Note: all of these photos are owned and captured by me, Alexandra Fasulo.

Date captured: June 15, 2026.

Location: Fort Edward, New York.

It’s hard to do one of the last grasslands of its kind throughout the entire Northeast justice, even in high-resolution photos. I certainly don’t have to edit the pictures or augment colors. The landscape speaks for itself.

It speaks for itself because in our increasingly developed world, littered with high-rise apartments, shopping strips, Costcos, parking lots, commercial solar and wind complexes, and glyphosate-covered ethanol corn fields, it’s rare to come across an ecosystem that is this extensive, stretching to the horizon.

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We’ve fragmented just about every habitat that isn’t inside of a National Park. But the Fort Edward Grasslands is one of the last of its kind with thousands of acres of grassland that include small family farms that make up a patchwork of America’s rural character as far as the eye can see.

As some would call this: it’s God’s country.

It’s easy to focus on the powerful and mystical raptors that call these grasslands home, like the short-eared owl and northern harrier. But what gets lost in the discussion is the role this grassland plays during the summer months in our climate as a refuge for the declining pollinators that need our help in North America.

One of those pollinators is the monarch butterfly, which makes its way from Mexico to the northern parts of the US and into Canada, only to turn around and do it all over again the next year. The fourth and “super” generation of monarchs will be hatched in Upstate NY and beyond during the months of August and September, going on a 2,500+ mile journey back to the mountains of Mexico where they will enter a state of diapause and rest throughout the winter to begin the first generation of monarchs the following year.

As you all know, I traveled to Piedra Herrada outside of Mexico City this past January to see the super monarchs in their winter sanctuary. It was the closest I believe one can come to experiencing heaven.

When I talked to the Mexican guides about the survival of the monarch butterfly, considering we’ve lost 80% of the species since the 1990s, they said to me: “It depends on the habitat availability for these butterflies up north in your country.”

They were resoundingly correct.

When Fort Edward Solar was sited for the Fort Edward Grasslands, the botched and redacted science purchased by Boralex left out pollinators altogether. So we invested in an unbiased scientific assessment by Hudsonia Ltd. that can be read here.

The Fort Edward Grasslands are a major monarch butterfly hub, littered with thousands of stems of milkweed during a critical time when nearly 800 million stems of this plant have been cleared for massive glyphosate-ready corporate farming across the country.

Around this grassland are family farms, a Wildlife Management Area, a designated DEC-conservation center, and walking trails that all lend themselves to contiguous grassland acreage filled with the host plants our nearly endangered pollinators need to survive.

As the Hudsonia scientists also concluded, the proximity of the grassland to a Karner blue habitat in Wilton, New York ensures there is the probable presence of perennial lupine - though, we wouldn’t know since Boralex and New York State failed to survey for this endangered butterfly.

While I sat there this week at the Fort Edward Grasslands, completing my 34th consecutive week I have visited this imperiled habitat to document what I see and learn more about its critical role in the greater Northeast, I was pleased to behold monarch butterflies back once more, searching for the perfect milkweed plant to lay their eggs on before passing into the great beyond.

Monarch caterpillars will feed exclusively on the leaves of the milkweed plant before becoming butterflies. It’s a brilliant way to evolve since wild animals don’t have a taste for milkweed. In fact, it’s poisonous to them. Therefore, the monarch butterfly isn’t appetizing to predators, either.

The only predator this butterfly has to fear is man.

And man is drunk on greed in the form of “green” energy credits intent on wiping out protected habitats and endangered species today.

Developers, politicians, bureaucrats, and legacy media reporters all have a lot to say about this grassland and Fort Edward Solar today. I can say, after 34 weeks in a row, I have never seen a single one of them at this grassland, taking in all it has to offer from the viewing decks.

Nothing will take my love of this habitat away from me. And it has them mad as hell.

Note: all of these photos are owned and captured by me, Alexandra Fasulo.

Date captured: June 10, 2026.

Location: Fort Edward, New York.

At first, I couldn’t tell if I was looking at a female meadowlark. But upon closer examination, I realized I was watching female red-winged blackbirds (who yes, possess zero red in their feathers) make quite the ruckus at the Fort Edward Grasslands this week.

Like their male counterparts, the females love to perch above the grassland, just barely, using milkweed stalks, fences, and small shrubs.

This very vocal female was particularly keen on dead common milkweed stalks that she would land on and gently bounce up and down with the breeze as it blew over the grassland.

One of the males sat nearby, also on a dead milkweed stalk, to call back to the female who had an agitated and angry tone to her song.

I’d like to think these were two best friends or sisters, perched nearby, gossiping about the “boys” as they put on more of an aerial show to impress and entertain the females.

I have quite a few red-winged blackbirds at my homestead. I find them to be a very personable and entertaining breed of bird. They definitely have full personalities and can make me laugh from time-to-time.

The grasslands are fully growing in by this time of year, nearly a foot taller every week, swallowing dead stalks to make way for new growth. The amount of bird activity is astounding, with grassland birds popping up and down out of the grasses in every direction.

10 of the 11 top species of concern at grasslands throughout the entirety of New York State live at this grassland, as cited by our state’s own Department of Environmental Conservation.

A 100MW solar industrial complex cannot be allowed here. The Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) awarded Boralex its final permit last month to build anyway. But we have other plans for stopping what would be an ecological catastrophe.

And I will continue to document this imperiled habitat, weekly, until then.

For more of my wildlife photography and field notes, I upload the imagery to this publication Instagram as well. Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/houseofgreenmagazine.

Note: all of these photos are owned and captured by me, Alexandra Fasulo.

Date captured: May 27, 2026.

Location: Fort Edward, New York.

I’ve always loved osprey. They felt like creatures from home to me when I briefly lived in Florida for 3-years and so desperately knew, one day, that I wanted to move back home to Upstate New York. These raptors nest in the North throughout the summer, and fly back to warmer climates come September.

Now, they are welcome sights of spring for me here in New York’s North Country. Osprey return back to their same platforms, year-after-year, early April along the Hudson River. Though they migrate south for the winter, they do so as individuals (without their mates).

But when they come home to raise their young back north, a mated pair (they mate for life) will return to the same established nest and meet up once more.

Many of those established nests line the Hudson River. My farm sits close to this river in Schuylerville, New York. This same river also borders the Fort Edward Solar project map, and is (yes, unbelievably) the location of the PCB Superfund Site that occurred at the hands of General Electric.

The Hudson River is one of the largest migratory corridors for bird species throughout the entire Northeast.

As raptors, osprey rely almost entirely on fish for their diet.

As a bird that dives into water frequently, their safety will be jeopardized by hundreds of acres of solar panels nestled next to the Hudson River. The panels give off a polarized light that is perceived by birds to be water. This is known as the “lake effect” that has been documented at solar facilities. Birds mistake the panels for water and dive, from great heights, into the panels, colliding and causing severe injuries, or commonly, death.

If you’ve ever seen a solar complex from an airplane above, you will, at first, mistake it for a body of water as well. I noticed many over Virginia/North Carolina that looked exactly like a lake to me from a Delta flight.

Though these raptors can’t speak for themselves, I certainly will do everything in my power to get the word out about their right to live and hunt safely, without light reflected off Chinese-made solar panels.

For a bird that returns to its established nest, awaiting the arrival of its mate that it has chosen for life, every spring, it deserves, at the very least, our reverence and respect for the treacherous journey it makes to keep the species alive.

Welcome to your summer home, ospreys.

For more of my wildlife photography and field notes, I upload the imagery to this publication Instagram as well. Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/houseofgreenmagazine.

Note: all of these photos are owned and captured by me, Alexandra Fasulo.

Date captured: June 5, 2026.

Location: Schuylerville, New York.

You all know this entire journey began in 2023 when I found nearly 7 acres of land that I had a vision to turn into a pollinator oasis.

After seeding hundreds of thousands of seeds around my property last year that I knew would support pollinators, seeing bees and butterflies flock to my land this year is deeply fulfilling.

For every seed that didn’t take, another seed did. And all it takes is one seed to produce a huge chive bush that flaunts gorgeous pastel-lilac flowers beloved by butterflies.

I was out in the garden this past Friday, June 5th when I looked up to notice this mature, healthy, and vibrant black swallowtail butterfly enjoying a chive flower buffet. I ran inside to get my camera.

Based on the wings being predominantly yellow with little blue, this was a male black swallowtail that helped himself to these flowers for over 30-minutes.

It always brings me joy when I realize a little winged creature feels safe enough at my farm, as well as around me, to relax and enjoy the flowery buffet I have laid out before them.

I also have a pollinator waterer (filled with pebbles so they don’t drown) nearby, allowing them to drink if they are thirsty.

I find that butterflies still prefer to engage in “puddling” when I get the soil wet from watering my plants. This allows them to absorb minerals from the soil while they get their hydration.

As always, I couldn’t help but talk out loud to this little fella, and tell him he’s welcome in my garden anytime. I think they get the gist.

For more of my wildlife photography and field notes, I upload the imagery to this publication Instagram as well. Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/houseofgreenmagazine.

Note: all of these photos are owned and captured by me, Alexandra Fasulo.

Date captured: March 31, 2026.

Location: Fort Edward Grasslands, New York.

I started falling in love with northern harriers when I first visited the Fort Edward Grasslands September 2025. I was not familiar with a bird species that manages to encapsulate elements of falcons, hawks, and owls, all rolled into one feathered masterpiece. I was fascinated.

When I learned that they are state-endangered and will be pushed even closer to extinction with the eradication of the Fort Edward Grasslands, I knew I needed to act.

As someone who has always loved photography and videography, the best way I knew how to help these powerfully beautiful animals was to start documenting them.

And so I did.

It’s hard to describe how much contiguous acreage is needed for these hauntingly striking giants of the sky to hunt and breed. They need hundreds upon hundreds of acres. That’s why their habitat is disappearing to development so quickly.

Studies out of Cornell have found that they won’t nest anywhere within or even near solar complexes. These animals are much smarter than we give them credit for. I’d argue they’re smarter than most people I know today.

The moment I made eye contact with a northern harrier earlier this year, I felt a wise, all-knowing calmness communicated back to me. As if they are land and air guardians of the Northern part of our continent, tapping into an ancient wisdom that perhaps only the Native Americans before us knew.

I tell the northern harriers out loud, as I stand on the viewing decks, that I will do whatever it takes to preserve their home here in Upstate New York. It’s the least I could do.

I have witnessed harriers regularly at the grasslands from October until April of this year. Though many will migrate north into Canada for the summer, some couples stay behind. I have been fortunate enough to open up my own land, right at my homestead, to a northern harrier couple that has chosen the location to be its year-round home.

If you’ve never witnessed this raptor in action, I highly recommend adding them to your birding list.

Though, after witnessing aggressive, and frankly, disgusting behavior from bird photographers at these locations, please treat the birds respectfully and do not “rush at them” or disturb them for a perfect shot.

I believe the birds will reward you in due time if you pay your respects and honor their home. That’s what this harrier did one day, nearly 6-months after I spent many hours, outside in the cold, coming to understand their ways.

For more of my wildlife photography and field notes, I upload the imagery to this publication Instagram as well. Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/houseofgreenmagazine.