The Naturalist’s Blog

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 [...]

Week of April 7, 2024 – April 13, 2024 by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator At Baltimore Woods, we have a program for children called Trail School. One of our naturalists brings a group on a hike to a different spot on the preserve each week for a mostly child-led exploration. It’s entirely outdoors- rain, snow, or shine. This new month has already brought us plenty of April showers (and snowflakes). Surprisingly, [...]

Week of March 31, 2024 – April 6, 2024 by Tom Meier, Camp Director and Program Manager Can you hear it? Goldfinches, sparrows, cardinals, bluebirds, and robins are all singing their little lungs out. Loud flocks of geese have been moving about overhead for weeks and are settling out in the ponds and marshes, already sitting on nests. The welcome song of spring peepers heralding in the spring. Can you see [...]

Week of March 24, 2024 – March 30, 2024 by Catherine McLaughlin, Environmental Educator When you visit Baltimore Woods, or even your yard, how do you interact with nature? Are you taking photos? Birdwatching? Absorbing the sunlight as it peeks through the clouds? Exercising? No matter how you use the outdoors, if you take a moment you can find something to learn more about. For example, during a recent Trail School program, one [...]

Week of March 17, 2024 – March 23, 2024 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator It’s certainly been a mild winter here in Central New York. Small snowstorms have been interspersed with warm days in the 50s, 60s, or even 70s. With the warm temperatures, early spring birds have been returning in full force. A massive flock of Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Brown-headed Cowbirds descended on the Baltimore Woods feeders on [...]

Week of March 10, 2024 – March 17, 2024 by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator A 45°F and rainy March night sounds like the kind of evening most of us would want to spend hunkering down inside, staying cozy and dry. Not for amphibians! On the first rainy and relatively warm (40°+) nights of spring, salamanders and frogs come out of their winter burrows and migrate to vernal pools to mate. Even [...]

Week of March 3, 2024 – March 9, 2024 by David DuBois, Land Steward Throughout Baltimore Woods you will see flashes of color year round. But through the winter some of the brightest colors frequently take the form of flags and flagging. These small pieces of brightly colored plastic serve an important part of our stewardship work here at Baltimore Woods, but their meaning and value may not be clear as [...]