The Magazine of the Mountains since 1969
Photographer Johnathan Esper was hiking near Lake George when he nearly stepped on what he thought was a tree root. When it started rattling, he realized it was actually an eastern timber rattlesnake, which is a threatened species in New York. After backing away a safe distance, Johnathan captured this video. Read more about his encounter and about these rare creatures in the 2016 Annual Guide to the Great Outdoors.
Yellow-green sparks shimmer among shadowy pines overlooking my backyard on the outskirts of Saranac Lake. It is a warm June evening, and the humid air hangs heavy with the fragrance of mountain maple blossoms and last year’s fallen pine needles. More such flashes beckon from the quiet tree-lined road that circles Moody Pond, and I follow.
Why should you care about bats? “Besides the fact they’re cute,” says bat researcher Vanessa Rojas, assistant professor at SUNY-ESF Ranger School, based in Wanakena, “the ecosystem services they provide are critical. Bats eat forest defoliators and other pests. I can’t imagine what our forests would be like without them.”
Some night this summer when the sky is clear, pick up a pair of binoculars, step away from the fire pit and open your mind to celestial high-drama echoing down to us from the Babylonians, the Greeks, and from the phantasmic beginning of life and time itself.
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