Of all the flora and fauna in the region, snails are not one I think about very often. On hikes, they fall into the “just” category. Oh, it’s just a snail. Oh, it’s just a crow. Oh, it’s just a dandelion. They are so easy to overlook because they appear commonplace. Ordinary. ...
As summer winds down, we expect cooler, drier air to make life a little more comfortable. But nature is far from predictable. Why hike a favorite trail or canoe a favorite lake if the results are always the same? When I’m outdoors, I hope to see things I’ve never seen before. There is, however, one environmental constant that influences what we observe — changing daylength. The shorter days of August and September are an absolutely reliable environmental cue. In late summer, nothing foretells the approach of autumn as well as ever shorter days. Deciduous trees respond by ...
Mud is the largest non-point source pollution problem facing our lakes, rivers and streams. When soil gets washed into our waterways, it smothers fish habitats, transports dangerous pollutants that threaten water quality and provides the fertile conditions that favor excessive growth of ...
There are always a few children who love Audubon so much that they can’t stay away. There is something about what happens at an Audubon camp that draws them, year after year. I understand. Camp is fun. Kids take nets and dip in ponds. They build forts. Games are played and adventures ...
Since my wife brought home that spectacular eastern Hercules beetle I described a few weeks ago, I’ve embraced beetlemania. Given the sheer number of beetles that inhabit the planet, it’s understandable. Beetles, members of the insect Order Coleoptera, occupy virtually every habitat on earth. By the most conservative estimates, there are about 400,000 species of beetles in the world. Some entomologists believe there could be more than a million. About 25,000 species live in North America north of Mexico. They range in size from tiny to bigger than a human fist. Their colors span ...
The Conewango Creek has always intrigued me. Every time I travel on Route 62 between Jamestown and Warren, I think about the creek as it and the road meander along together. Where did that water come from and where is it going? From what I have read in the Roger Tory Peterson ...
