Last blog we told you the grim news of white-nose syndrome, caused by an alien fungus, and how it is decimating bat populations in the Adirondacks and across much of the East and Midwest. Here we’ll say a little more about what this means for New York’s Adirondack Park. What … [Read more...] about BATS: Our Flying Mammal Neighbors
Nature
BATS: Canaries in the Iron Mine?
The concept of ecological indicator species was foreshadowed long ago by using canaries — small tropical birds, sensitive to invisible gases that could kill miners — to warn the men if carbon monoxide levels were dangerously high. An expression some of us absent-mindedly use, … [Read more...] about BATS: Canaries in the Iron Mine?
Lake Champlain Boathouse Blues
Welcome to spring in the Champlain Valley. And to Rosslyn's annual spring drama: the Lake Champlain boathouse blues! Over the last month lake water level has been rising, rising, rising. And rising some more. In fact, it's even risen since I started drafting this post. … [Read more...] about Lake Champlain Boathouse Blues
Porcupines as Sculptors
I see more Porcupines in the average month around my home in the Adirondacks than I saw in a year and a half of trekking the Eastern and Western Wildways, though on those long conservation journeys I hiked through thousands of miles of forest that looked plenty inviting for … [Read more...] about Porcupines as Sculptors
Salamanders: Little Things that Run a Forest
Be honest now. How many of you have squashed an Eft? That is, how many of you have inadvertently run over the terrestrial, juvenile, bright-red form of the Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)? I know I’m guilty, probably several times over. Unless you’ve transcended the … [Read more...] about Salamanders: Little Things that Run a Forest