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!
Fall Bird Walk
Come join Dr. Susan Willson and Eileen Wheeler on a fall bird walk. We will meet at 8am in the parking lot at the main entrance. Please dress for the weather and be prepared for muddy trails and mosquitoes. Wear good walking shoes. Dr. Willson is a bird ecologist and professor at St. Lawrence University, Eileen is an ICNC board member and birder with tons of knowledge about local bird species.
Exploring Fall Island
Join us for a plant walk and illustration workshop in partnership with Sara Lynch and Nature Up North. Sara has been leading workshops as part of her Exploring Fall Island project, bringing together art and ecology, and we're pleased to be part of the last event in this series.
September 14, 10am
Fall Island, Potsdam (behind Ace Hardware)
Some art supplies will be provided, but feel free to bring your own.
The Colors of Distress
Recent studies show that trained dogs can sense Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, many forms of cancer, and other serious ailments long before symptoms show up. We may not be able to match such an impressive feat, but it turns out we’re not entirely inept when it comes to prescient diagnostics. There are two simple ways to detect grave illness in trees before they start looking overtly ill. The catch is that it’s only possible to do this in late summer when leaves start to change color.
Green Frog
As I was walking on the Saddlemire trail I noticed this green frog hanging out in the grass in the middle of the trail. It wasn't at all startled by my close up photo!
Snake with lunch.
The Photography Club at the Nicandri Nature Center meets monthly, and when we were walking a part of the trail quite close to the Center in mid-July, we came upon this scene. The frog was still alive, and the snake was busily digesting as much as possible so it could slither off to enjoy the rest of its meal. In the meantime, we were able to get some pretty good shots. Although this is nature, it was still difficult to watch.
Goldenrod Was Framed
Please don’t blame late-season allergies on goldenrod. Well, not unless you’ve discovered bees going up your nose lately. It turns out that pollen from goldenrod, which is in glorious bloom throughout the region right now, is too heavy to waft on the wind. These plants rely on bees and other pollinators to convey their sticky pollen grains from one flower to another, which is why goldenrods don’t cause hay fever, even if they wanted to.
Nature Walk - Indian Creek Nature Center
Recently, the DEC built a new observation platform for Indian Creek Nature Center (ICNC) in Rensselaer Falls, and we're going to go check it out!
Join Dan French on a nature walk to the observation platform on the Boardwalk Trail. This is a flat, one-mile round-trip trail that features a boardwalk through the marsh, woodland environment, and an outlook onto the marsh! We'll look and listen for all varieties of wildlife along this walk and enjoy the beginning of the fall season.
Community Campfire - Game Camera Sneak Peak!
Come hang out with Nature Up North by the fire on a Saturday evening! As the weather starts to cool and the bugs subside, a campfire is a perfect way to enjoy a North Country night. Head to the Wachtmeister Field Station between 6-8 to enjoy the fire, company, and s'mores!
Community Campfire!
Come hang out with Nature Up North by the fire on a Saturday evening! As the weather starts to cool and the bugs subside, a campfire is a perfect way to enjoy a North Country night. Head to the Wachtmeister Field Station between 6-8 to enjoy the fire, company, and s'mores!
When hobbies intersect: Radio and Wilderness
Are you looking to spend more time in the backcountry? While spending days or weeks away from civilization is a great adventure, you may have some worries about safety. Garmin in reach and other devices allow for backcountry communication but come with a large price tag. Still, there is something else that allows for 2 way communication and is a fraction of the price. It's traveling through the air all around us. Invisible to the eye, but giving some the ability to communicate at the speed of light.