Nature

HILL ISLAND - Bud Andress grabs his binoculars and hops on the Jet-Ski at the dock of his St. Lawrence River home to go ...

This summer we want to hear from visiting mariners.  Whether you are on a yacht, sailboat, or canoe or kayak – cons...

The dock spider has the uncanny ability to strike fear into the hearts of all but the hardiest of souls.

The solitude and silence of the frozen sub-arctic winter sets the mind to thinking and the sharpens the senses. Without ...

When people hear the word ‘volunteer’ a lot of things may come to mind. For me, volunteering as a way to give back to my...

Many years ago, when I was a student at Linklater Public School in Gananoque, I used to participate in the local Royal C...

For River folks of all ages the world of nature and all of its beauty is literally waiting just outside your door. ...

My grandfather, Thomas Mitchell (1913-1990), told me many stories about life on the river during the winter months. Many...

I have been feeding the deer for years at our winter home along the Parkway near Ivy Lea.  They were emptying my bi...

I’ve heard stories, seen pictures and I’ve even seen the dusty stuffed trophies mounted...

A few weeks ago, just after sunset, I saw a gorgeous ship upbound at Clayton... It was unusual because it was bathed ent...

The day that she and partner David Belding bought their first two pigs is the day Dani Baker thinks her mother rolled ov...

Just imagine yourself being one of the Seaway River Pilots stationed in Cape Vincent and you are scheduled for duty to g...

Sometimes Mother Nature needs a hand. Low water levels on the St. Lawrence presented environmental groups the perfect op...

Island neighbor, Catherine Hinds, tells me the water was so low the year she was born, that her parents could walk from ...

The best thing about Thousand Island Park is its proximity to the swamps of Wellesley Island. When I insulated our su...

A few weeks ago, just before closing the island for the season, I awoke to a scene I had never seen before. Just beyond ...

“Oh my God! That’s disgusting. That snake is going to get into the birdhouse”, my sister-in-law screamed. We had been w...

“Please remember to dump your garbage far enough from shore so it does not wash back onto the shores of Grenell.” I foun...

Now that my first summer as Coordinator of Education & Outreach at the Thousand Islands Land Trust (TILT) is winding...

What actually makes you a River Rat? A while ago, I ran into an old fellow who was reputed locally to be a "River Rat"...

Have you ever wondered what the Thousand Islands would be like if all the birds disappeared? I have, and I certainly hop...

Dave and Mary Roberts signed a lease to open their privately owned public aquarium...

For several years I’ve been interested in flags and flag etiquette and wanted to share some of the correct and incorrect...

If Minna Anthony Common had a Rock Ridges Trail blog I would have had it bookmarked, or better yet I would have pinned i...

I grew up in rural Maine with “back-to-the-land” parents, so naturally I couldn’t wait to move to the big city...

Everyone loved those seventy degree days we enjoyed this past March. However, one of the downsides of what seems to be a...

For more than a decade, River communities have advocated for a new water levels management plan that is protective of Ri...

We rowed carefully into the bay at Georgina Island, one trainee looking expectantly into the water off the bow, waiting to spot ...

On Saturday, January 28th, Alexandria Bay held their Annual Ice Fishing Derby. Each year Ice Fishermen (and women) and y...

The Grindstone Island community gathers for the last church service of the season, hand in hand, around the old poplar t...

Getting to Grindstone - First glitch, the boys had thrown locking hitches on the dock lines. NEVER a locking hitch after November 1!

As the summer of 2011 rapidly comes to a close I find myself thinking about our latest two-week cottage vacation and rea...

The Canadian Geographical Names Data Base at Natural Resources Canada is the repository for official names records...

Official names of places and features in the United States are selected by the Board on Geographic Names...

Two old cottages beneath a fistful of pines—that was my first impression of what was then known as Ogden Point.  Be...

A few weeks ago, Sue-Ryn Burns called the TILT office asking permission to release a Great Horned Owl at the Crooked Cre...

I see ospreys almost everyday of the year. When I go to the grocery story, in the parking lot and ditto at the gas station...

When I see a ‘saltie’, I wonder what critters might be stowed away in its ballast tanks...

If you garden in the Thousand Islands you have probably experienced this frustrating scenario: Monday evening at dusk yo...

Because of daily walks on Wellesley, rarely does a day pass that I’m not out on the River. I can’t imagine visiting the ...

Getting stranded on an island with your students may sound like a teacher’s field trip nightmare, but in St. Lawrence Is...

The last two months I’ve written about my walks on Wellesley. But as with anything in life, sometimes it’s not the desti...

Last month, I gave you a peek at the trails of Wellesley Island State Park  (WISP). This month, I want to take you ...

For many of us the beauty and uniqueness of the Thousand Islands is without question. And yet we may know little of thei...

For me, walking in nature and writing are somehow connected. The more I write, the more I need to walk. In order to writ...

Higgins, the Welsh Terrier, is back for our young readers.

The St. Lawrence Bald Eagle Working Group, which I co-chaired for many years with my U.S. counterpart from the New York ...

Hunched, damp and tired, we look at the scribbled number on the page and debate calling the U.S. Coast Guard. Almost 24-...

My co-workers warned me that June seems to skip right into September and everything in between is just a blur. How true it is,

A "microburst" swept through the Thousand Islands last month, uprooting trees, damaging cottages and leaving some island...

I remember the first time I saw a loon. It was in the early 1980’s, because we still had that small aluminum fishing boa...

August bring its rewards:  usually, much better, night-sky viewing; unique planetary alignments; Northern-Lights; s...

This article is written for our young readers... They call me Higgins. I am a Welsh Terrier and proud of it.

As the first decade of the new millennium has passed, this writer has met many people in our community who ask “what doe...

Most folks on the River know me as the Executive Director of Save The River, but I also wear a few additional hats – yea...

Every spring begins as the birds migrate, the snow melts and the little white and green tug boat sitting in Massena, New...

Anyone who has spent any time in the Thousand Islands becomes accustomed to its creatures... NEW: Audio by Jan Eliot

It isn't easy When I first thought of over-wintering, I thought of all the free time to do just as I pleased. Perhaps a ...

Like so many inhabitants of the northern regions, the moose is one that when spotted, is a sight to behold.

The greatest way to experience the Thousand Islands is from the water. Each hidden channel, quiet cove, and marshy bay holds little secrets

Janet was five, when her parents bought the cottage on Grenell Island, and it's where she spent her summers. She became ...

I stepped out onto the grass on a dull gray July morning. Before me, I could see the great St. Lawrence River. The waves...

Change is constant in our world, and certainly in our region. While the focus in the Thousand Islands, more often than n...

After mowing the lawn in front of the camp, I took out my snorkeling mask last weekend to cool off and check out the riv...

About 10,000 thunderstorms occur in Ontario during a typical summer and only about 1% of these are "severe"

As the new season begins on the River, I’m pleased to offer this Sixth online edition of POLLACK’S GAZETTEER OF THE THOU...

The tradition of worship in Half Moon Bay began in 1887.  People came from neighbouring islands and from Gananoque ...

Have you ever wanted to help the River, but you were not quite sure what to do?  Save The River, an environmental o...

In January, Phil Chadwick read Dr. Richard Withington's "A Winter Islander" story and offered to write about the weather...

This is the fifth online edition of “Pollack’s Gazetteer of the Thousand Islands of the United States and Canada in the ...

HILL ISLAND - To many, the Canadian Shield is the quintessential Canadian landscape—the rugged “north”, ...

Len Rusin is familiar to many viewers since he was the 2006 featured Artist at the Clayton Decoy and Wildlife Art Sho...

We initiated this "Pisces Redux" series of fishing articles with a less favored species (or at least less popular among ...

By Bud Andress Not that long ago, some 12,500 years, the great North American continental glacial period drew to an end...

Are Carp news? Have the big fish suddenly migrated into our waters, perhaps filling some void left by decline in other s...

Most of us have spent a lifetime—or a lifetime of summers—on the river without ever even seeing, let alone catching, a M...

If Muskies grow large, the real colossus of our fish is the sturgeon, “the King of Fish.” A six-foot long record-breaker...