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‘When did Swallows First Arrive to Kinderhook, NY in 1835?’: Why You Might Care & Why You Can Now Know.

Our Slave-making Ants

by Kyle Bradford.

Nature Exploration at the Lewis A. Swyer Preserve in Stuyvesant, NY

The freshwater tidal swamp of the Lewis A. Swyer Preserve in Stuyvesant was the destination of our Natural History Outing on July 6th. The Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program facilitates these Natural History Outings as a way to invite anybody to participate in the joy of discovering and documenting the plants and animals of different areas in Columbia County. These outings are not guided nature walks, but impromptu explorations, often at locations we have never (or at least not in a long time) visited ourselves.

January Thaw on Powys’ Hill

Winter Insects, 1847 & Today

In 1847, Asa Fitch, who was to become New York’s (in fact, the USA’s first) state entomologist, published a paper entitled “Winter Insects of Eastern New York, it was based primarily on his observation in and around his home of Salem in Washington County. The paper begins with this evocative introduction,

Local Literati: The September-October Edition


English author John Cowper Powys kept a diary of his stay at Phudd Bottom (just east of Harlemville).
Much of his outdoor time was spent along this stream and connected waters.