With summer weather upon us and people spending more time in their backyards gardening, doing lawn work, or just relaxing it’s likely that soon at least one of your friends will encounter something that will have them take to social media or text you exclaiming, “OMG! I just saw a tarantula!” That super-sized spider that startled your friend is not a tarantula. Those hairy, venomous giants are not found in New York, as that family of spiders prefers much warmer climes such as Florida and the southwestern and southcentral US. That doesn’t mean your friend didn’t see a large arachnid, at least by our standards. Since we’re more accustomed to seeing small jumping spiders or orb-weavers, size is relative and certain spiders stand out. Our biggest local spiders don’t approach the monstrosity of tarantulas (which can be 2.5 to 5 inches in length with legs spanning 3 to 12 inches across) but they are big enough (one half to one inch in length with leg span in exce...

  The Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge – a.k.a. “Alabama Swamps” -- is not lacking in things to do for the nature lover, whether it’s observing migrating birds from the lookouts, paddling Oak Orchard Creek, or hiking the Refuge’s trails. When it comes to those hikes, Swallow Hollow – and its famous boardwalk -- is far and away the most popular trail, with the Kanyoo and Feeder trails coming in second and third. The least popular of the trails is Onondaga. That is by no means a reflection of the quality of the experience to be had there. Instead, it comes down to the trail being off the beaten path, which makes it a real hidden gem. The Onondaga Trail is located on Sour Springs Road, which is parallel to and just to the east of Route 63. To get there, you have to take 63 to Roberts Road to Sour Springs, heading north on Sour Springs Road. You cannot access the trailhead if you traveled south on Sour Springs after visiting the two popular overlooks at Ringneck Marsh because the So...

  In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and destined all of mankind to some miserable aspects of existence. No one knows exactly what the forbidden fruit was, but the image that most people have in their head is that of an apple. There’s a plant in WNY that goes by the name of apple – specifically the May apple – but it’s not an apple. I would, though, consider it for the most part to be a forbidden fruit. The May apple is a fairly common springtime wildflower that can be found in forests, woodlots and hedgerows. It can form fair-sized colonies on the forest floor — it’s not uncommon to see a dozen to a few dozen plants in one area. They can be readily identified by their tell-tale umbrella-like appearance. The May apple stands a foot to a foot-and-a-half tall. At the top of its split stem are two large leaves that are deeply-lobed, giving it appearance of having multiple leaves when really you are just seeing 5 to 9 lobes. Those two leaves cover a fairl...