History, Natural History & the Arts
Around the middle of March, I begin to feel that springtime urge to hit the road, to lace up the winter-neglected running shoes and start slogging through some miles.
My early-season jogs take me past a wetland area that stubbornly spans both sides of a road near my home. It’s a usual – and very welcome – happening to spot red-winged blackbirds here, even while snow lingers around the cattails and brushy willows. [Read more…] about Red-Winged Blackbird Epaulets Play Important Role
State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced a call for citizen science volunteers to help in the development of a comprehensive, statewide survey that takes place every two decades to detail New York’s breeding bird distribution.
Starting in 2020, five years of field surveys will be conducted by volunteers and project partners to provide the data that will be analyzed to create the third New York State Breeding Bird Atlas. [Read more…] about Birdwatchers Sought for 2020 Breeding Bird Atlas
Trout and salmon fishing season opens in New York State on Wednesday, April 1st.
New York’s coldwater lakes and streams offer springtime trout anglers the opportunity to pursue trout in a wide array of settings across the state. [Read more…] about Trout and Salmon Fishing Season Opens April 1
Out of an abundance of caution and to limit the community spread of COVID-19, DEC has postponed the examinations scheduled for April 3, 2020, to practice the sport of falconry, become a wildlife rehabilitator, or use leashed tracking dogs to find wounded or injured big game animals. The exams were originally scheduled to be administered at DEC regional offices statewide. [Read more…] about DEC Postpones April 3 Exams
While many of us are spending extra time at home, now is the perfect time to start planning a vegetable garden.
Whether it be your first time planting a garden or you have been doing it for years, planning what you are going to plant and when will result in a more successful growing season as well allow you to plan ahead for needed seeds, plants, and supplies. [Read more…] about Start Planning Your Vegetable Garden
This is such a disorienting time, when all our lives have been turned upside down and shaken. One of the ways my own family is coping is by spending time outside every day.
We stage nature treasure hunts in the woods behind our house. [Read more…] about A Treasure Hunt for Early Spring
As we navigate the uncertainty surrounding the spread of COVID-19, Lake Placid Land Conservancy (LPLC) has offered some suggestions on ways to enjoy the outdoors from inside your own home or yard.
This week on The Historians Podcast, Kathryn Smith. a journalist from South Carolina, discusses her book Gertie: The Fabulous Life of Gertrude Sanford Legendre, Heiress, Explorer, Socialite, Spy.
Legendre was descended from the Amsterdam, New York, Sanfords who made a fortune in the carpet industry. [Read more…] about Gertrude Sanford Legendre: Heiress, Explorer, Socialite, Spy
Performer and teaching artist Dave Ruch will be live on Facebook each week for a 30-minute live program of songs, stories, history and humor.
Ruch’s “Live From The House” series explores some of the music that our ancestors sang and played (and passed down through the generations) for their own entertainment before the age of record players and radios. [Read more…] about Weekly NYS Historical, Traditional Music Live Online
William F. Fox was born in 1840 in Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, and graduated from Union College in Schenectady in 1860. He served in the Civil War as Captain, Major and then Lieutenant Colonel in the 107th New York Volunteers and later wrote a number of books on both the Civil War and forestry.
Fox’s 1902 History of the Lumber Industry in the State of New York, written under the auspicious of Gifford Pinchot, is considered among the first authoritative works on the logging industry in New York. [Read more…] about William Fox Helped Create Modern NYS Forest Rangers