With 5,000 protected acres under his belt, Westchester Land Trust executive director Paul Gallay is heading north. In mid-July, he’ll become the president of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Read WLT’s farewell here and MCHT’s welcome here.

In other land trust news, Westchester Land Trust, the Yorktown Land Trust and the Putnam County Land Trust are cutting the ribbon tomorrow on the Danner Family Preserve on the Yorktown-Putnam Valley border. Eugene and Josephine Danner, who owned the property for several decades before donating it to WLT, will do the honors.

(That’s Paul in a 2007 photo by TJN photographer Frank Becerra.)

Coyotes and deer and we don’t have a third animal to mimic the concerns of those wandering through Oz. Anyway, the state Department of Environmental Conservation is sending out information on how you can live with both deer and coyotes. Basically, you should leave them alone, be it a fawn that you find by its lonesome or a coyote wandering through your neighborhood.

No tips for the deer on how to live with the coyotes, though.

(The photo by TJN photographer Frank Becerra shows a yawning coyote in Valhalla.)

The state of Rockland’s water will be the focus of a free program at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Suffern Library, 210 Lafayette Ave.

The participants will include William Janeway, New York state Department of Environmental Conservation Region 3 director; Alison Keimowitz, of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; and Steve Goudsmith, a spokesman for United Water New York.

Janeway will speak about water issues confronting Rockland and Region 3, which includes Rockland.

Keimowitz will discuss the groundwater study to be conducted by Rockland County with help from scientists at Lamont-Doherty and support from United Water.

Goudsmith will talk about United Water’s proposed water treatment plant, which would treat Hudson River water. He will also discuss some of the options for increasing the available water supply, as well as conservation.
The program is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Rockland County, the Rockland County Water Quality Committee, United Water New York, Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Few shad in the Hudson River means no shad at Riverkeeper’s annual Shad Fest. Read more after the break.

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Who knows what a bird thinks when it thinks real estate. For some reason, this aluminum extension ladder in Mark Paulvin’s Somers garage seemed like THE spot for a robin to build its nest.

From here, I’ll let Mark talk:

“Two weeks ago I noticed the beginnings of a robin’s nest being built on an extension ladder hanging from the ceiling in my garage. Sure enough, by day two, there were two large blue eggs in the nest and the mother robin was going to have a difficult task sitting on her eggs in my busy garage.”

A family meeting followed on whether to move the nest, move the ladder with the nest or leave the garage door open. The family, Mark said, went with the last option.

“We have left the garage door open for the past 2 weeks to allow the mother robin access to the nest. Hopefully, the
chicks will hatch very soon from the two eggs and we will be able to use the whole garage again.”

Polar bears are now listed as a threatened species by the federal government. The loss of sea ice, the bears’ habitat, led to today’s decision. Such loss of habitat “puts polar bears at risk of becoming endangered in the foreseeable future, the standard established by the (Endangered Species Act) for designating a threatened species,” according to the announcement.

Read the entire announcement after the break.

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Two kids in sight this morning at the bald eagle nest in Southeast but no sign of mom or dad, when I stopped by for a peek. Toward the end of last week, I could only spot one eaglet in the nest and I was worried that one of the young had pushed out its sibling, as apparently sometimes happens.

But both were sitting atop the nest today, panting in the bright sunshine. Here’s a slew of information on bald eagles and their recovery and removal last year from the federal endangered species list.

TJN photographer Frank Becerra made these photographs last week. I especially like the one with the adult sitting above the nest, its shoulder highlighted by the setting sun.

Want to see a couple of photos of a suburban-prowling bobcat? Check out this news video from a Connecticut television station that reports on a bobcat wandering around a neighborhood about 10 miles or so from downtown Hartford.

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Closer to home, here’s an account of a bobcat in the Great Swamp, the large wetland that spreads over Putnam and Dutchess counties.

And, lastly, here’s information on the animal in New York and what to do if you see one. The photo, by the way, shows a bobcat in the fall of 2006 along Federal Hill Road in Southeast, courtesy of TJN photographer Frank Becerra.

Now that Mother’s Day is past us, we can look ahead to Endangered Species Day (not sure Hallmark’s on board with this one). The day is billed as “as a national celebration of America’s commitment to protecting our country’s wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction.” It’s Friday (May 16).

After the break, check out the Sierra Club-Lower Hudson Group’s plans for the day.

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If you’re ever looking for a unique view of the Hudson River and one of its marshes, I can do no better than recommending a visit to Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary in Garrison.

Some 700 feet of boardwalk will take you out into the marsh, just a foot or so above the water. On Saturday, the marsh was still mostly brown and quiet – save for a handful of red-winged blackbirds.

When my daughter and I showed up, the marsh was at low tide. Some bird tracks could be seen in the mud, next to section of boardwalk. I’m thinking great blue heron but I’m also open to other suggestions.

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