How to Identify Birds and Trees in the Catskills and Adirondacks

How to Identify Birds and Trees in the Catskills and Adirondacks

by Kathleen Lisson

As I spend more of my weekend days hiking in the Catskills and Adirondacks, I am starting to realize how much there is to discover about the birds and trees of the forest. I bought a copy of the Birds of New York Field Guide with the accompanying CD last year and listened to the CD in the car during my commute. When I heard a bird singing in my backyard and recognized the song from the CD, I was hooked! 

When reading other hiker’s trail reports, I come face to face with the fact that I don’t know much about the trees in New York, either. I grew up in California, where we had a palm tree in the backyard. I feel excited and more connected to nature when I come back from a hike and pick out the trees I saw alongside the trail from my copy of the Trees of New York Field Guide.

Both The Trees of New York Field Guide and the Birds of New York Field Guide are by Stan Tekiela and available on Amazon. Tekiela’s website is here: http://www.naturesmart.com/

Christian Noble shows how to identify trees in the forest in this Youtube video: http://youtu.be/6_GIHFED6a4