Juncos are Extraordinary Birds
Along with their brown sparrow relatives, some mostly gray birds regularly visit bird feeders. Although they do occasionally eat at trays, more often they are to be seen with doves and other birds feeding on …
Mystery Bird
I was eleven years old and I knew that this was going to be my first big birding year. My mother had helped me meet some of Rochester’s finest bird watchers: Gordon Meade, Joe Taylor, …
Bobcat
The bobcat is the only native North American cat species that occurs today in New York State. In fact, the bobcat’s range covers most of the lower 48 states. “Most” is the operative word here, …
Springtails: Unexpected Life in the Snow
If you do much winter hiking, you will often find tiny black soot-like dots in the deep snow boot prints you have made. Few of us pay any attention to those little dots, but a …
Asters: The Flowers of Frost
This is a beautiful time of year here. A walk through the Iroquois Refuge or a drive into the countryside in any direction provides enough beauty to lift one’s soul. So much in fact, that …
Three Occasional Fall Visitors
Blown off course. That might be one reason given for the appearance in fall of a few rare western bird species on the Niagara Frontier. This year some might indeed arrive along with the winds …
Goldfinch Season
While most observers think of fall as the season for asters, goldenrods and maples, I consider it goldfinch season. This is the time of year when these handsome yellow birds with black wings and forehead …
Gnatcatchers are Frisky Lightweights
Whenever I walk quietly along the Swallow Hollow boardwalk about a hundred yards south of the trail entrance, I listen for weak spishing sounds coming from high in the cottonwoods that shade the walkway. Francis …
The Ferocious Toe Biter is Really a Caring Family Member
One reason I have always been hesitant to wade barefoot in ponds or slow-moving streams is my fear of being bitten by one of the largest of our local insects, the giant water bug. In …
A New Website for Niagara Frontier Birders
Two regional birdwatchers, Mike Noonan and Gerry Rising, each of whom have had a long history with the Friends of Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, have recently completed a series of films about local birds and …