I would argue that suet is the most important food that you can put in your bird feeding station. During the winter months the calorie-dense blocks of beef fat sustain insectivorous birds that struggle to find their preferred food source. Birds that benefit most are woodpeckers, nuthatches, and a subject of a recent installment of this column, Carolina wrens. Suet is especially important to the wrens, birds more fit for the south, and it is one of the few things preventing a total loss of their local population which has plummeted dramatically over two brutally cold winters. I would also argue that suet can be one of the more dangerous foods that you can put in your bird feeding station. How so? First, let’s start off with a lesson about eggs. Human babies in the womb get their oxygen through the umbilical cord. Birds being birds and not mammals, they lack that connection to their mother. But, they still need oxygen, one of the drivers of animal life, and they need to expel car...

W hen you go  out and about  in the local forests to enjoy some much-needed warmer days  in the next few weeks , you might  encounter  a surprising sight — a mourning cloak butterfly.   This fair-sized butterfly (about the size of a monarch), always catches hikers off guard because butterflies are the insects least expected to be seen as we climb out of the cold of our long winter. After all, aren’t they insects of the summer  months,  appearing weeks after they entered the world as caterpillars?   Mourning cloaks are different. They hibernate  (or, more accurately ,  enter a similar state known as torpor)  and can survive our  harshest of  winters as adults, even when the  temps  drop below zero. Other species of Lepidoptera over winter  in cocoons  or as  eggs. To survive Jack Frost, mourning cloaks will search out brush piles,  sheds and outbuildings,  hide on the undersides of ea...

  Spring is a magical time to visit the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. For a 3-month period birdwatchers literally come from all over the world to view migrations. First, it’s the waterfowl. Then, it’s the shorebirds. Last come the warblers. Many of those birders set-up at the various parking areas, using spotting scopes and binoculars to observe the marshes and ponds. I encourage them while there to stretch their legs for a bit and traverse some of the refuge’s trails. One of them, the Swallow Hollow trail, has always been a favorite of families, joggers, and schools due to its flat, dry trails and unique boardwalk. Those characteristics make nature accessible for all – and there’s plenty of it there. The 1.3 mile trail traverses through a mixed bag of habitats, all of which offer some fine viewing of plants and wildlife and arguably one of the better warbler migration stops on public land in all of Western New York. As you start your hike at the parking lot and head to your...