HWA Surveys Set to Begin
This winter season the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History, Jamestown Community College and Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy are teaming up to survey for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) at a number of sites within Chautauqua County. The public is welcomed to join in the survey efforts and will receive on-site training encompassing general information about hemlock trees, the threat of HWA as well as the protocols utilized to survey for the invasive insect. The survey team will evaluate South Valley State Forest in Cattaraugus County, New York on February 13th from 1:00-5:00pm and...
Read MoreHWA Surveys Begin
With the recent news of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) reaching Chautauqua County, Tina and I began our surveys last Friday starting with one of the hemlock stands along the trails here at RTPI. We bundled up and spent a couple hours combing through the hemlock branches we could reach and are happy to report that we didn’t find any HWA within this particular cluster of trees. As the winter continues, we will continue to survey around our trails and will soon join our efforts with JCC students to survey the college’s woodlot as well. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we...
Read MoreRusty Blackbird Blitz 2015 – Areas of Interest
As a follow up to this recent blog entry here is an important link to the Areas of Interest for the Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz 2015. These locations had large flocks of Rusty Blackbirds present during the 2014 spring migration and should definitely be monitored in 2015. Undoubtedly there will be more areas added thanks to new discoveries by citizen scientists in 2015, but this provides a great road map and a way to be sure we check out the best hotspots this spring. At the very least it serves as a way to find Rusty Blackbirds near you.
Read MoreRusty Blackbird Blitz 2015
Rusty Blackbirds: Looking Forward, Looking Back Authors: Judith Scarl, International Coordinator, Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz (www.rustyblackbird.org) Scott Kruitbosch, Conservation & Outreach Coordinator, Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History (www.rtpi.org) Connecticut Coordinator, Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz A female Rusty Blackbird huddles on a Minnesota rooftop during a blizzard, fluffing herself into a ball to keep warm. A male flips leaves in a roadside ditch in Maryland, navigating partially frozen mud to hunt for spring’s first invertebrates. A...
Read MoreSnowy Egret in December
I photographed this Snowy Egret last weekend in Stratford, Connecticut, as part of a Christmas Bird Count. It is one of only several recorded anywhere in the state in the last few decades during a CBC period. Climate change certainly has helped many new species pop up on these late autumn/early winter December days when they would normally be long gone to our south. I cannot blame the climate fully when accounting for this long-legged wader because while it appears to be perched at the edge of a coastal river or stream any waterbird would love, the water here is actually the outflow from a...
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