New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Wildlife

Are Brighter Monarchs Better Flyers?

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monarch butterfly by adelaide tyrolThe September before my daughter was born, my husband and I went for our last pre-baby hike around Camel’s Hump in the Green Mountains of Vermont. We stopped for a snack on the ridgeline, and as we sat munching granola bars we were surprised to see a monarch butterfly flap past, battling the turbulence at this higher elevation.

We watched it disappear southwards, then turned to see a second monarch, then another, fly after the first. It felt like we had stumbled on an aerial herd path as we watched half a dozen orange butterflies flutter southwards along the mountain at treetop height. [Read more…] about Are Brighter Monarchs Better Flyers?

New Anthology Considers Rewilding Movement

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rewilding earthBook purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

Rewilding Earth: Best of 2019 (Essex Editions, 2020), edited by John Davis and Susan Morgan, features essays, poems, and art by advocates for the rewilding movement. [Read more…] about New Anthology Considers Rewilding Movement

Viral Deer Disease Confirmed in Putnam, Orange Counties

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Whitetail deer by Dick ThomasThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has confirmed that several white-tailed deer in the towns of Nelsonville and Cold Spring in Putnam County, and near Goshen in Orange County, died after contracting Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD).

EHD is a viral disease of white-tailed deer that cannot be contracted by humans. [Read more…] about Viral Deer Disease Confirmed in Putnam, Orange Counties

Migrating Red-Winged Blackbirds

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Male Red-Winged Blackbird courtesy Alan D. WilsonAutumn heralds its arrival with all manner of colorful cues: Tree leaves explode into brilliance; gray squirrels feverishly hoard food supplies; yellow school buses come out of hibernation, and most remarkably, blackbird flocks practice their aerial gymnastic routines. [Read more…] about Migrating Red-Winged Blackbirds

In Pursuit of Giant Puffballs

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puffball mushrooms courtesy University of Wisconsin Green BayPuffball is the generic name for a large group of mushrooms with similar characteristics. They come in many sizes and are usually spherical or globular in shape.

Puffballs are distinguished from other mushroom groups by the fact that they lack many of the features or characteristics that other common mushrooms possess. A puffball has no stem. It has no cap. And no external gills. All of the spores are produced inside of the fruiting body. The most common way in which they release their spores is through impact; the external force of rain or falling debris landing upon them or of animals stepping on or brushing against them, thereby compressing and/or breaking the peridium; the protective layer that encloses the spore mass inside the fungus. When that happens, as the name puffball implies, the spores are ejected in a large puff. [Read more…] about In Pursuit of Giant Puffballs

Horsehair Worms: Nasty Nematomorpha

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Horse hair WormSome of my favorite children’s books describe life cycles as heroic tales of persistence and redemption. From The Ugly Duckling to The Very Hungry Caterpillar to A Seed is Sleeping, these stories have brought the miracles of growth and maturation to life for generations of readers.

I can’t say, however, that I know of a single children’s book describing the impressive hero’s journey of Nematomorpha, commonly known as horsehair worms. [Read more…] about Horsehair Worms: Nasty Nematomorpha

Garter Snakes: A Primer On Surprise Guests

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Garter snake by adelaide tyrolOne summer day I lifted the black plastic top of our composter and jumped back, startled – a large snake was curled up on top of the compost.

The yellow stripe down the center of its dark back and two yellow stripes along its sides identified it as a garter snake, our most common snake, found around rock piles, under logs, or – sometimes – even inside a house. [Read more…] about Garter Snakes: A Primer On Surprise Guests

Brooklyn’s Monkey Trial of 1906

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The Bostock Building at Coney Island's Dreamland, from the 1904 book, History of Coney IslandYou may be familiar with the “Scopes Monkey Trial.” In 1925, teacher Thomas Scopes was brought into court for violating a Tennessee law that forbade the teaching of evolution. Scopes was defended by famed lawyer Clarence Darrow, who actually asked the jury to find his client guilty in order that the case could be appealed to a higher court.

In 1927, Scopes’ guilty verdict was reversed on a technicality, without addressing the issue of the law’s constitutionality. (That matter was not resolved until 1968, when the United States Supreme Court struck down – on First Amendment issues – a similar law in Arkansas.)

Years earlier, Brooklyn, New York had a monkey trial – but one that was entirely different. The Brooklyn case did not involve Darwin’s theory of evolution in any way – it concerned an actual living, breathing, in-the-flesh monkey. [Read more…] about Brooklyn’s Monkey Trial of 1906

Whispering Trees: Arboricultural Acoustics

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Group of white pine trees courtesy US Fish and Wildlife ServiceThe term psithurism (sith-er-izm) doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it’s not meant to. The word, from the Greek psithuros (whisper), indicates the melody that rolls off pine needles in a gentle wind.

It also means the sound of “proper” leaves shaking in the treetops. Obviously, we need another word, because these two things – whispering pines and rustling leaves – may both soothe us, but they sound quite different. [Read more…] about Whispering Trees: Arboricultural Acoustics