After the September 16, 2010 Microburst storm struck Middle Village we noticed a forgotten holdout branch on Caldwell Ave. near Walgreens sitting on the sidewalk. As we walked by everyday to work it became familiar. We wondered how long could it survive on this main Middle Village street? On the three-month anniversary of the storm (Dec. 16th), we photographed it still sitting there. Then the snows hit.

On Feb. 16th, a full five-months after the storm, lo and behold the branch still sits in the middle of the sidewalk. However with all of the high winds and storms, the branch managed to travel about 60 ft. east of its original place near 80th Street. Its survival and journey has been nothing short of remarkable. Particularly since that every morning, a city Parks Department chipper truck crew stops on the next corner for breakfast. The back of the truck is filled with branches that have been “rescued” from Queens streets.

Somehow neither the Parks crew nor the Walgreens staff noticed the 15 ft. branch for five-months. A true survivor this resilient branch. I think we’ll save it or present it to Mayor Bloomberg as a momento. No chipper is good enough for the Caldwell Avenue survivor branch.