What's Your Nature?

Become a Nature Up North explorer to share your encounters with wild things and wild places in New York's North Country. Post your wildlife sightings, landscape shots, photos from your outings, and even your organization's events!

Ask a Fairy: Fall 2021 Answers

Our fairy friends Thimble Hickory and Blossom Dewdrop wrote back and answered your questions about North Country nature and the lives of fairies. While they're settled into the warmth of the tropics for winter, they're already excited to return to the North Country next spring and they wanted us to say thank you for all your great questions! 

1. Olivia, 21, Are magaritifera known to occur in this stretch of the Grasse?

A fairy house with a birchbark roof and a green door sitting at the base of a tree
Selfie with brown fairy house with bark roof
Cluster of poison ivy, three green leaves

Hiking Tips and Tricks

Hello fellow adventurers! The North Country and the Adirondack region is full of hiking opportunities and mountainous beauty. You're certain to find beautiful and unique views on shorter hikes such as Mount Arab or Azure, mid-level mountains like Ampersand and Scarface, and all the way up to the most difficult, like Iroquois or Allen. Before jumping right into these hikes, it is important to note that there are some steps hikers at any skill level should take in order to be best prepared for their adventures.

Sunset Hike at Coney Mountain (Encounter: Kelsey Mattison)

The Invisible Songbird Serial Killer

We have officially reached the season many of us living in the North Country spend all year looking forward to: fall! This is the time of year that we all start to watch a variety of red, orange, and yellow leaves fly from tree branches and chevron after chevron of Canada geese flap their way south. The geese, honking from up above, call attention to themselves, piquing our interest and forcing our eyes upward. But have you ever noticed any smaller songbirds doing the same, fleeing the cold North Country autumn and seeking refuge for the winter?

Black-throated blue warbler eating a berry
Tennessee warbler
Baltimore oriel sitting on a bird feeder

Langley Sieve

My name is Langley Sieve and I am currently in my senior year at St. Lawrence University studying Environmental Studies and Philosophy with minors in Biology and Outdoor Studies. I grew up on the short but sweet coastline of New Hampshire in a town called Portsmouth. Growing up I spent a lot of time by the ocean swimming and exploring coastal ecosystems, but as I got older, I found myself yearning to explore other landscapes beyond the coast. When I went to college, I took advantage of opportunities hiking and skiing in the North Country.

Kayla Edmunds

Kayla is a 2021 graduate of St. Lawrence University, where she studied Conservation Biology. As an undergrad she began working for Nature Up North as a summer naturalist intern in the summer of 2020, helping to create virtual programs and online content. From western New York, she loves spending her time backpacking in the Adirondacks or cross country skiing in the winter. When not outdoors she loves playing the guitar or reading. She thoroughly enjoyed her time as an intern with NUN and is beyond excited to continue sharing her love for the outdoors with the North Country community!

Creating Art with Nature

Event date and time
October 30, 2021 - 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Event description

Nature gives us great inspiration for creating art -  full of beautiful colors and patterns that let our imagination run wild! Join Nature Up North to take that inspiration one step further and create art from objects found in nature! We'll take a short hike down to Lampson Falls, where we'll use what we find in the environment around us to create an on-the-spot art gallery. Freshly fallen leaves, pine needles, sticks, pinecones, and whatever can be found without permanently disturbing the environment are all up for grabs as art mediums!

236-O211020712

Observation date
Tree

sugar -O211020711

Observation date
Tree