Book Review: Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
When I was young, my grandmother would buy flowers, plant them in clay pots, and place them on the graves of loved ones at our church cemetery. When the flowers were planted and watered, she …
Category: Nature
Widow Skimmer
It’s a wonder that one of the world’s most spectacular and strongest flying insects begins life as a dingy, sinister-looking aquatic larva. Dragonflies undergo incomplete metamorphosis; there is no pupal stage, during development from egg to …
Book Review: The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
I’ve always loved trees. I treasure my walks on the wooded trails at INWR…the Kanyoo, the Swallow Hollow and the Onondaga. Now, since reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, I see the …
How Black Swallowtail Butterflies Overwinter
If you thought Monarch Butterflies were tough, then check out our local Swallowtail Butterflies. The caterpillar in the photo might overwinter as pupa in a chrysalis near the host plant. Instead of flying thousands of …
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 …
A Stunning Giant Swallowtail
A Giant Swallowtail nectared this week at our Monarda (bee balm or bergamot). This impressive primarily dark brown and yellow swallowtail wasn’t often seen or seen at all around Western New York when I was …
On the Power of Poetry
Poetry speaks to the imagination, to the heart. When a poet walks in nature, she doesn’t just look …. she sees; she slows down long enough to experience the awe and wonder in the landscape …