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2 weeks ago | 
hngnews.com | Emily Stone
Our morning dawned crisp and blue. In the woods, we knew that the trails would be firmly frozen, the mosquitoes still far from flying, and perhaps the ticks would be hunkered down, too. This chilly spring weather is a perfect match for a hike on the North Country Trail. As we entered the brushy, deciduous forest and strode down the leaf-littered path, I felt my heart quicken and thud in my chest. After a moment, the sensation reached my ears, too.
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3 weeks ago | 
hngnews.com | Emily Stone
A faint string of birdsong filtered through closed windows on a recent morning. It was well after dawn, but thick gray clouds made it feel like the Sun had yet to rise. “Song sparrow!” I exclaimed. “They must have arrived overnight!”My friend, who started birding last summer, looked skeptical. “That doesn’t sound like what I remember.” He pulled out his phone and opened the Merlin Bird ID app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to play an example of a song sparrow’s song.
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1 month ago | 
hngnews.com | Emily Stone
Our morning dawned crisp and blue. In the woods, we knew that the trails would be firmly frozen, the mosquitoes still far from flying, and perhaps the ticks would be hunkered down, too. This chilly spring weather is a perfect match for a hike on the North Country Trail. As we entered the brushy, deciduous forest and strode down the leaf-littered path, I felt my heart quicken and thud in my chest. After a moment, the sensation reached my ears, too.
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1 month ago | 
hngnews.com | Emily Stone
The sun was setting on a warm afternoon by the time I arrived home. Although the lake was still frozen, and there were several inches of snow in the forecast, I took advantage of temporarily bare, dry trails for a short walk. Soggy leaves and green moss were my most interesting observations until I emerged into the clearing around what will soon be a frog pond. Ice still locked up the tangle of alder stems in the center of the pond, but black water reflected twiggy treetops around the margin.
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1 month ago | 
hngnews.com | Emily Stone
Layered gray clouds hung low above Lake Jocassee, South Carolina, for our second day of Common Loon research. Despite high winds and heavy rains in the evening forecast, the morning lake was calm enough to be a mirror. Having explored the flooded stream gorges in the upper lake the previous day, it was our pontoon’s turn to observe loons in the lower lake.
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1 month ago | 
duluthreader.com | Emily Stone
The loons of Lake Jocassee don't look like the Common Loons we know from summer in the Northwoods because they are in the middle of molting from winter brown to their snazzy summer tuxedoes. However, this particular loon was captured on Lake Jocassee in the winter, and outfitted with colored leg bands. Then he was spotted again last summer in Minnesota! Long-term research on the behavior of individual loons has been essential in advancing our understanding of their lives and conservation needs.
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2 months ago | 
hngnews.com | Emily Stone
Loons bobbed on the early morning ripples as our pontoon boat sped across the open waters of Lake Jocassee, South Carolina. “First loon!” someone exclaimed gleefully, but otherwise we ignored them. At least for the moment. When Brooks Wade, our host and pontoon captain, crossed an imaginary line at the divide between the big, round lower lake and the narrow arms of the upper lake, he cut the engine. The sudden quiet gave Jay Mager a chance to explain our task.
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2 months ago | 
hngnews.com | Emily Stone
Loons bobbed on the early morning ripples as our pontoon boat sped across the open waters of Lake Jocassee, South Carolina. “First loon!” someone exclaimed gleefully, but otherwise we ignored them. At least for the moment. kAm(96? qC@@<D (256[ @FC 9@DE 2?5 A@?E@@? 42AE2:?[ 4C@DD65 2? :>28:?2CJ =:?6 2E E96 5:G:56 36EH66? E96 3:8[ C@F?5 =@H6C =2<6 2?5 E96 ?2CC@H 2C>D @7 E96 FAA6C =2<6[ 96 4FE E96 6?8:?6] %96 DF556? BF:6E 82G6 y2J |286C 2 492?46 E@ 6IA=2:? @FC E2D<]k^AmkAm“(6’C6 4@F?E:?8 2== E96 =@@?D :?
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2 months ago | 
hngnews.com | Emily Stone
As the snow melts and I enter the melancholy often brought on by mud season, I find myself seeking comfort in the words of Lois Nestel, the founding naturalist, director, and curator of the Cable Natural History Museum. Lois was a talented, self-taught naturalist, artist, and taxidermist. Examples of her accomplishments populate every corner of our modern museum building. Her legacy is strong in the work that we do.
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2 months ago | 
hngnews.com | Emily Stone
This tamarack tree has been infested with eastern larch beetles. Black-backed woodpeckers are now prying off flakes of bark to get at the beetle larvae, leaving the snow beneath covered in litter. Photo by Emily Stone. “It’s here.” My partner and I had barely stepped out of our car when another birder, perhaps getting a fresh camera battery from his car, confirmed the sighting we’d seen posted online. “Take the left fork on the boardwalk,” he added.
