What's Your Nature?

Become a Nature Up North explorer to share your encounters with wild things and wild places in New York's North Country. Post your wildlife sightings, landscape shots, photos from your outings, and even your organization's events!

Ask a Fairy

Woodland fairies answer all your questions about North Country nature!

The fairies are back for spring 2020!

Come visit our fairy homes! Each spring we migrate through the North Country on our way home for the summer. We live in the woods, where we spend our days bonding with birds, talking with trees, buzzing with bugs, and getting friendly with fungi. As you might guess, we've become expert naturalists. At any time between now and May 26th, find our homes using the clues below. This year, to help us and you stay safe and healthy, use your phone’s camera to scan the QR code on the sign next to our house.

Home in Stone Valley
Toadstool home
Paper birch home

Spring Fairy House Clues

Come visit our fairy homes! Each spring we migrate through the North Country on our way home for the summer. We live in the woods, where we spend our days bonding with birds, talking with trees, buzzing with bugs, and getting friendly with fungi. As you might guess, we've become expert naturalists. At any time between now and May 13th, find our homes using the clues below and leave notes with your nature questions inside. Please also leave your first name and age, so we can address you personally when we reply!

Fairy house at the Nicandri Nature Center
Fairy house at Indian Creek Nature Center
Fairy house on the SUNY Canton trail

Ask A Fairy: Fall 2018 Answers

 

Thanks for visiting the fairies this fall and leaving your notes inside! You had some really great questions, and Thimble and Blossom had so much fun answering them. They are already down in the tropics where they'll be spending the winter, but are excited to come back next spring!

Keep reading below to find your question among the others, and let us know if you have any questions. Thanks!

 

fairy house

Ask a Fairy: Our Fairy Friends are Back!

We eagerly await the fall season, because with it comes apples season, vibrant fall colors, and of course - visiting fairies! Our woodland fairy friends will be visiting the North Country on their migration south for the winter from October 12th - 28th. You're invited to find their homes and leave notes with your nature questions inside. Please also leave your first name and age, so the fairies can address you personally when they reply.

Pumpkin fairy house

Ask A Fairy: Spring 2018

The wait is finally over! The fairies are thrilled you found their houses, and have been working hard to answer all of the thoughtful questions. Thimble Hickory and Blossom Dewdrop are your fairy experts on North Country nature and fairy culture again for this round. They’re on their way to their northern summer nesting spot, but they already can’t wait to pass through the North Country again in the fall!

 

Thimble and Blossom are here to share their passion and knowledge about the North Country forest. 

 

North Country Fairy House

Woodland Fairies Visit North Country Trails

The fairies are here, the fairies are here!

Each spring a merry group of fairies migrates through the North Country on their way home for the summer. These aren't just any fairies – these fairies live in the woods, where they spend their days bonding with birds, talking with trees, buzzing with bugs, and getting friendly with fungi. As you might guess, over time they’ve become expert naturalists. For a limited time only, you’ll have the chance to visit their fairy houses and ask them any questions you have about nature.

Two fairy houses, one made from birch bark nestled among the pieces of a fallen tree, another made from stones and tucked into the nook of a tree with four diverging trunks.

Ask A Fairy, Spring 2017

The wait is finally over! The fairies are so happy that you found their houses, and they said the questions you asked this year were especially thoughtful. Thimble Hickory and Blossom Dewdrop are your fairy experts on North Country nature and fairy culture again for this round of questions. They’re on their way to their northern summer nesting spot, but they already can’t wait to pass through the North Country again in the fall!

 

Are the fairies real?

Ask a Fairy Part 2: Fairy Food, Autumn Leaves, and Migration

Our fairy friends Thimble Hickory and Blossom Dewdrop are back to answer the rest of your questions about North Country nature and the lives of fairies. While they're settled into the warmth of the tropics for winter, they're already excited to return to Canton, NY next fall! 

Ask a Fairy Part 1: Introducing Blossom and Thimble

Each year a group of migrating group of woodland fairies passes through Canton on its way south for the winter. Woodland fairies know all the North Country plants and animals, and this year they invited us to visit their houses and ask questions about North Country nature. If you were walking along the Kip Trail, exploring Heritage Park, or running through the Remington Recreation Trail last month, you may have been lucky enough to spot a fairy house nestled in the trees awaiting curious visitors.