Sugar Maple tree buds

With winter coming to a close and spring coming at us, I figured it has been about time for me to do a post on the sure signs of spring!  Sorry for the lower picture quality, I have recently got a new computer and have not gotta photo shop on it yet.

Tulip (Bulb) plant sprouting

With new plants springing up every day it wasn’t to to hard to find a few plants that sprout up in the early spring.  The picture above is some Tulips, often referred to as “bulb” plants.  What the bulb actually does is serve as a house for the Tulips and protects them during the winter.  Many people have Tulips in their garden’s because they don’t need much taking care of, once you plant the bulbs they sprout up on their own every year and year after year.

Another common bulb plant the Daffodil

Some of you may be thinking how do bulbs multiply, well, there is two different ways that they can reproduce.  One way is that one bulb can simply get to large and asexually divide making a replica.  The other way is that behind the pedals they will develop seed pods and the pollen from the flower itself can brush up against the seed pod and transfer, also bee’s and other insects can assist in the process.

Logo of the New York State Young Birders Club

The New York Start Young Birders Club is looking for more active members that are interested in birding.

New York State Young Birders Club website

The club is targeting young birders ages 12-19, that are interested in birds. We go on field trips, we have a news letter and we communicate threw e-mail and the website. The club is a great place to learn and talk about common interests in birds. You can hear what other people our age have to say about what is going on in the birding community. I myself just finished filling out the form to become a member.  If you are interested in joining the New York State Young Birders club or would like to know more please visit there website at http://www.nysyoungbirders.org/

Our dog Lily that we recently put down

Last week to this day we, as a family made the decision to put our oldest dog Lily down, she was turning 13 this year and we knew we were going to need to put her down sooner or later. I am doing this post to make a memorial to her being the best dog ever. We went to the vet last week wednesday and the vet said that she was in a lot of pain but it was amazing, we werer all suprised because she did not show any pain to us at all, she was a strong loving and caring dog that use to come to my side when I was sitting in time out after getting in trouble by my mom. When ever I use to cry she was over at my side in seconds trying to comfort me and make me feel better. This past week has been extremely hard and when ever I think about her still I start to tear up a bit. Another great thing about Lily is that she use to be the most protective dog. She use to bark in the middle of the night to people walking by and really truley cared for the hole family. I really hope to think that she is heaven looking down at us and to think that she is much happier that she would be here. She will always be in our mind and our hearts.

In memorial to the best dog in the world, Lily. (June 1996-June16, 2008)

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Brown Thrasher taking off

Small collection of some birds that I have taking off in the hand or trying to fly away while being held!

Black and White Warbler trying to fly away

Cape May Warbler trying to fly

Mourning Warbler trying to take off

This is mon@rch and since Young Naturalist J has been computer less for the past few months . . . I have decided to post a few of his Baltimore Oriole pictures that he took in Ohio.

Ruddy Turnstone picture from 2005

Got a picture of this Ruddy Turnstone a few years back, sorry about the low resolution, it was an older camera!

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With the foot of snow that we got last week and the rising temperatures, I knew there was going to be some snow melting in some of the local creeks. I will admit on the way down to the creek that I wasn’t expecting for there to be five inches of melting snow on the ground. I quickly realized that I was going to get wet with a small creek flowing under the snow that was on the path down into the creek.

Waterfall falling into the river

After finally getting down to the creek my feet were soaking wet, I lost the path and wasn’t unable to get back up the hill that I came down. I took some pictures and started following the creek to try to find a easier way to get out. After a while of walking along the shore, I found a bend in the river and needed to find a way to get out!

Deer print in the snow

On the way to try to find an easier hill to walk up and get out of the creek; I found this perfect deer print in the snow.

The hill that I found to walk up

I finally found this hill that I was pretty sure I could walk up and realized almost instantly that it was way to steep for a normal person wearing sneakers to walk up. After getting up about half way up the hill, there was mud and leaves under the four inches of snow and found some sticks that I could used as ice picks to help get up the rest of the way. At the top, I had a ton of snow in my sneakers and had a miserably cold long walk back home. But it was nice to get out of of the house and see some nature.

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Our dogs Lilly and Oliver playing in the snow

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After seeing the news on Friday about a snow storm coming out way our way, I immediately thought “Hey! There is something to blog about!” I went outside Saturday night when it starting snowing and took some pictures. We were getting about an inch/hour of snow and after 36 hours it quickly accumulated. Here in western New York we have not been getting much snow this year, so I was pretty excited.

Puppy Oliver playing in the snow

We got a puppy last year that some of you may of seen on my flickr site. He is about a foot tall with six inch legs and has a three foot long body. So he get some strange looks when he goes outside. Oliver loves to play in the snow and was enjoying the storm greatly. When you see this little awkward balanced dog running threw the snow you expect him to trip over his own feet, somehow he manages to keep a foot and stay up standing.

The aftermath of the snow storm

There was no snow on the ground when it started snowing Friday because we had a 63°F temperatures on Monday. It is nice to look out the window and see snow on the ground again. This is the most snow we have had on the ground this year, and to think it happened in the middle of March!

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Global warming is having a negative impact on today’s ecosystem. It is caused when greenhouse gases mix with our clouds and solar radiation is then reflected off of the earth’s surface. The sun isn’t heating the air but heating the earths surface which is then warming the earth by winds and water currents. THE GLOBE IS GETTING WARMER!! The molecular structure of the clouds is composed of elements methane, water vapor, ozone and carbon dioxide the elements push back the radiation that comes from the ground and the process continues over and over and over.

The chemicals are there because of humans are burning fossil fuels and using aerosols. There are many things we can do to slow down the spread of global warming such as finding alternative power sources and using less harmful chemicals. Some of the power sources may not be ideal such as wind turbines because of the placement along the path of migrating birds. But at the same time there are other power sources such solar that can prove to be effective and cheap if you do it the right way.

If we do not do anything about the global warming and the green house affect there will be no more Polar Bears like this. The ice will melt and habitat for Polar Bears will disappear. The temperature is projected to rise another 6 degrees within the next 50 years. It doesn’t sound like much but it will cause the ocean levels to rise over two feet and cause the shore lines across the world to be flooded. This will force people further inland. Global Warming will cause the amazon river to become much like the Sahara desert and New York city will also be entirely underwater! Everyone can do little things to slow the process of global warming. Little things like recycling paper or buying environmentally friendly products. WE ALL NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!

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