The Naturalist’s Blog

Week of January 5, 2025 – January 11, 2025 by Catherine McLaughlin, Environmental Educator The new year has already arrived? What happened? I feel like we just ended summer camp not long ago. But here we are, new day, new month, and a new year, and I have been planning my garden since… October for this year. Why do I start planning ahead so early though? I often find myself following [...]

Week of December 29, 2024 – January 4, 2025 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator These days, the weather can be rainy and in the forties one minute and freezing cold and snowy the next! Constant snow cover isn’t a near guarantee the way it used to be in the winter, but we can still search for other critter signs when tracks are difficult to spot. Our Nature’s Little Explorers group of [...]

Week of December 22, 2024 – December 28, 2024 by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator How have you used water today? Maybe it was to wash your hands, brush your teeth, do the dishes, or fill your water bottle. Our water usage seems to be taken up by mostly mundane tasks, but its importance to our lives is far from insignificant. Without water, life on earth would be very different! Water has [...]

Week of December 15, 2024 – December 21, 2024 by Kaylen Iorio, Environmental Educator As an Environmental Educator, questions hurtle towards you from every direction. Whether that be during a school field trip at Baltimore Woods, in a classroom during Nature in the City, or even over the Nature Center’s phone, people are very curious and always looking for answers. That said, environmental education is not about shouting out answers left and [...]

Week of December 8, 2024 – December 14, 2024 by Catherine McLaughlin, Environmental Educator Snow is falling, friends and family are asking what holiday plans are, and I have no clue what is happening. Sounds like it’s December to me. This season has seemed to run full force into my life this year with no warning. I just can’t keep up with everything happening around me from parades, to tree lighting, [...]

Week of December 1, 2024 – December 7, 2024 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator When you drive through the Montezuma Wildlife Drive, partway down there is a massive dead tree snag where birds often perch. Almost every time that I pass it I see at least one bird sitting there– an Osprey eating a fish, a Bald Eagle taking a rest, a Red-tailed Hawk waiting for prey to scurry by, or [...]

Week of November 24, 2024 – November 30, 2024 by Kaylen Iorio, Environmental Educator This time of year I admire the groups of birds gathering together to embark on their journey of migration. I like to think that on this journey, these birds traveling together become lifelong companions. Chatting as they fly to their location to spend the winter, stopping along the way for snacks and beverages; just like a road [...]

Week of November 17, 2024 – November 23, 2024 by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator “What’s a fancy word for rain and snow?” This is a question I’ve been asking a lot recently to the Syracuse 3rd graders during their first Nature in the City lesson of the year. The answer is “precipitation.” In this lesson, they learn a lot about water- where it comes from, local watersheds, and the water cycle. There’s never [...]

Week of November 10, 2024 – November 16, 2024 by Catherine McLaughlin, Environmental Educator Do you have a calendar? Not the calendar we typically use with days of the week and holidays to keep track of the time passing, but one in tune with nature’s cycles? I do. One of those natural moments that I appreciate that doesn’t come with a date is when the crows congregate in fall. I start [...]