Focusing on Nature’s Beauty through Art
Week of May 14, 2023 – May 20, 2023 by Bridget Jones, Environmental Educator In spring, nature’s constant process of change is on full display. Wildflowers bloom, fade away, and are replaced in quick succession, visited by busy insects in every shape and color. Walking through the woods, you may catch a glimpse of a toad beneath the leaves, a brightly-colored warbler high in the canopy, or a butterfly darting [...]
The Magic of Spring
Week of May 7, 2023 – May 13, 2023 by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator It feels very different at Baltimore Woods than it did just a month ago. The frigid temperatures of winter have passed and long days have returned, bringing warmth and light. As the sun gets higher in the sky, rises earlier, and sets later, life continues to emerge and thrive. There is suddenly so much to discover [...]
Garlic Mustard
Week of April 30, 2023 – May 6, 2023 by Sunny Guyette, Environmental Educator Along many local roadways and trails, there is a leafy green plant emerging with heart-shaped leaves with toothed edges. Garlic Mustard or Alliaria petiolata is an invasive herbaceous, flowering plant that smells like garlic when crushed. The clustered white flowers bloom in May or June and only appear in the second year of the plant’s life. Garlic Mustard [...]
A Gathering of Garter Snakes
Week of April 23, 2023 – April 29, 2023 by Bridget Jones, Environmental Educator Warm spring weather has finally come to Central New York, and with it, life in the forest has burst into full visibility. Emerging wildflowers transform the world with their vibrant colors, while animals returning from migration or hibernation bring sound and motion to the woods. It seems like every day brings an encounter with a new [...]
Reptiles and Amphibians of Phillip’s Pond
Week of April 16, 2023 – April 22, 2023 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator As buds burst and birdsong echoes from the forests, a great variety of scaly and slimy critters awaken. At Baltimore Woods, Phillip’s Pond is one of the best places to find our reptile and amphibian friends. These animals are known as herptiles or “herps,” and looking for them is called herping. The water can be teeming [...]
April Showers
Week of April 9, 2023 – April 15, 2023 by David DuBois, Land Steward Water, even on small streams can create impressive changes. Just this past Wednesday rain flooded Spring Brook here at Baltimore Woods, and washed out a culvert on the Boundary Trail. This water moved cubic yards of material in short order and destroyed a section of trail, certainly a force to be reckoned with. Fortunately the hard [...]
April Flowers
Week of April 2, 2023 – April 8, 2023 by David DuBois, Land Steward Everyone knows that spring is the time for flowers, but what is so special about this time of year that allows our woodland herbs to create such spectacular displays? Spring represents unique opportunities in a deciduous forest. The only part of the year that is both reliably warm enough to photosynthesize and well lit on the [...]
Inside a Bud
Week of March 26, 2023 – April 1, 2023 (Originally published March 13, 2022) by Bridget Jones, Environmental Educator As the snow begins to melt and days get longer, I’ve been looking forward to seeing leaves start to emerge on the trees at Baltimore Woods. Right now, weeks away from the leaves’ emergence, the trees look as still and silent as they have all winter. But at the tips of [...]
Crawling Critters
Week of March 19, 2023 – March 25, 2023 by Sunny Guyette, Environmental Educator The big snow storm that arrived on Tuesday left Baltimore Woods in a thick blanket of twinkling snow. There was a beautiful calm for two days after the storm, blue skies, the sun was shining, the air was warmer, and the snow was glistening. The critters below must have known that it was a good day [...]