Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

The sun is slowly rising over the nearby hills before I leave for work. Outside on the street, cars drive by regularly, but with little fanfare. In the spruces by our new apartment window, starlings jeer and chatter, while a squirrel hops towards a leafless tree, seeking shelter in its branches. As of this weekend, Alison and I will have been in our new apartment in Marcellus for about three weeks and we are loving every minute of it. The most noticeable feature of this small town is how quiet it is. Such quiet is palpable and greatly welcomed and calms our souls from the bustle and anarchy present along James Street. Clearly, we are well suited to the quiet small town life we were accustomed to back home in Massachusetts. Instead of hearing the wail of sirens and muffled arguments of neighbors, we now hear the gentle hum of a town clearly content with a comforting touch and small scale commerce. On weekends, the church bells ring at noon and six o' clock, while people walk and...

As crazy as it sounds, the Inner Harbour of Lake Onondaga in Syracuse has been graced with an unusual winter visitor in recent weeks. While the usual reports of Glaucous ( Larus hyperboreus ) or Iceland Gulls ( L. glaucoides ) swirled about on the listservs, few surprses seemed likely. That all changed to sudden pandemonium, as local birders erupted online with talk of an American White Pelican ( Pelecanus erythrorhynchos ) spotted on Lake Onondaga in mid January! Alison and I were lucky enough to see this rare visitor (and a possible first for the county in winter) yesterday, before heading up to watch the feeders at Beaver Lake Nature Center in Baldwinsville. After spotting some local birders watching a culvert under the bridge supporting Spencer Street, we were rewarded with an excellent view of this huge white bird. As we watched it emerge from the culvert, its massive pouched bill swelled and shivered. It didn't seem to mind the 20 degree weather as we shivered ourselve...

As the dog days of summer trudge on, those of us in the world of adult responsibilities grind along too. We have jobs, appointment, and lives to lead regardless of how hot the weather and how inviting the sunshine is outside. Despite this, there is a familiar sound that punctuates the noise and grind that surrounds our everyday lives. Even as I've grown more and more used to life here in the city, noise still finds a way to puncture through. Recently I was listening to an episode of Roman Mars's podcast,  99% Invisible  where he discussed the difference between noise and sound. Noise is a sound or series of sounds that are annoying or disturbing to one's overall experience of the world, while a sound itself was the expulsion of air waves of a certain pitch and frequency that we recognize coming from a specific source, regardless of the impression it has on our experience of the surrounding world.  There is certainly no doubt that cities are noise centers. Rumbling tra...

Hey all, I really do get annoyed with myself when I don't update here as frequently as I ought to, but the past month has been a whirlwind of sorts in terms of moving back "home" and then up to my new digs in Syracuse. As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in a studio apartment on the eastern side of the city (but not East Syracuse because that's a different place entirely) with the sun glaring brightly outside. The chirrupings of House Sparrows ( Passer domesticus ) and hum of traffic is especially apparent, along with the irregular screams of ambulances rushing to the medical facilities downtown and the occasional noises and conversations I hear from my neighbours.  So why am I in Syracuse? Why have I moved here? Well unsurprisingly, it's for work and it is my first full time position! Sometime after my last blog post about a Snowy Owl ( Bubo scandiacus ) that I saw in Biddeford, I accepted a position at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. I left Maine soon afterwa...