New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

ospreys

The Return of the Ospreys

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osprey courtesy Wikimedia user Mike Michael L. Baird On my commute to the Northern Woodlands offices in Lyme, New Hampshire, I pass a long-established osprey nest, perched atop a very tall electric tower next to Route 302. This location offers the ospreys a view of their surroundings – and provides me with a view of the ospreys from the road.

My early morning drive is brighter now, on the season’s edge, than it was in the heart of winter, and I have been craning my neck lately to get a look at the nest – and hoping to see a raptor or two perched on its edge or soaring nearby. [Read more…] about The Return of the Ospreys

Wildlife Mosaics: Paddling Freshwater Marshes

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Cattail-marshland-at-Tifft-Nature-Preserve-Buffalo-courtesy-Wikimedia-user-Buffaboy Sunlight glinted off the water as we paddled our canoe along a winding channel which led through a marsh of tall grasses and wild rice. Two white, long-legged birds – great egrets – stalked the shallow water, poised to spear fish with their pointed bills. A bald eagle landed in a tree, squawking as it joined its mate. After four miles of canoeing down the Missisquoi River in northwestern Vermont we had reached the point where the river enters Lake Champlain. [Read more…] about Wildlife Mosaics: Paddling Freshwater Marshes

Kleptoparasitism: Wildlife Thieves

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TOS_KleptoparasitePicture a robin, out in the morning and hopping around the park. It finds breakfast in the form of a worm, but out of the nearby trees swoops a bigger bird. The bigger bird acts threatening, and the robin surrenders its worm like a kid giving up their lunch money to the school bully. It’s a common scenario between many kinds of animals – and a classic example of kleptoparasitism. [Read more…] about Kleptoparasitism: Wildlife Thieves

A Century Ago: New York’s War on Animals

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Vermin01 BlackList1919Beware! Pictured here are your adversaries – the official enemies of the state. Don’t be distracted by the pretty colors, lovely feathers, or furry critters. These are vermin, and citizens are urged to kill them at every opportunity.

The poster, by the way, represents only the top nine targets from a group of notorious killers, presented here alphabetically: bobcat, Cooper’s hawk, crow, English sparrow, goshawk, gray fox, great gray owl, great horned owl, house rat, “hunting” house cat, lynx, porcupine, red fox, red squirrel, sharp-shinned hawk, snowy owl, starling, weasel, and woodchuck. Kingfishers and a number of snakes were later added, and osprey were fair game as well. [Read more…] about A Century Ago: New York’s War on Animals