The Naturalist’s Blog

Week of June 9, 2024 – June 15, 2024 by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator Do you have a favorite kind of cloud? One of my favorites is the cumulonimbus cloud- it’s huge, with dense puffs stretching from relatively low to the ground to above the troposphere. They store an enormous amount of energy, producing lightning, heavy rain, hail, and at its most severe, tornadoes. Whenever I see a cumulonimbus cloud, I [...]

Week of June 2, 2024 – June 8, 2024 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator On a warm late spring night just before a torrential downpour, some of our staff recently went on an adventure to explore the shores of Phillips’ Pond. I arrived a bit after Tom and Katie, and immediately heard a screech-owl tremoloing by the lower parking lot. As I walked up the hill, crickets chirped and a couple [...]

Week of May 26, 2024 – June 1, 2024 by Catherine McLaughlin, Environmental Educator What do you take notice of when you are outside? Do you hear the symphony of nature with frog and bird calls, the mellow humming of insects pollinating, or the wind moving plant life gently in the breeze? Can you smell petrichor, that smell when rain lands on dry soil, or the flowers in bloom? What do [...]

Week of May 19, 2024 – May 25, 2024 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator Tomorrow, May 20, is an internationally recognized holiday in celebration of our pollinator friends, the bees! As I type this blog on the back deck of the nature center, the area is abuzz with activity. The familiar hum of bees is a welcome soundtrack of spring. When many of us think of bees, honeybees might be the [...]

Week of May 12, 2024 – May 18, 2024 by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator Ruby-throated hummingbirds are returning! After an unbelievable 2000+ mile journey from Central America, these birds were spotted this week at Baltimore Woods. With their emerald-green back and iridescent-red throat (on males), the ruby-throated hummingbird is the only breeding hummingbird species in the eastern United States. It is an incredible bird, and for me, the first sighting of [...]

Week of May 5, 2024 – May 11, 2024 by Katie McLaughlin, Environmental Educator With the full arrival of spring we find birds returning, flowers blooming, and buds on trees seeming to burst open to leaves overnight. All of us at Baltimore Woods are out like busy bees with field trips, stewardship projects, fundraisers, camp preparation, and so much more! What have you been doing to enjoy the beautiful weather? I [...]

Week of April 28, 2024 – May 4, 2024 by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator After 26 weeks of counting the birds at our feeders, the Project Feederwatch season has come to an end. Every year, Baltimore Woods staff and volunteers record the birds that visit our feeders for this international citizen science project, which runs from November 1st to April 30th. Data from these feeder bird counts around the United States and Canada [...]

Week of April 20, 2024 – April 27, 2024 by Katie McLaughlin, Environmental Educator April weather is predictable in the fact that you don’t know if you will have a rainy spring day, or a warm sunny day. I find myself looking forward to both types of days for different reasons. Rain filled days are full of salamander and frog movement, or provide a needed drink to our ephemeral spring flowers. [...]

Week of April 14, 2024 – April 20, 2024 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator A day of teaching the “Creatures of the Deep” Baltimore Woods Nature in the City lessons across Syracuse City Schools usually begins bright and early with a walk up to Phillips’ Pond. With two buckets and a net in tow, I allow some extra time to admire the forest and field waking up. Despite being a bird nerd, I’ve [...]