The 2021 rainbow trout sampling events for Naples Creek in Ontario County and Cold Brook in Steuben County will not be held as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. [Read more…] about No Rainbow Trout Sampling Events This Year for Finger Lakes Tributaries
nature
Bicknell’s Thrush: A History Podcast
Bicknell’s Thrush was first identified by American amateur ornithologist Eugene Bicknell on Slide Mountain in the Catskills in the late 19th century.
This rare songbird prefers our State’s higher peaks and will soon be returning from its winter residency in Hispaniola. [Read more…] about Bicknell’s Thrush: A History Podcast
Watch the Skies for Spring Bird Migrations
Spring is an ideal time to observe bird migrations. New York is conveniently located along the Atlantic Flyway, one of the main migration routes. This gives you a great opportunity to observe birds flying to their summer breeding grounds. [Read more…] about Watch the Skies for Spring Bird Migrations
DEC Releases 2020 Bear Hunting Statistics
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced that New York State bear hunters killed 1,723 black bears during the 2020 hunting seasons. [Read more…] about DEC Releases 2020 Bear Hunting Statistics
Volunteers Prepare for Salamander and Frog Migration
Community volunteers throughout the Hudson Valley are getting out their flashlights, reflective vests, and raingear in anticipation of annual breeding migrations of salamanders and frogs, which typically begin in mid-March.
Volunteers in the Hudson Valley will record their observations as part of DEC’s Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project, coordinated by the Hudson River Estuary Program and Cornell University. [Read more…] about Volunteers Prepare for Salamander and Frog Migration
Our Hibernating Jumping Mice
Winter is the time when wildlife activity ebbs. Many residents of our fields and forests have retreated to shelters beneath the surface of the soil in an attempt to escape this season of low temperatures, snow and ice, and little if any food.
The woodland jumping mouse (Napaeozapus insignis) is one member of our wildlife community that retires to the seclusion of a cushiony nest underground and lapses into a profound state of dormancy, known as true hibernation, for roughly six months beginning sometime in mid-October. [Read more…] about Our Hibernating Jumping Mice
The Return of the Red-Winged Blackbird
A warm southerly breeze in mid-March brings with it loose, granular conditions on the ski slopes, a layer of mud on dirt roads, and the return of the first seasonal avian residents – among these are the red-winged blackbirds. [Read more…] about The Return of the Red-Winged Blackbird
Bluebirds: New York’s State Bird in Winter
On Valentine’s Day, as I sat down to write, I noticed a burst of blue outside my upstairs window. Looking out with my binoculars, I counted six eastern bluebirds. Clustered on and below my suet feeders, they were a wonderfully pleasant surprise on a chilly February morning. As I watched, the bluebirds briefly fed on the suet before finding perches in a red maple above the feeders. Within a few moments, they were gone entirely, an ephemeral splash of color amidst a snow-covered Maine lawn. [Read more…] about Bluebirds: New York’s State Bird in Winter
Another Invasive: Samurais and Stinkers
In general I’m rather positive about immigrants, but not the six-legged kind. Many of the insects which have made themselves at home here over the past few decades show up with interesting and colorful names like emerald ash borer, velvet longhorned beetle, and spotted lantern fly. Amusing monikers or not, this is a ménagerie of mischief-makers, and one of the more recent arrivals is quite a foul character indeed. [Read more…] about Another Invasive: Samurais and Stinkers
DEC Warns Aquarium Owners About Invasive Zebra Mussels
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is urging pet and aquarium stores and consumers to immediately remove and properly dispose of commercially purchased “moss balls” for aquariums after invasive zebra mussels were discovered inside and on some of these products, as reported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Consumers should be advised that moss ball products purchased from Petco and PetSmart may be subject to a voluntary product recall. [Read more…] about DEC Warns Aquarium Owners About Invasive Zebra Mussels