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!
Birding with St. Lawrence Land Trust
Birding walk led by Tom Langen and the St. Lawrence Land Trust at the Upper and Lower Lakes Wildlife Management Area. Some of the most exciting sightings (to me at least) were the Virginia rail (pictured here creeping through the marsh), a Northern Waterthrush (not pictured), an American kestrel hovering (not pictured), and the Baltimore oriole we saw at the very end (pictured in a blossoming tree). Other birds we encountered were:
Maple Leaves Are Out!
So exciting to see the new, bright green leaves on these sugar and Norway maples on SLU campus. Not just here but all over campus and beyond the beautiful greenery is just so lush and fresh - it really feels like a breath of fresh air and new beginnings.
Reading Bee!
This little bee kept coming back and landing on my book and my sweater while I was outside. I was wearing a yellow sweater with flowers so he may have liked that. When the little friend was on my book he was rubbing his antennae and legs - and you can see how full the tibia on its hind legs are with pollen! So cool!
Black Lake "fish food"
Scott and I sampled the lake today and towed a zooplankton net behind the boat near Raspberry Island. Fun times on a beautiful spring day
What is causing low porcupine abundance?
After spending the semester conducting research, I finally have a story to tell about the current state of porcupines on the St. Lawrence University Kip tract. I used game cameras to take pictures of wildlife and recorded what species I saw. I had over 20 different species captured on camera, but the one species I did not have a single picture of was the porcupine. There is a concern that porcupines are in a decline across their range, so no pictures of porcupines is concerning for the population on the Kip tract.
How to count porcupines
In kindergarten, we learn how to count to 10. We continue counting to 10 because it’s easy for us, whether it be counting birds, cars, or fingers. We might therefore assume that counting wildlife would be just as easy, but that isn’t the case. Wildlife are generally well hidden and tend to be active when humans are not. Seeing wildlife today has gotten harder because of the decrease in biodiversity. Going outside and counting wildlife is hard, not because we can’t count to 10, but because the wildlife is becoming harder to find.
Bat Bonanza - Nature in Flight Series
Join staff from Nature Up North, Nicandri Nature Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and Indian Creek Nature Center for a four part series on North Country Nature in Flight this summer. Learn how a variety of different animals use flight to their advantage, whether that’s for finding food, showing off to others, or just getting around. Throughout this series we’ll learn to see the skies and its flying critters with a whole new perspective!
Impressive Insects - Nature in Flight Series
Join staff from Nature Up North, Nicandri Nature Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and Indian Creek Nature Center for a four part series on North Country Nature in Flight this summer. Learn how a variety of different animals use flight to their advantage, whether that’s for finding food, showing off to others, or just getting around. Throughout this series we’ll learn to see the skies and its flying critters with a whole new perspective!
Breathtaking Birds - Nature In Flight Series
Join staff from Nature Up North, Nicandri Nature Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and Indian Creek Nature Center for a four part series on North Country Nature in Flight this summer. Learn how a variety of different animals use flight to their advantage, whether that’s for finding food, showing off to others, or just getting around. Throughout this series we’ll learn to see the skies and its flying critters with a whole new perspective!