Building Community Through Birding
Week of March 23, 2025 – March 29, 2025 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator This past weekend on Saturday, I woke up with a familiar feeling of anticipation. It was time to head over to Derby Hill in Mexico, NY for the first busy weekend day of the spring hawkwatch season! Each spring, from March 1 to May 31, a biologist busily records the migrating birds of prey (raptors) passing Derby [...]
Anticipation of Spring
Week of March 16, 2025 – March 22, 2025 by Kaylen Iorio, Environmental Educator The weeks before springtime arrives are saturated in anticipation. The snow is nearly gone, the sky is a marvelous blue, and just like the plants and animals, people are feeling revitalized. While the winter has its many festive celebrations and snow-filled activities, spring is a time for growth both outside in nature and within ourselves. From my [...]
Maple Sugaring
Week of March 9, 2025 – March 15, 2025 by Lizzy Suzedell, Environmental Educator Have you been noticing any early signs of spring lately? Here at The Woods, we found skunk cabbage almost ready to bloom on the Griffiths Trail, we’ve heard many singing cardinals and flocks of snow geese flying by, and we watched much of our snow melt with the warmer temperatures. These changes in the weather got us [...]
A Comfort in Change
Week of March 2, 2025 – March 8, 2025 by Katie McLaughlin, Environmental Educator Have you had the chance to read The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl yet? With 52 chapters- one for each week of the year you can spend time savoring the read, or you can read it in one sitting like I did. (Or perhaps you read it with our monthly book club this past month! [...]
Winter Owls
Week of February 23, 2025 – March 1, 2025 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator Winter often feels like a mysterious, quiet time, especially at night. Fresh snow absorbs sound, but as it melts and refreezes sounds become amplified as their waves bounce off of icy surfaces. Unlike during warmer times, many nocturnal creatures are quiet. Frogs and insects that live through winter are huddled silently out of sight and cocooning themselves [...]
The World of Wildlife Courtship
Week of February 16, 2025 – February 22, 2025 by Kaylen Iorio, Environmental Educator While wildlife certainly do not celebrate Valentine’s Day, this is a fun time to think about the captivating world of mating in the animal kingdom. Every species on Earth has a unique courtship ritual, each one more fascinating than the next. Some species do a little dance to get a lady’s attention, others may build an intricate [...]
Winter Observations
Week of February 9, 2025 – February 15, 2025 by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator With frigid temperatures, frozen lakes, and very little bare ground, it seems like we’re finally having a real winter again in Central New York! I’m glad that the weather has been more normal, but as always in February, I really miss the warmth and liveliness of summer. However, on a recent winter hike around The Woods, I [...]
Under the Frost Line
Week of February 2, 2025 – February 8, 2025 by Catherine McLaughlin, Environmental Educator Many mammals hoard food caches or bulk up during this time of year. We can easily see animals moving around with the tracks they leave behind. But have you thought about what happens below the snow? There is a complex balance of the creatures that live below the soil to survive winter. It can be hard to [...]
Appreciating Tree Bark
Week of January 26, 2025 – February 1, 2025 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator With most leaves gone from deciduous trees during winter, this is the perfect time to appreciate tree bark. Without the distraction of greenery everywhere, you might notice the great variety of bark protecting the trees around us. It can be smooth like a beech, platy like a sycamore, rough like a maple, or shiny and peeling like [...]