History, Natural History & the Arts
A bog is a special natural community, characterized by deep, wet, and acidic soil below an open sky. Soft sphagnum mosses squish underfoot, dominating the surface of the bog and making up the mostly undecomposed organic soil below.
The ground springs up and down with each step – a sign that the entire surface of vegetation is saturated with water and even floating in some cases. [Read more…] about Tussock Cottongrass: Champion of Bogs and Alpine Areas
By early April I start to get impatient for full-blown spring. I’m ready for the treetops to be full of warblers and the understory to be crowded with blooming flowers.
But when mud season lingers, I pick up my paddle. Kayaking and canoeing in floodplain forests is a seasonal treat as fleeting as spring ephemerals – and it comes earlier. [Read more…] about Spring Paddling in Floodplain Forests
A yellowthroat warbler sang, “witchety, witchety, witch,” as I carefully made my way through the tangle of an alder swamp one afternoon not long ago.
I looked about, hoping to catch a glimpse of its yellow breast and black mask. I could hear the twangs of green frogs calling in the distance. A dragonfly zoomed past me, then flew back and landed on my shoulder. [Read more…] about Exploring Shrub Swamps
The Western New York Land Conservancy has announced that it will be fundraising to permanently protect six properties in the Western New York Wildway this year totaling 732 acres.
All six properties are located within Core Areas of the Wildway, the Land Conservancy’s landscape-scale conservation initiative that seeks to protect and connect some of the largest remaining forests in the region. [Read more…] about Land Conservancy Seeks Protection of Western NY Wildway Lands
The cyclical nature of wetlands and the seasons is a fascinating and intricate interplay between environmental factors and biological processes. Wetlands, including marshes, swamps, and bogs, are highly sensitive and dynamic ecosystems that undergo seasonal changes influencing their hydrology, plant life, and animal communities. [Read more…] about Wetlands Throughout the Seasons
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
In the days prior to and immediately following a full moon, there is often enough light in the hours after sunset for a person to meander along a well established woodland trail without the aid of a flashlight. By walking slowly and quietly, one can occasionally detect a small gray squirrel rustling about the dead leaves on the forest floor, climbing up a large trunk, or moving along the limb of a tree. While most squirrels strongly prefer to be active during the light of day, the flying squirrel favors the darkness of night and is one of the most common nocturnal tree dwelling mammals in New York State. [Read more…] about Flying Squirrels: Nocturnal Tree Dwellers
One of the primary winter foods for reindeer is reindeer lichen, also known as reindeer moss. These are puffy, many-branched, pale green or grayish-white lichens up to 4½ inches tall, spongy to the touch when damp.
Multiple species of reindeer lichen cover extensive areas of ground in the Arctic tundra and Canadian boreal forest and also grow on mountain summits and at other sites throughout the Northeast. [Read more…] about Reindeer Lichen: Fungus and Algae Living Together
Sunlight glinted off the water as we paddled our canoe along a winding channel which led through a freshwater 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 Paddling Freshwater Marshes: Wildlife Mosaics
If you’ve never seen – or heard of – the southern bog lemming, you’re not alone. Although this small mammal scurries through our landscape year-round, it is elusive by nature.
So elusive, in fact, that the southern bog lemming (Synaptomys cooperi) is listed as a species of greatest conservation need in the northeastern states – mainly because scientists struggle to find and track these rodents. [Read more…] about Southern Bog Lemmings
The Northern Forest Region lies between the oak forests of the Eastern United States and the boreal forests of Eastern Canada. It is, collectively, one of the largest and most continuous temperate forests left in the world and, like much of the biosphere, it is at risk.
Grasses of the Northern Forest (Cornell University Press, 2022) by Jerry Jenkins and Brett Engstrom is an essential companion for those interested in stewardship and conservation of the region. [Read more…] about Grasses of the Northern Forest
Hikers climbing the Northeast’s highest peaks will traverse several different vegetative zones along the way. On the summits, they’ll likely encounter plants so hardy that many also grow in the Arctic, thousands of miles to the north. [Read more…] about Northeast Mountain Ecology: A Primer
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
Bent down in an apple field searching for a lost earring, I found a different treasure: a stout mouse-like animal, with a short tail and stubby ears.
It gave me one quick look, then disappeared through a maze of tunnels in the thick autumn grass. I would have loved to follow this meadow vole, like Alice and her white rabbit, to find out where it was planning to spend its winter. [Read more…] about The Life of Voles
Pine barrens are certainly piney – but they’re not the least bit barren. They were so named not because they lack life, but because colonists found them unsuitable for raising cattle or growing vegetable and grain crops. Left behind by the glaciers more than 10,000 years ago, pine barrens are characterized by sandy, acidic soil where pitch pine and scrub oak are the dominant trees. [Read more…] about Pine Barrens Are Definitely Not Barren
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