Window Ice
Is it cold enough for you this morning? Here’s a look out the window at the intricate ice that had formed on the glass. This Valentine’s Day will stay frigid but relief is on the way soon with more lake effect snow across Chautauqua County and a mostly wet nor’easter along the Atlantic coast this week. Keep your feeders full! The birds can take the temperatures, but they do need all the calories they can get on days like this. Be sure to bundle up when you venture outdoors, and enjoy this sunny winter day. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach...
Read MoreHistoric Blizzard of 2016
Here we are again – another year, another crippling blizzard crushing the Northeast. This century has been extremely volatile weather-wise for much of the east coast, and the winter seasons alone have been historic in some way nearly every year. We thought for a while that El Niño would keep it a more routine sort of winter, but once it showed it would be the strongest El Niño of all time there were a lot of unknowns…especially after historic warmth had its hold on us through the end of 2015. Basking in the 70s for Christmas, it was nevertheless certain that a cold air mass would...
Read MoreSanderlings on the Beach
I took these Sanderling photos earlier this season before the Atlantic coast of New England was battered by repeated nor’easters and major winter storms, leaving snow and ice coating much of the shoreline. Watching them feed in the tide, darting back and forth with the water and running through the sand, is such a pleasant and relaxing diversion on a bright winter day. Shorebirds will soon be on the move back to the north, and we at the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds are ready! Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreSnowy Scene
With the first official day of winter only about 10 days away, the landscape in Western New York is certainly looking the part thanks to all the recent snow we have received (and are still getting!) from a big Nor’easter that has moved its way up the coast. I took a walk this morning on some of our trails here at RTPI and captured one of my favorite scenes: eastern hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) dripping with snow. While I was photographing the trees, the winds picked up causing the snow to come swirling down from the branches and needles, making the trail look a bit like a snow-globe....
Read MoreSwath of sparrows
This swath of sparrows was below our feeders at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History here in Jamestown, New York. Can you identify all four species? From left to right we have the White-throated Sparrow, a Song Sparrow in front of a Fox Sparrow, and a Dark-eyed Junco. Yep, there is also another hidden White-throated Sparrow! There will be a bunch of busy feeders with hungry birds in the Northeast this Thanksgiving after a Nor’easter dumped a mix of rain, sleet and snow on the Mid-Atlantic and New England, leaving some with snowy holiday morning. Happy...
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