I love this time of year. After the exuberance of summer and the vibrant colors of fall, I’m thankful for the days growing shorter. The nights longer. Temperatures falling. Silhouettes of bare branches against a leaden sky promising snow. All of nature winding down. Encouraging quiet. Reflection. Introspection. [more]
Project Wild America Youth Ambassadors Program 2017
Roger Tory Peterson – inspired by Jamestown’s wild side during his youth – went on to become a world renowned naturalist. For the third consecutive summer, RTPI employed a cohort of local high school and college students as “Project Wild America (PWA) Youth Ambassadors” to follow in Peterson’s footsteps by working alongside our conservation staff monitoring and raising public awareness about Jamestown’s unique and vital natural resources. Check out the highlights from this year’s PWA program on their website and Facebook page, and...
read moreLaurel Sphinx Moth Caterpillar
This Laurel Sphinx Moth (sphinx kalmiae) caterpillar – photographed by Twan Leenders in Jamestown, NY – definitely deserves to be in the limelight – it actually appears to emanate lime light! Roger Tory Peterson’s fascination with backyard nature began with the moths and birds that he discovered in what is now our own backyard! What amazing creatures await your acquaintance?
read moreRTPI President on BirdCallsRadio Podcast
Guided by Roger Tory Peterson’s example, RTPI President Twan Leenders actively studies natural history and strives to make nature accessible to everyone. A few weeks ago, Twan was interviewed for the BirdCallsRadio podcast. Listen to the show here: http://birdcallsradio.com/episode-096-twan-leenders/
read moreWildLife Guards Alumni Leading
RTPI teamed up with Audubon Connecticut and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut to run the 2015 and 2016 WildLife Guards program. We have expanded the very successful initiative to include the City of West Haven at the Sandy Point Important Bird Area in 2017. Both teams of WildLife Guards have been hard at work monitoring nesting birds and conducting stewardship concerning our beaches and ecosystems. Our crews do everything from removing invasive plants to learning about our local dragonfly populations, staying engaged in education,...
read moreBejeweled Journeyer
If you look closely, you will notice a metal band on the leg of this young Ruby-throated Hummingbird. It serves to identify unique individuals of these tiny birds and allows biologists to track their migration path. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds breed in the eastern USA during the summer, but they spend the winter in lower Central America. This bird was banded on an RTPI project in western Costa Rica and returned to the same site a year later, after it had made another successful trip to North America – a journey of at least 4,000 miles....
read moreBeautiful Wood Nymph
Roger Tory Peterson was fascinated by the moths he found in Jamestown as a young boy. In fact, he even approached the police department to ask for special permission to stay out past the city curfew to catch them! This bizarre and lovely moth was perched on the front door at RTPI yesterday morning. Using a Peterson Field Guide to Moths, it was identified as a Beautiful Wood Nymph (Eudryas grata). When was the last time you embarked on an exploration of the hidden lives of the moths that live in your own backyard? Summertime is the perfect...
read moreRTPI on WGRZ
Earlier this week, WGRZ Buffalo’s Kevin O’Neill visited RTPI to create a segment for the Channel 2 News program “Daybreak”. Jane Johnson provided a wonderful background on Roger Tory Peterson and RTPI, as well as a tantalizing preview of our current exhibition, “Birds in Art 2016”. Check out the video, and be sure to visit us soon! http://www.wgrz.com/life/family/celebrating-the-roger-tory-peterson-institute-in-jamestown/457568370
read moreWild America Nature Festival July 29th & 30th
The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History (RTPI) and Panama Rocks Scenic Park will co-host the first annual Wild America Nature Festival at Panama Rocks on July 29th & 30th. The festival will feature nationally-renowned speakers; a juried fine nature art and craft show and competition; a local food cook-off competition and farmer’s market; live music; live animals, and classes, workshops, and fun activities for all ages! Art lovers will not want to miss the festival’s Wild America Fine Nature Art and Craft Show...
read moreAmerican Redstart Changing into Fall Plumage
Many of our migratory birds are on their second or third brood for the season already and slowly are starting to prepare for their journey south. Most flashy warblers molt out of their brightly colored breeding plumage in the next few weeks and will start migration once all flight feathers are grown in to the point that they can safely sustain their long journey. Although we have not quite reached Roger Tory Peterson’s notorious “Confusing Fall Warblers” level of alternate plumage yet, the first signs are here. Even though this male American...
read morePeterson’s Quest is Fulfilled – by Dale W. Mitchell
The publication of a new bird field guide is always a cause for celebration among birders. Even if the region it covers is rather distant, there are still many of us who would applaud its debut, want a peek at its glossy plates and gear up to gossip about its expertise and design. Well, there have been several interesting guides trotting onstage recently, but one is special in a way unprecedented and, dare I say it, even historic. For late last year out came Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea, by Eaton, van...
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