History, Natural History & the Arts
The Adirondack Garden Club has announced the Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund grant awardees for 2020.
The Adirondack Garden Club Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund was established in 2005 to give financial assistance to individuals and not-for-profit organizations involved in programs whose purpose is to study, protect and enjoy the natural environment within the Adirondack Park. [Read more…] about Adk Garden Club Announces 2020 Grant Awardees
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has reopened campsites and lean-tos in the Lake Colden area in the High Peaks of the Adirondack Park, after a black bear that DEC says had “a documented escalation of the bear’s aggressive behavior since 2018” was euthanized.
Camping in the area was temporarily closed after numerous incidents with what are believed to have been the same bear over the past several weeks, according to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. [Read more…] about Bear Killed: High Peaks Campsites, Lean-Tos Reopened
Each fall, thousands of broad-winged hawks soar across Northeastern skies in flocks known as kettles, on their way to wintering grounds in South and Central America.
The sky swirls with hawks bubbling up on thermals of hot air and then streaming southward. It is enough to take your breath away – all those raptors, more than you could imagine seeing in a lifetime, coursing across one stretch of sky together. [Read more…] about Broad-Winged Hawk Migrations
Giant hogweed plants are beginning to bloom across many parts of the state, making it a prime time to spot this harmful invasive. Giant hogweed is a large, flowering plant from Eurasia with sap that can cause painful burns and scarring. [Read more…] about Identify Giant Hogweed, Then Avoid It
Trout fishing is a challenging endeavor, yet it can be the most rewarding backcountry activity, as success ordinarily means a meal or two with a great tasting main course. Because trout require cool, clean waters in which to live, anglers who want to engage in this popular summer pastime traditionally head to those places where conditions remain favorable for these hardy game fish. [Read more…] about Trout Fishing, Drought and Low Water
You’ve probably seen these little fourteen-legged chimeras at some point, though you may not have paid them any mind since you were a kid.
Part shrimp, part kangaroo, and part armadillo, the ubiquitous pill bug (Armadillidium vulgare) is a harmless, if sometimes annoying, critter which scuttles about at night feeding on dead vegetation.
Also known as potato bugs or roly-polys, these are the guys that pull themselves into a tight little ball for protection when disturbed. [Read more…] about Pill Bugs: A Primer
Environmental Conservation Officer Jeff Cox reported that on June 20th he received a call from a concerned homeowner in Copake reporting a large rattlesnake on their front porch. [Read more…] about Rattlesnake Relocated from Columbia County
Since the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) was first detected in Washington state in December of 2019, it has been hard to miss the eye-catching headlines about this species.
With so much news out there, we want to make it easy for you and break down the facts about this much-buzzed-about species: [Read more…] about Asian Giant Hornet – Fact vs Fiction
As the sunset colors fade from purple to black an eerie sound breaks the forest calm. It is not the long, low, slow howling of wolves that can be heard further north, but the group yip-howl of coyotes: short howls that often rise and fall in pitch, punctuated with staccato yips, yaps, and barks. [Read more…] about Coyotes: Decoding Their Yips, Barks, and Howls
I’ve been wary of lawns since about 1970 when I saw a public-service TV ad which featured a leafy green bundle dropping into an eerily vacant playground. A baritone, God-like voice issued a dire warning, something like: “Grass. We think it’s bad for kids. Stay away from it.”
My five-year-old mind rejected Mom’s account that some grass was bad but ours was OK, because she wouldn’t give any details about the bad stuff. It was a few days before I ventured onto the lawn again. [Read more…] about Keeping the Grass High