North Brooklyn Parks Alliance (NBK Parks) and Friends of McGolrick Park joined forces to launch a bird garden following the success of the park’s weekly Bird Club. Volunteers at McGolrick Park constructed a dedicated bird garden bed, a project that will continue through the fall.

“[The bird garden] comes from the McGolrick Bird Club, a volunteer-led group. There are 80 people at times that show up to birdwatch in the park; it’s become a popular activity to do here,” said Director of Strategy and Communications at NBK Parks Karrie Witkin. “The Friends of McGolrick came up with the idea to create this bird garden to help encourage species to be here. It makes birdwatching better and also makes the park better, more vibrant, and more biodiverse.”

The historic park’s post-pandemic rehabilitation is a result of community investment. McGolrick’s neighbors addressed rat infestations and reactivated the space for people and wildlife, making the park’s current activities possible.

“The Friends of McGolrick group was relaunched a couple of years ago, post-pandemic. There were problems with rats and trash buildup and things like that, so a group of neighbors got together,” said Jeannine Murphy of Friends of McGolrick Park. “We do things that are community-driven, taking ideas that people have and trying to put them in place.”

Friends provided opportunities for new residents to revitalize the neighborhood’s green space for the community.

“I moved to East Williamsburg in 2020 during the pandemic and this was one of the parks that I would come to,” said Tammy Hsu, a member of the Bird Club and Friends of McGolrick Park. “It’s crazy because this park has changed so much since then. It’s a real testament to the people in the community who spearheaded working on the park and making it a place for people to hang out.”

Friends of McGolrick Park organizes popular park programming in collaboration with NBK Parks, and volunteer opportunities allow neighborhood residents to plug into their community.

“We were involved in starting the Bird Club, which has become wildly successful. We started things like nature walks. We’ve got someone from the Museum of Natural History coming soon; we try to bring experts to engage the community,” said Murphy. “We do monthly cleanups, trying to keep the park clean. It’s all very community-driven, and we’re just volunteers from the neighborhood. We live around here. This is practically our backyard.”

McGolrick Park is Community District 1’s oldest park, as the land was acquired as park space in 1889. Its age is apparent in the mature tree canopy enveloping the park, which provides shade but also introduces unique challenges to developing its plant palette. 

“It gives us an opportunity to think differently about our plant palettes because there is so much shade,” said Lauren Clark, NBK Parks Manager of Horticulture and Stewardship at McGolrick Park. “Because we have shade, we have to think outside the box of our full sun species. We get to have a different plant palette in the space, which is exciting for parkgoers to see different plants growing in a city park.”

The Garden Club on Sunday, May 26, focused on eliminating invasive species to create space for new shrubs that beautify the space and provide shelter and food to birds.

“We’ve worked with the Parks Department to identify a space. We wanted something fenced off to keep animals, dogs and people from trampling it,” Murphy said. “There’s going to be a monthly schedule where we’re coming with volunteers from the Bird Club and the neighborhood trying to work on this space and get it ready.” 

Rats are another threat to the park. Thanks to the Friends and Parks Department, the infestation is significantly more controlled than a few years ago, but rats are still a consideration when designing garden beds and plant choices. 

“I’m hoping we can try to find ways to incorporate the rat birth control policy in this park. This is such an activated community. There would be a lot of support for doing something unique here, and we would be an excellent space to do a pilot program,” said Clark.

The volunteers removed overgrown Virginia Creeper and excessive Goldenrod from the designated plant beds. Clark educated volunteers on the different plants that will eventually fill the space. 

“Last year, we started planting low shrubs like Swamp dog, Dogwood, Solomon’s seal, and then in the front, we’re going to do a more productive shrub palette, like Huckleberry, Beautyberry, things that will provide food sources for birds,” said Clark. 

Many volunteers are also active in the Bird Club and want to participate in the Garden Club to further engage with the space’s thriving wildlife.

“I live across the street, and I’ve been a part of the Bird Club for the last year. I recently joined the steering committee, so this was one of the agenda items we had been hoping to finally do,” said Millie Parkinson, a member of the Bird Club and Friends of McGolrick Park. “It felt very aspirational, then it started to happen. I’m coming at it from a couple of angles: I’m a neighbor, I’m part of this other club, and I’m part of the park committee.”

The Bird Club members described the value of birding in the beloved Greenpoint park. 

“This park really punches above its weight. When they first started birding this park, I don’t think anybody anticipated how much variety of species you actually see,” said Parkinson.

Close encounters with local species inspired many Bird Club members to invest in the park. 

“My favorite thing I’ve seen while birding was last week — I saw a Bay Breasted Warbler,” said Hsu, who recently celebrated one year with the Bird Club. “On my first bird walk, that was the bird I could not see. I remember Mike saying, ‘It’s okay. It’s not for you. You’ll get it,’ and last week, I did get it. It’s a nice thing to remember that sometimes you don’t see or it’s not the right time. Eventually, you do see. It was satisfying because it’s nice to feel the effort that I put into trying to learn.”

First-time volunteers Neil Macintosh and Taiyo Kitagawa joined the Garden Club to connect with the community and nature as a couple. 

“I’ve been following the Parks Alliance and seeing they have volunteer opportunities and finally signed up for it,” said Kitagawa. “I love this park and we live in an apartment. We don’t have any green space and I’m craving to be doing something with nature. This is one of my favorite parks around here, so it’s perfect.”

“Finding nature in the city is rewarding,” said Macintosh. “As my mother says, ‘You gotta get the roots.’”

Community Board member and regular volunteer Meryl LaBorde has lived in New York City since 2006 and has participated in numerous community efforts.

“I’m always down to volunteer,” said LaBorde. “I met the folks from NBK Parks in 2020 when the open streets program was starting, so when they started Garden Club last year, I was like, ‘I’m there.’ They’re so helpful to us that I want to donate my time to help them keep doing what they’re doing.”

Witkin described the McGolrick Park Garden Club as “the perfect bookend” to the first month of this year’s Garden Club series. 

“It’s this great confluence of what we’ve been talking about with rewilding where we’re trying to address both human needs and the ecological needs of the park,” said Witkin.

From the district’s newest park, Bushwick Inlet Park, to Under the “K” Bridge Park, home of the nursery that provides plants to all the other parks, North Brooklyn Garden Clubs are a gateway for Brooklynites to get involved in local environmental efforts.

“We can’t do this unless people come and help,” said Parkinson. “The park only looks great and is an enjoyable place to be around because of the people who take care of it.”