Alyssa Johnson - The Bare Handed Naturalist

12/24/2024

Check out this cool chickadee that’s been visiting my feeders! It’s a Black-capped Chickadee with leucism, a partial lack of pigment. I didn’t notice it until yesterday a friend pointed it out, so I went back and reviewed footage from my Birdfy camera and sure enough it’s been visiting for at least the month of December! I hope it sticks around for awhile.

10/10/2024

Get outside RIGHT now!

10/10/24 @ 7:30 pm

09/23/2024

National Audubon Society Bird Union UPDATE:

I am so proud of them, not NAS leadership, but all of the union eligible staff who have campaigned, fought, and stuck it out. Good for you! And good (to use Audubon’s slogan) ! ❤️

Why do I care so much and I don’t work for them anymore? Because working for them shaped me as a professional in all the most important ways- and I learned a lot of lessons. And at the core of it- it was a freaking awesome job at MONTEZUMA! I’ll forever miss it, but professionally I’ve traded the spotting scope for a microscope (for now).

09/07/2024

What I’ve been up to at work this month:

August Monthly Update!

The summer may be winding down for many of us, but environmental monitoring continues until the flakes fly! It's been another busy month of fundraising and releasing our new strategic plan, collecting water samples from Cayuga and Seneca Lake tributaries, hosting the Journey of Water youth education series, sampling streams for benthic macroinvertebrates, and HABs, HABs, HABs! The CSI lab is running analyses on environmental water samples as well as drinking water samples brought to us by local homeowners, businesses, and municipalities. It's been a very busy summer, and we don't anticipate slowing down anytime soon! Read on for more: https://mailchi.mp/287b30658155/csi-monthly-update-august2024

Photo credit: CSI. This is what a Harmful Algal Bloom looks like under a microscope! The dark clumps are cyanobacteria that belong to the Microcystis genus, and the long, curly strands belong to the genus Dolichospermum. Both are cyanobacteria commonly found in Cayuga Lake.

08/26/2024

Many of my friends who follow my page here know me from my days as an environmental educator at Montezuma working with the National Audubon Society. These days I manage the Cayuga Lake HABs Monitoring Program at Community Science Institute in Ithaca. Recently I was interviewed by WSKG Public TV & Radio alongside one of my wonderful volunteers, Sue.

🪿I used to count hundreds of thousands of migratory birds through a spotting scope, and now I count single-celled Cyanobacteria colonies under a microscope!🦠

Harmful algal blooms can cause a variety of health concerns, from mild rashes to severe illness. The problem is particularly bad in the Finger Lakes region.

08/24/2024

8/24/25, everywhere I look there are piles of these flying insects emerging from the grass and flying around! Anyone know whats going on?

Trumansburg NY

08/19/2024

Last week National Audubon Society unionized staff voted to strike and passed overwhelmingly to do so. While I’m glad to have moved on with my life, because though my job brought me so much joy, AUDUBON was very toxic and did not serve my mental or emotional health well, I SO wish I could have been part of the strike. I was a founding member of the campaign organizing, I worked behind the scenes for months to encourage other staff to use their voices, and in the process I painted the largest target on my back. I very much believe that because we did unionize, they knew they couldn’t legally fire me (and other “mouth pieces” like me) but they could make me miserable, and they did, until I left “on my own”. And I resigned because I literally could no longer afford to get to/from work, feed myself, and was subjected to very toxic and hostile interpersonal situations- daily. I regret I left before I ever got to see a contract to fruition. I sometimes felt that I failed my coworkers and left them in the lurch, but I had to take care of myself. And it’s been almost 2 years since I’ve left and nothings changed for the better. We got our union in December 2021 and still no contract for those poor employees.

Happy, taken care of employee DO NOT UNIONIZE. Shame on Audubon management. Shame on any non-profit “executive” who brings home an excessive salary (hundreds and hundreds of thousands and the previous CEO cracked $1M after laying off staff due to COVID).

I just really want all of the birders out there to KNOW what the National Audubon Society is all about. And yes, this absolutely trickles down to how non-managerial staff are treated locally at our favorite wetlands complex.

More info https://linktr.ee/birdunion

06/06/2024

This is what I do for my “day job”! I am the Programs & Outreach Coordinator and Cayuga Lake Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring Program Coordinator at Community Science Institute. I’ve been there since mid March and love it!

“HABs” have been a topic of conversation around the CSI lab this week- the first bloom was reported on Monday unfortunately. We’ve also been answering a lot of questions regarding pollen in the water, as it can look a lot like HABs. One of our board members, Bob Thomas, took these photos of large swirls of pollen on Cayuga Lake on Tuesday morning.

05/30/2024

We had a new yard bird visit the yard last night! A quirky and unique bird that not many know even exist: a Common Nighthawk. They’re aerial acrobatics make them EXCELLENT insect hunters on the wing, and a welcome visitor to our yard any evening of the week. Come back any time, my friend!

Forgive my erratic footage, it’s very difficult to keep up with them in flight as they dip, dive, turn on a dime, and seemingly disappear in front of your eyes. I also slowed the footage down in spots to get a better look at the shape of the bird. Long pointy wings make for excellent flight.

05/24/2024

Recent springtime discoveries 🌿🐞🌸

05/20/2024

Today’s adventure was a Finger Lakes Waterfall Excursion with 4 ladies visiting from PA and OH celebrating a birthday! We had perfect weather, the falls were pristine, sunshine was sparkling, and I was reminded why I 💚 the Finger Lakes so much!

I book these tour through Airbnb! Anyone can book as long as you have an account, but you don’t have to be traveling to do so! https://www.airbnb.com/slink/F3jDC4IG