Matthew Beckerle on Blogger: Rockland Audubon Society’s Iona Island

Friday, December 6, 2019

Rockland Audubon Society’s Iona Island

A sales and customer service specialist from Westhampton Beach, New York, Matthew Beckerle does stock counter sales at Speonk Lumber. Outside of work, Matthew Beckerle is a member of the Rockland Audubon Society.

A chapter of National Audubon Society, Rockland Audubon Society (RAS) a non-profit organization that is committed to appreciating and preserving nature and its healthy environment. RAS offers birding walks in local birding hotspots. One of these birding hotspots is Iona Island.

Iona Island, which is home to various species of marsh, riverine, and upland species, is also known as a temporary habitat for wintering bald eagles. Bald eagles stay in Iona Island between December and March. Although Iona Island is closed to the public during this period, the bald eagles can be viewed from Route 6/202 on the east side of the Hudson River. Other species may be seen in Iona Island from May to June. The railroad causeway and the marsh edge along the road are excellent spots for viewing birds and wildlife (except bald eagles).

Iona Island, along with another birding hotspot Doodletown, was designated in 1997 as an "Important Bird Area" by the New York State.

About Matthew Beckerle

With a background in the lumber business extending four decades, Matthew Beckerle presently serves as stock counter sales professional with Speonk Lumber in Speonk, New York. Matthew Beckerle’s responsibilities include store organization and counter support activities, and he also assists with special orders as necessary.

For many years, Mr. Beckerle served as yard foreman and showroom manager with Beckerle Lumber in Spring Valley and he coordinated sales efforts in areas such as millwork, mouldings, and doors. Tasked with oversight of personnel, he organized deliveries and undertook general maintenance at a facility that has been in operation since 1859.

Mr. Beckerle has a longstanding interest in the natural world and served as assistant biologist with Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Ocala, Florida, in the early 1990s. His activities included general bird surveys and bald eagle nesting population monitoring, and he also helped ensure successful prescribed burns. His work extended to invasive botany surveys and plant control, and he led hikes of the Rockland Audubon Society. Mr. Beckerle’s free time interests extend to scuba diving and playing guitar.