Soaring Scavengers
About six years ago, I saw my first Turkey Vulture soaring above the Long Island Pine Barrens. I remember standing in a coppice of dwarf pitch pines, chin up, mesmerized by how easily these large...
View ArticleAn Impressive Assortment of Long Island Nature Writers
I like to read: fiction and non-fiction, classics and contemporary, sports and history, science and nature. It logically follows that a bookstore is a temptation I can rarely pass up. The pile of “yet...
View ArticleA (Particularly Busy) Day in the Life of Group Education
Group educators keep busy throughout the year with a varied collection of worthwhile activities and programs. We teach classroom lessons and field trips, coordinate habitat restoration projects and...
View ArticleWhat’s that? The Atlantic Ghost Crab!
During an ocean beach field trip in mid-November, an observant student found a dead, almost completely intact Atlantic Ghost Crab, Ocypode quadrata. It smelled bad, so none of the students wanted it...
View ArticleLong Island Natural History Conference
by Christine Tylee Have you ever walked into a room filled with people whose love for the environment and drive to gain more knowledge of its inhabitants was equivalent to yours? Well, I did! On...
View ArticleWANTED: Skunk Cabbage & Chipmunks on the North Fork
Every nature enthusiast has a wish list of plants and animals that they want to see but for one reason or another has eluded them over the years. For one of my colleagues, it’s the Eastern Banded...
View ArticleMarch: The Month For Groundhog Days
Yes, I know. Groundhog Day is not in March. According to the calendar, Groundhog Day falls on February 2nd each year. Initially a European tradition involving such hibernating mammals as hedgehogs and...
View ArticleThe Journey of A Lifetime: The American Eel
As I began to learn more about the American eel, (Anguilla rostrata), I was struck by the difference between my recent trip from Long Island to Key West and back, and the eel’s trip from the Sargasso...
View ArticleBald Eagles on Shelter Island
By Leah Santacroce (Group for the East End intern) Bald Eagles have long been a symbol of freedom in America, but finding a safe place to nest has been a struggle for these great birds. The eagles are...
View ArticleGood Things Come in Small Packages
By Christine Tylee (Stewardship Coordinator) Growing up, I was always the smallest kid in the class. When we would line up to leave the room, I knew it was back of the line for me. Some may think...
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