Saturday, May 5: It’s a creative (and slightly competitive) birding challenge, in which participants are required to stay within a 17-foot circle and identify as many species of birds as possible within a 24-hour period.
Sunday, April 15: Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change has already garnered critical accolades, including from such environmentalist icons as Jane Goodall and Bill McKibben. The book makes the case that Lyme disease is spreading rapidly around the globe as ticks move into places they could not survive before, infecting half a million people in the US and Europe each year, and untold multitudes in Canada, China, Russia and Australia.
These harbingers of spring have some remarkable talents. They can withstand being frozen solid for days, and can generate a sound comparable in volume to a chainsaw. Not bad for a creature that tops out at 1.5″ and 5 grams.
Saturday, April 7: “The Hudson Valley is the birthplace of the American environmental movement, with the Hudson River as central Muse and catalyst,” says Melissa Auf der Maur, alt/rock musician and co-founder/director of Basilica Hudson.
Tuesday, April 10: Among the researchers racing to find cures for deadly diseases within the world’s threatened ecosystems is renowned ethnobotanist Dr. Paul Alan Cox, director of the Brain Chemistry Labs in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Dr. Cox’s current focus is on finding new treatments for ALS and Alzheimer’s disease. Aside from common concerns about ecological issues, that makes his work of especial relevance to Northeasterners, considering recent indications that ALS may be connected to late-stage Lyme disease.
Volunteers wanted for Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project this spring. The hundreds of volunteers make a difference, ensuring the survival of thousands of spotted salamanders, wood frogs and spring peepers.
Area residents typically think of the John Burroughs Association as a local not-for-profit organization that maintains Slabsides and the surrounding nature sanctuary and trails in West Park. But the Association also has a national profile as a respected conferrer of annual literary awards in the genre of nature writing, helping to keep alive the primary profession of the great 19th-century naturalist himself.
When Ralph and Mary Adamucci began selling vegetables out of their farmstand in 1919, they probably had no intention of building a Hudson Valley grocery and nursery dynasty.
Saturday, Feb. 17: Scientists are looking for volunteers to bolster their monitoring efforts at three local places that attract peregrines. Dress warmly and bring your binoculars if you have them.
Saturday, Feb. 10: Croton Point Park, Boscobel and other venues host annual EagleFest featuring Dar Williams. If you want to start your day early, catch the Metro-North Eagle Train leaving Poughkeepsie at 8:50 a.m. and ride to Croton-Harmon in the same car with a naturalist, who’ll be pointing out winter bird life along the Hudson River.