Bill Davis Snow geese come in for landing on the West Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. It seemed like endless bounty of shellfish and invertebrate species. The bay's rebound is raising the hope that a more pristine environment will be restored in the coming decades, with wetlands renewed and continued improvement in the water quality. Geese, ducks, plovers, terns, the occasional loon, the ubiquitous gulls, the cormorants, stationed at even intervals along the shore.
Possums waddle through nearby backyards.
Jamaica Bay always has harbored nature within the city, but in recent years, Joel Miele has noticed the difference. As a boy growing up in Howard Beach in the 1940s, he loved jumping into a rowboat to go fishing or crabbing. It was very easy to keep the table full. After returning from military service, he built a home on the bay in 1960 and, as years passed, noticed fewer mussels, fewer crabs and very few lobsters. But now, still living on the bay, he's witnessed a turnaround.