When you search for “beauty in nature,” you get a lot of results. Most of them are pictures of far off places — mountains, lagoons, rolling hills. Everyone has a different opinion of what is or is not beautiful, but I think what we can all agree on is that beauty is all around us, we ...

About a month ago I described an active nest box in my grandson’s backyard. A pair of tufted titmice had built a nest and incubated and hatched five eggs. I promised an update on the nest’s fate; all five young titmice fledged successfully. That’s the definition of “nest ...

Millions of people downhill from us drink the waters that are shed from our roofs, parking lots, streets and lawns. As watershed residents, it is the responsibility of each of us to take care of the waters that land on our homes and yards. Rainfall and snow can contain dust, ash and ...

It is an otherworldly sound – it both belongs and doesn’t. At once it instills a fear that renders you motionless, but also attracts you with a deep rooted thrill fueled by adrenaline. Rattlesnake. I remember my first wild Pennsylvania rattlesnake. Black phase female, basking on a rock ...

Drive slowly by a farm pond, a lake, or a wetland on a warm summer evening, and you’re likely to hear two distinctive voices. A deep, booming, “Jug-o’-rummm!” betrays a male bullfrog. On a lake the sound can travel up to a mile across open water. As darkness falls, dozens of bullfrog ...

The lakes and streams in Chautauqua County have been impacted for decades by human uses in the landscapes which “shed” water to them. These waterways are some of our most valuable assets, and they need your action to protect them! How is your community managing your watershed? Is your ...