Lucky shot... happened to catch this loon while I was sun baithing on the boat! #iLOVEloons

BEA Utiful!

This picture was snapped while crossing Lake Champlain on the Gran Isle Ferry. From one port to the other, there was open water, however, as you can see, there is ice on either side. The boats travel in this water pathway. The waves and movements the boats create in the water prevent it from freezing. The water heats up faster than the white reflective snow on the ice, keeping the water from refreezing over.

This is a view over Mirror Lake in Lake Placid during the fall. Lake Placid is in the heart of the Adirondacks and there are a million things to do in the area! The habitat is mostly wooded which makes it such a beautiful place to be in the fall. Climbing a high peak gives a better view, but I liked this picture because of the way the clouds are coming down and starting to engulf the mountains. The rest of the sky was completely white already, but in this view there was still some bright colored trees.

This picture was taken from the porch of my family cabin on Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks. The cabin is towards the end of the ten mile lake with dense forest behind and some large rock faces along the edge of the lake. The lake is a graben meaning it is a sunken piece of land between faults. The town itself was originally based on lumber and tanneries. I like this picture because of the way the porch railing and the overhanging tree frame it.

This is a picture of when I went on a fishing charter in Lake Champlain with my two brothers out of Shelburne, VT. This was at the end of August, 2013. We were fishing for Lake Trout, and I was lucky enough to hook a 42-incher early in the day, the biggest one our captain and first mate have seen in years. Lake Trout (salvelinus namaycush) inhabit cold water and are native to fresh bodies of water throughout North America. They feed on small aquatic insects, crustaceans, and smaller fish.

Category: Landscape
Habitat Description: Forest
Natural History Information: During the winter, the Paul Smiths becomes a nordic skiing trail system with over 25 miles of trails. The trail system traverses all of the habitat types found in the adirondack park, with the exception of alpine vegetation. The vic also includes extensive boardwalks through the wetland ecosystem. The trail is open to the public at dawn. There are many bird watching locations as well.

On the return to St. Lawrence for spring break '13, my friends and I had to take the ferry from Vermont to New York across Lake Champlain. Champlain is riddled with species that are considered "a nuisance," including ring-billed gulls. Fish and wildlife centers aiming to preserve the natural populations and ecosystem balance are trying to reduce the populations of these birds to allow for the increase of attractive species such as heron populations. We crossed the ferry on a beautiful day, and it was also neat to feel like we were in two states at once while crossing the ferry!