History, Natural History & the Arts
The black and orange stripes catch my eye as I swing the scythe through dew-laden grass. My eyes typically follow the tip of the 28-inch blade as I mow, trying to keep it level with the ground, but the contrasting color pattern pulls my attention to milkweed plants just a few feet to my right.
A group of seven very hairy caterpillars, sporting alternating tufts of black, white, and orange hairs, are nibbling away at a leaf. [Read more…] about How Milkweed Tussock Moths Evade Predators
As warm weather encourages more outdoor activities, encounters with wildlife increase. Wild animals can potentially carry diseases such as rabies.
Though most wild animals are healthy, people should be aware that some wild animals can carry rabies, which is most commonly seen in bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes. Any mammal can be infected with rabies, including unvaccinated household pets and feral cats. [Read more…] about Reduce Your Risk of Rabies Infection
Bats are the world’s only flying mammal and New York State is home to nine different species. In the latest episode of the DEC Does What?! podcast hosts Executive Deputy Commissioner Sean Mahar and Chief of Staff Erica Ringewald are joined by DEC Wildlife Biologists Casey Kennedy and Ashley Meyer with the Division of Fish and Wildlife.
They explain how the program tracks population changes and distribution of bats throughout the state, misconceptions about rabies, the devastating impact of White Nose Syndrome that causes mass mortality in four of New York’s hibernating bat species, and how these “angry kittens” of the wild can be identified by their toe hairs. [Read more…] about New York State Bats Subject of DEC Podcast
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is seeking public input on the draft list of Species of Greatest Conservation Need and associated species status assessments for use in updating New York’s State Wildlife Action Plan for 2025-35. [Read more…] about List of Species of Greatest Conservation Need Being Revised
Internationally recognized Bat Week is October 24th through October 31st. The celebration raises awareness about the critical role of bats in the environment and a time to appreciate New York’s nine bat species.
Outdoor enthusiasts are encouraged to refrain from visiting caves and mines during the fall and winter months. Bats spend the winter hibernating in these underground cavities where relatively constant, warm temperatures protect these mammals from harsh winter temperatures above ground. [Read more…] about Bat Week! New York State’s Bats & How To Protect Them
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced more than $1.35 million in grants to six land trusts to help protect local forests that are considered key to achieving the state’s objectives to protect open space.
Grant funding will be used to acquire new easements to help keep forests as forests, safeguarding the ecosystem services they provide that include stormwater mitigation, temperature regulation, carbon sequestration, and climate resiliency. [Read more…] about DEC Announces More Than $1.35 Million in Grants to Land Trusts
On a recent hike up Eagle Mountain in Milton, Vermont, we climbed to a ledge overlooking Lake Champlain. Turkey vultures soared overhead, tilting back and forth on the breeze. A sheer cliff dropped to the forest below us, a lush variety of plants clinging to its face. Cliffs are defined as areas of exposed bedrock with a slope greater than 60 degrees. We tend to think of cliffs as solely geological features. But they also host distinct natural communities of plants and animals. [Read more…] about Cliffs Host Varied Flora and Fauna
City life favors species that are adaptable and not too fussy about what they eat, among other characteristics. A worldwide consortium of scientists calls the resulting collection of traits an “Urban Trait Syndrome.” Their study includes data from 379 cities on 6 continents, with the largest data set coming from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird program. The work is published in Nature Communications. [Read more…] about City-Dwelling Wildlife Demonstrate Urban Trait Syndrome
Swift and apparently silent, a lone bat traces the contours of the woods’ edge at dusk, floating through canopy and meadow. In the last daylight, a sharp-eyed observer might catch a glimpse of white armpits, indicating that this is no barn bat or attic bat. This is an eastern red bat. [Read more…] about Migrating Eastern Red Bats
Years ago, I visited two Vermont caves in winter to help biologists count hibernating bats. After descending through a hole into the first cave, I immediately noticed that it was much warmer than above ground. The cave was also more humid, and I could hear the steady drip of water.
We walked quietly into the darkness and shone our lights at the cave roof. Bats hung upside down singly and in clusters, wings wrapped around furry bodies and feet clinging to the ceiling. These bats would spend the entire winter immobile, except for brief periods of arousal, when they might change position in the cave. [Read more…] about Bats Prepare for Winter
The hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) and the silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans) are caveless, summer-only bats and also our only other chiropteran residents that have striking coloration.
Size is relative. To my cat, I am rather large; to my dog, not so much. A blade of grass to an ant is like a small tree to you and me. So when I tell you that our largest bat, the hoary bat, has a wingspan of 15 to 16 inches and a body over six inches in length, you must realize that this is a significant bat, even if it weighs only about an ounce.
[Read more…] about Bat Week: Two More Caveless, Summer-Only Bats
There are a number of species of cave bats in New York State, but today I am going to introduce you to just two: the eastern small-footed bat (Myotis leibii leibii) and the eastern pipistrelle (Pipistrellus subflavus).
The small-footed bat, as you no doubt guessed, is noted for its petite terminal appendages: it has small feet, only about six millimeters long. I’ve never seen any data on the size of other bats’ feet, but one must suppose that they are significantly larger with respect to the size of the bats in question. [Read more…] about Bat Week: New York’s Smallest Cave-Dwelling Bats
The little brown (Myotis lucifugus) and big brown (Eptesicus fuscus) bats are furry cave-dwellers who have been most heavily impacted by the fungus-based disease now known as white-nose syndrome (WNS).
Every hibernaculum in New York was diagnosed with the disease, and in some of the caves, these bats experienced over 90% mortality. It’s a sobering fact. [Read more…] about Bat Week: Little and Big Brown Bats
Two bats that are often never mentioned (mostly because so few people have heard of them) are Keen’s myotis (Myotis keenii) and the northern long-eared myotis (Myotis septentrionalis). Both species have been found in New York State, but neither in great numbers.
The genus name, Myotis, is roughly translated as “mouse-eared bat”, and these days many of the Myotis bats are no longer referred to as “bats” per se, as in “little brown bat” and Keen’s bat.” Instead, the genus name is substituted as part of the common name. Thus, we now have “little brown myotis” (little brown mouse-eared bat) and Keen’s myotis (Keen’s mouse-eared bat). [Read more…] about Bat Week: Keen’s and Long-Eared Myotis
To the average person, an Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) is not a terribly impressive animal. It is a smallish, brownish bat, often mistaken for a little brown bat (another less-than-dazzling member of the clan).
A scientist in the know, however, can detect small differences to tell these species apart, such as the length of the toe hairs (I kid you not), the length of the ears, the color of the snout, the amount of shine to the fur, or the presence of a keel on the calcar (a spur of cartilage that gives some rigidity to the trailing edge of the wing membrane near the bat’s foot). [Read more…] about Bat Week: The Indiana Myotis
Ah, October; the month when summer has truly fled and winter can be felt in the air. Leaves explode in color and then lose their grip on life. Geese and other waterfowl beat a hasty retreat for warmer climes.
Some flowers we typically see in the spring are apparently confused and put out a few end-of-season blossoms. And everywhere we turn, yards and businesses are decorated for Halloween. [Read more…] about Celebrating Bat Week
Bat Week is an internationally recognized week-long focus to raise awareness about the important role bats play in our environment and is a great time to appreciate New York’s nine bat species.
Bat Week is observed October 24th through 31st and is organized by representatives from conservation groups and government agencies in the United States and Canada. [Read more…] about Help Protect New York’s Bat Populations During Bat Week
In observance of Bat Week, an internationally recognized week-long focus on raising awareness about the important role bats play in our environment, avoid visiting caves and mines that may serve as seasonal homes for hibernating bats at this time of year.
Human disturbance is especially harmful to the State’s bat populations since the arrival of the disease known as white-nose syndrome, a fungus that has killed more than 90 percent of bats at hibernation sites in New York. [Read more…] about Bat Week: Protecting Bat Populations
As spring arrives, so do… bats? Like many other naturalists, I spend lots of time during this season looking for migrating salamanders and blossoming bloodroot.
I’ve never thought much about what bats are doing this time of year. It turns out these flying mammals, who retreated into hibernation back in the fall, are emerging from April through May, as the weather grows consistently warmer and insects again fill the air. [Read more…] about Bats Emerging From Hibernation
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