Lisa Ballard

Featured in: Favicon

outdoors.org Favicon

birdsandblooms.com Favicon

outdoors.com Favicon

adirondackexplorer.org Favicon

newyorkbyrail.com

Articles

7 Fascinating Maple Tree Facts You Should Know

Sep 6, 2024 | birdsandblooms.com | Lisa Ballard |Melinda Myers |Kirsten Schrader

An Invasive Maple Came to the U.S. Centuries AgoNorway maple, classified as highly invasive in the United States, was first imported from Europe and Asia in 1756 as an ornamental landscaping tree. Is an Amur maple shrub invasive? It Takes Lots of Sap to Make Maple SyrupIt takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Sugar maples are the biggest sap producers, so they are favored by maple sugar makers.
Loggerhead Shrike: The Songbird That Thinks Its a Raptor

Jun 26, 2024 | birdsandblooms.com | Lisa Ballard

The loggerhead shrike is a cardinal-size songbird, native to North America, that acts more like a bird of prey. Learn how to spot one. With its black mask, fearless nature, and habit of impaling its prey with impunity, a loggerhead shrike is the bird world’s Zorro. Here’s how to identify these birds. What does a Loggerhead Shrike Look Like? Male and female loggerhead shrikes look the same and keep the same plumage year round.
Rainy weather fishing at Deer River Flow

Jun 2, 2024 | adirondackexplorer.org | Lisa Ballard

By Lisa BallardThere’s an old adage among anglers that the fishing gets good in the rain. One theory is that the droplets aerate the surface of the water, enticing fish to become more active. The fish cannot see predators, including humans, as clearly through the uneven interface between water and sky, and thus feel more comfortable feeding higher in the water column. What’s more, since birds tend to stay in their roosts, fish are more likely to rise to the surface to nab bugs.
Moxham Mountain, a new-ish trail in the Adirondacks

Apr 14, 2024 | adirondackexplorer.org | Lisa Ballard

A hike up Moxham Mountain, a new-ish trail in the Adirondacks with a rich history and stunning viewpointsBy Lisa BallardIt’s not every day that a new trail is cut in the Adirondacks, old mountains explored by humans long before modern trail-building techniques provided moderate grades or stabilized soil. Large tracts that are forever wild cannot be altered in man-made ways.
A mountain with Kane-do spirit

Feb 17, 2024 | adirondackexplorer.org | Lisa Ballard

A short jaunt with a fire tower outside Caroga Lake, and the hardest part is getting thereBy Lisa BallardI wanted to climb Kane Mountain (2,180 feet) near Caroga Lake, but it was a haul to get there from my house on Chateaugay Lake. The two lakes are 200 miles apart, about as distant as you can get from north to south and still be within the Blue Line. Sometimes the sheer vastness of the Adirondack Park limits my willingness to explore its backcountry bounty.
How Do Birds Stay Warm in Winter?

Nov 9, 2023 | birdsandblooms.com | Amy Grisak |Lisa Ballard

Birds Fluff Their Feathers to Stay Warm in WinterThere’s a reason that birds look bigger during cold weather. David Swanson, a biology professor at the University of South Dakota who has spent 30 years studying how birds handle inclement conditions, says birds assume a heat-conserving posture and fluff their feathers to stay warm in winter. “It’s similar to goose pimples to form an insulation barrier. It’s almost like putting on a coat,” David says. Learn how to help birds in cold winter weather.
Whether you know it as Bald or Rondaxe Mountain, it's a great short hike

Jun 29, 2023 | adirondackexplorer.org | Lisa Ballard

A rewarding short hike that never gets oldBy Lisa BallardI first tromped up trails in the Adirondack Park as a teenager in the 1970s, accompanying various friends who chased their 46er patches. Back then, trailless peaks were truly trailless. I fancied myself a hardcore hiker. I thought I’d become an expert on hiking routes in the Adirondacks but with maturity I realized that my knowledge of superlative hikes was limited to the High Peaks, which left 95% of the park to explore.
7 Peaks In the Adirondacks Worth Bagging

Apr 26, 2023 | outdoors.com | Lisa Ballard

The Adirondack Park is a massive state park encompassing six million acres in northern New York. There are over one hundred peaks in the Adirondack Mountains, and forty-six of them over 4,000 feet. While backcountry hardcores come to the region to bag those iconic 4,000-footers, the park has numerous hikes for all ability levels. Here are seven of the best worth bagging1. Lyon MountainLocation: Chazy LakeTotal Distance: 6.4 milesDifficulty: ModerateWhy Go: Lyon Mountain a well-kept secret.
Heat Stroke Vs Heat Exhaustion: An Overview

Apr 10, 2023 | outdoors.com | Lisa Ballard

Dealing with hot weather is part of being outdoors nowadays – even in cooler alpine zones. Last July, a team of biologists with the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife were studying the effect of drought on alpine plants in the Rocky Mountains. It shocked them that they had to strip to their t-shirts as temperatures crested a stifling 80°F at elevations where less than a decade ago it would rarely hit 60°F.