Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Loon Center to Honor Naturalist Gary Lee

Loon release The Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation will present its 2018 Loon Recognition Award to naturalist Gary Lee at the View Arts Center in Old Forge on Friday, July 6, from 5 to 7 pm.

The reception will feature a presentation showcasing Gary Lee’s extensive contributions to the conservation of loons in the Adirondacks, as well as live music, hors d’oeuvres, and beverages.  The proceeds will benefit the Center’s loon research, rescues, and conservation projects throughout the Park. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Gregarious Great Blue Herons

blue herons Years ago, friends and I spotted a group of huge nests high in the trees along the edge of a large pond: a great blue heron rookery. From across the water (a respectful distance to avoid disturbing the birds), we observed the goings-on through our binoculars. Adult herons flew in and out of the colony, their long necks and heads folded back onto their shoulders in an S-shape, wings beating slowly, long legs trailing behind.

As a parent approached its nest, the young stood up eagerly, jostling each other and clamoring for food. Alighting on the stick platform, the adult quickly inserted its long beak into each nestling’s throat, and with a pumping motion, regurgitated a nutritious soup, which likely included fish, crayfish, or frogs. » Continue Reading.


Monday, June 25, 2018

New Hampshire’s Ancient Volcano

Ossipee Ring DikeNorth of Concord and south of the White Mountains is an estate romantically named Castle in the Clouds. Reclining on the patio there on a pleasant spring afternoon, you might enjoy the sun as well as the view. While it’s a beautiful view today, 122 million years ago it would have been a lot more exciting: you would have been staring at an active volcano.

Some articles about the Ossipee Mountains compare the former volcano that created them to Mount Vesuvius or Mount Fiji, attributing to it an eruption ten times bigger than Mount St. Helens’ last explosion. Nelson Eby, Professor of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, is less sure. “We don’t actually know that there was a big volcano,” said Eby; “it might have been small. What we do know is that however big the original volcano was, it ultimately collapsed on itself.” » Continue Reading.


Monday, June 25, 2018

LGLC Announces Living Lands Series 2018 Season

black bearThe Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) is set to kick off its 2018 Living Lands Series on Wednesday, June 27, with “Adirondack Bear Behavior,” presented by DEC Big Game Biologist Jim Stickles.

Stickles is one of six different presenters of the LGLC’s annual talk series, which continues each Wednesday evening at 5:30 pm until August 22 at the LGLC office in Bolton Landing (no presentation on July 4th). » Continue Reading.


Monday, June 18, 2018

It’s Tick Season: Tips To Avoid Getting Bit

tick next to dimeWith the warm weather here and more opportunities to spend time outdoors, it’s important to remember these tips to prevent ticks from affecting your summer. Be sure to protect yourself, pets and your property from ticks.

The most effective way to avoid ticks when outdoors is to avoid contact with soil, leaf litter and vegetation. However, if you hike, camp, hunt, work or otherwise spend time in the outdoors, you can still protect yourself. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, June 17, 2018

A Slow Start for Snapping Turtles

snapping turtle One moonless May evening, my husband and I walked down to our local pond, flashlights in hand, to look for toads. We were delighted to discover hundreds of them, floating, darting, and jockeying for position in an explosion of courtship. Their surround-sound trills left our ears ringing.

The toads were frenzied, focused only on each other, and highly concentrated in one small, shallow section of the pond, which prompted my husband to wonder if they weren’t awfully vulnerable to predators that way. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, June 14, 2018

More Adirondack Lake Trout Monitoring Needed

spawning lake trout Lake Trout are designated species of Greatest Conservation Need in NY, based on the reduction of cold, well oxygenated waters in lakes due to climate change.

Lake Trout, Salvelinus namaycush are one of two native salmonines to the interior Adirondacks, Brook Trout, S. fontinalis being the other.

However, unlike Brook Trout, which can be found from small headwater streams to deeper lakes, Lake Trout reside in the hypolimnion (bottom) of lakes during the majority of the year, where water temperatures are most suitable. The depth of the hypolimnion depends on many factors, including latitude, size of the lake, and the height of surrounding land that offers protection from the wind.  » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, June 12, 2018

New Findings On Relocated Adirondack Loons

loonBiodiversity Research Institute (BRI) has announced results of its five-year loon study Restore the Call. Among the findings was that a male loon chick relocated from the Adirondack Park to the Assawompsett Pond Complex (APC) in southeastern Massachusetts in 2015 returned to the APC lake from which it fledged.

The identification of this loon (through color bands) marks the first confirmed account of an adult loon returning to the lake to which it was translocated, captive-reared, and then fledged. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, June 10, 2018

Tent Worms: Eastern Tent or Forest Tent?

Forest Tent CaterpillarLike a B-grade horror film, they’re back. Writhing en masse, draping cobwebs, and raining tiny “peppercorn” poop onto us, tent caterpillars have returned. Known variously as tent worms, army worms, and a host of other names not suitable to print, there are actually two species of tent caterpillars. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, June 9, 2018

What the… Adirondack Turkey Vultures

“Mom, there’s a really big crow in the compost,” my son said one day early this spring, followed closely by, “Wait. What is that bird? It’s huge!”

I peeked out the back window to find a bird, huge indeed, a red head atop of cloak of dark feathers, sitting on a corner post of the garden fence, peering into the compost heap. Two others perched behind the garden, high in a tall white pine tree. The red head, naked of feathers, easily gave the birds away as turkey vultures. While we see these vultures often during the warmer months, soaring in circles high in the sky, we’d never seen them up close. » Continue Reading.


Friday, June 8, 2018

McNulty Named Int’l Field Stations Group President

stacy mcnultyStacy McNulty has been elected president of the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS), a more than 50-year old international organization that supports research, education and outreach at field stations.

SUNY ESF’s Adirondack Ecological Center (AEC) has been a member for about 25 years according to McNulty, who is an ecologist and associate director of the AEC. Prior to becoming president, McNulty served as board secretary, member-at-large and chair of the Human Diversity Committee. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Three Sisters Preserve Fisher Caught On Trail Cam

three sisters preserve fisherThe Lake Placid Land Conservancy (LPLC) has installed trail cams on the Three Sisters Preserve as part of their Citizen Science Monitoring Program.

The Preserve includes a rare sandy pine forest habitat and is home to a variety of wildlife, including fishers, one of which was caught on trail cam video April 12th. » Continue Reading.


Monday, June 4, 2018

Intense Tent Caterpillars

eastern tent caterpillarThey hang around on finely spun strands of silky string; blue-black caterpillars parachuting ever-so-slowly to earth, landing in yards, crawling around on decks and porches; even finding their way into homes. Over the past few weeks, several people have asked me about them. Some have been coping with large numbers of them. And one person asked if they were the same worms that make their webs in apple trees.

They are not. They are similar, though. Both are hairy. Both are dark colored. Both grow from less than one-eighth of an inch to two inches or larger over a six to eight week period. And both are tent caterpillars. Beyond that, they’re clearly different. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Motorists: Be Alert for Turtles Crossing Roadways

painted turtleThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is reminding the public that the state’s native turtles are on the move through June, seeking sandy areas or loose soil to lay their eggs.

In New York, thousands of turtles are killed each year when they are struck by vehicles while migrating to nesting areas. New York’s 11 native species of land turtles are in decline, and turtles can take more than 10 years to reach breeding age. The reptiles lay just one small clutch of eggs each year, which means the loss of a breeding female can have a significant effect on the local turtle population. » Continue Reading.


Monday, May 28, 2018

Appreciating Adirondack Woodchucks

woodchuck One summer we had an ongoing battle with a woodchuck. Unbeknownst to us, it had dug a burrow in an ideal location — in the center of our dense raspberry patch, about 10 feet from our vegetable garden. The woodchuck then dug a hole under the garden fence and feasted on beans, peas, and other tender vegetables. We filled the hole and placed a large rock over it. The next day the rock had been moved and the hole re-dug. We tried more rocks, then sheets of metal roofing, but every day these barriers were removed. Finally we put a Havahart trap near our garden — and caught a young skunk (which was released, very carefully)!

In addition to eating vegetables, woodchucks dine on clovers, grasses, dandelions, goldenrod, asters, apples and berries. They occasionally eat insects such as grasshoppers. In the spring, before much green vegetation is available, they will also feed on the buds and bark of deciduous trees and shrubs. » Continue Reading.



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