A note… …to the air of Oct. 12 in the mid-afternoon. You are here. Finally. I forget that I miss you, that you fill me with gratitude. Carrying the scent of fading leaves, low sunshine, and the inaugural biting night of autumn, you wrap the season I’ve been waiting for into one ...
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of co-leading a leisurely fall foliage walk at the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy’s beautiful Browns Creek Tributary Forest Preserve, located at 5014 Walker Road near Bemus Point. My dear friend and co-leader was land donor, retired biology ...
According to statistics from the Fish and Wildlife Service, hunters purchased 11.5 million hunting licenses in 2016. Of those, about 80 percent (approximately 9,000,000) were for big game species, mostly deer. As a result, hunters spent more than $25 billion to finance their activities. Clearly hunting is big business, but can it be justified biologically? Since deer hunting is by far the biggest part of the puzzle, let’s focus on that. Sustaining populations subjected to hunting pressure requires species capable of rapid and consistent reproduction. Deer qualify. For more than 100 ...
‘Tis the season for scenic drives and rambling hikes. For pumpkin spice and apple flavored everything. For harvesting the fruits of the growing season. But, in this region dominated by eastern deciduous forests, nothing represents fall more so then the trees. The spectacular color ...
As far as I’m concerned, kayaking the Chadakoin River never gets old. Whenever I take a journey down the outlet of Chautauqua Lake, the river is different, and I never know what or who I will see on my adventure. Somehow, this summer got away from me, but I finally got to paddle the ...
If fall temperatures arrive this weekend as predicted, it will feel like it’s time to fill the backyard bird feeders. Colder morning temperatures send hungry birds to well stocked feeders. Here are some tips to help make any backyard feeding station a success. Whether you’re new to feeding birds or just want to keep it simple, nothing beats black-oil sunflower seed in quality tube feeders. Droll Yankees and Aspects make the best tubes on the market, and they last for decades. Cheaper tubes sold in big box stores often crack or break before winter is over. Black-oil sunflower seed ...
