Water Chestnut Infestation
Last week while I was traveling to Connecticut and Rhode Island (I’ll be posting about this soon!), I had the opportunity to get a good look at the Hudson River in eastern New York and see first hand the water chestnut infestation that has taken over much of the waterway. When most people hear of water chestnut, they often think of the slices of white vegetables in your stir fry mix or chicken noodle soup. While that is indeed water chestnut, its not the kind that we are necessarily concerned about. Water chestnut (Trapa natans) is an aquatic plant native to western Europe, Africa and...
Read MoreMute Swans (Cygnus olor)
If you live in the Chautauqua-Allegheny region of Western New York you are far more accustomed to spotting Tundra Swans rather than these Mute Swans (Cygnus olor), a beautiful species that likely takes the title for most attractive non-native invasive bird in North America. Mute Swans call Eurasia their homeland but were brought to North America by humans and have taken up residence in a number of areas since the late 19th century, especially those in the east and near suburban areas and cities. They are a threat to native waterfowl because of how aggressive they are, a behavior I can attest...
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