helping plants grow and reproduce.
For instance, bees visit flowers to collect nectar and gather pollen for making honey, and in the process, they unintentionally carry pollen from one flower to another, enabling the plants to produce seeds and fruits.
Roughly somewhere around 85% of all flowering plants need pollinators to survive. That means that around every one out of three bites of food that you eat is owed to pollinators. So, when you see a bee buzzing around or a butterfly flitting by, remember that they’re hard at work making sure we all have enough food to eat!
Support Pollinators Today!
Poetry Corner
"To make a prairie" (1755) by Emily Dickinson
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.