outdoors

There’s an App for That

David Kuperschmid
Anglers are drawn to new technology, particularly when it improves the performance of their gear and increases their catch. So it’s not surprising that software companies are developing mobile phone apps for fisherman. The market is huge. There are...
Nature Notes: Meet Dr. Dolittle

Larry Penny
Virginia Frati, who lives up the street from me, across from the Morton Wildlife Refuge, has been looking after injured and sick mammals, birds, turtles, frogs, and even snakes for 20 years.
Safety Training for Commercial Fishing

Christopher Walsh
Commercial fishermen can take advantage of free safety training programs that will be offered next week at the Montauk Coast Guard Station.
On the Water: Sharpen Your Hooks

David Kuperschmid
While some dread the approach of April 15, others relish its arrival because it’s the opening of the striped bass season in New York State.
Nature Notes: Oceans in Peril

Larry Penny
Global warming, rising seas, epidemic opioid use, earthquakes from oil drilling, blue-green algae, Zika virus, Ebola, Lyme disease, tidal waves, tornados, radiation leaks, autism, building collapses, drought, famine, pesticide poisonings, graft and...
Nature Notes: Hope for the Right Whale

Larry Penny
If you paid attention to the news in February and March, you may know about the resurgence, at least locally, of one of the rarest of whales, the North Atlantic right whale, in New England coastal waters.
At SoFo: One Birder's World

Star Staff
Terry Sullivan, a singer and birder, will lead a walk and speak about his new book at the South Fork Natural History Museum on Saturday.
Get Ready for Strong Winds and Possible Power Outages

Taylor K. Vecsey
Rain showers and even snow, as well as strong gusty winds are in the forecast for the first weekend of April.
Nature Notes: For Rich and Poor Alike

Larry Penny
Some people say that we on the South Fork are going to hell in a handbasket. We look across the Peconics and see mostly green fields of grapes, vegetables, and other produce. Here most of the farmland is up for grabs, but thankfully that wonderful...
Nature Notes: Sing Hallelujah!

Larry Penny
Spring peepers, spring peepers, spring peepers, peep, peep, peeping away. It must be spring, I thought, and it was.
Nature Notes: Halt! Who Goes There?

Larry Penny
On Saturday morning when Friday’s snow had just begun to melt, I went on Eileen Schwinn’s annual Morton Wildlife Refuge bird walk under the auspices of the East End Audubon Society.
Nature Notes: Oceans in Peril

Larry Penny
We have been defacing our 30 percent at an ever-increasing pace ever since the industrial revolution ramped up in the mid-1800s. Our factories and our wars are collectively changing the landscape overnight.
Nature Notes: An Army at the Ready

Larry Penny
The southern pine borer that has been devastating pitch pine trees in the Central Pine Barrens including in Westhampton and Hampton Bays, leaving pitch pines mere skeletons from Long Island Sound to the Great South Bay next to the ocean.
Nature Notes: Stopping Mosquitoes

Larry Penny
The distribution of all of nature’s living things, including mosquitoes, is in flux.