Virtual Green Breakfast: Purple Martin Initiative, webinar November 14th

Photo from Purple Martin Initiative

Saturday, November 14, 2020
9-10:30 am

Grab the breakfast of your choice and pull up your comfy chair to your computer to hear from Michael Bishop, who founded the Initiative in the mid-2010s to build awareness of these feather friends. Since then, he has worked to promote the beauty and benefits of these important birds and helped many “landlords” throughout the region to establish nesting locations. The Fairfax County Park Authority is recognizing his efforts at Twin Lakes Golf Course in Clifton, along with those of the Bluebird and Honeybees Societies with an Elly Doyle award on November 20. More Meeting Details.

Report your Fox Squirrel sightings!

Photo and article by Marissa Guill, graduate student, Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech

The fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) is the largest species of tree squirrel native to the United States. In Virginia, fox squirrel populations are still present in the Delmarva Peninsula and west of the Piedmont into the Appalachians. However east of the Appalachians, particularly in the lower Piedmont and Coastal Plain, fox squirrels are rare and patchily distributed, especially the southeastern subspecies Sciurus niger niger, or the southeastern fox squirrel. Regionally, formerly suitable habitat has been subjected to fragmentation and degradation of mixed pine-hardwood forests and bottomland hardwoods by conversion to agriculture and plantation forestry, as well as decades of fire suppression. At this moment, the southeastern fox squirrel holds an unknown distributional status in Virginia which could ultimately impact future management efforts.

Our goal is to better understand the distribution of fox squirrels in Virginia to reveal important habitat requirements and ecological specialization. We are currently seeking out volunteers and citizen scientists to help us collect sightings of fox squirrels across Virginia.

Read the rest of the article here.

Naturally Latinos Conference, December 2nd-4th

Wednesday, December 2 – Friday, December 4, 2020

Experience thought-provoking presentations by diverse regional and national environmental experts.

Join the Audubon Naturalist Society and their partners and become inspired to use the many strategies and tactics you will learn to transform your local community. You will have the opportunity to virtually and interactively network with leading nature professionals.

To see the 2020 Naturally Latinos Conference Agenda & Schedule, click here.

Register for the Conference Now!

Nature Talk: Plants Shaped by Water, November 10th

Photo by Jerry Nissley

Tuesday, November 10th
7:30 pm
Zoom webinar
To register, email [email protected] and put “November 10 program” in the subject line and your name in the body of the email

Water is essential for life. Plants are composed mostly of water, which also defines reproductive strategies and vegetative community composition.  Presented by Friends of Dyke Marsh (FODM), Fairfax County naturalist and ecologist Charles Smith will explore how these issues are expressed in natural communities in Northern Virginia and how changes in land use and climate affect the health and future of our ecosystems.

FODM will confirm your registration and send you instructions for joining the meeting.

The American Horticultural Society, the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology and the Friends of Little Hunting Creek are cosponsors.

Nature’s Puzzle: The Interconnectedness of the Natural World, November 25th

Wednesday, 25 November 2020
7 pm
Register here. (And while you’re there, check out the other wonderful programs lined up!)

Join Alonso Abugattas, Capital Naturalist on FaceBook and blogger, for an in-depth look at how pieces of the nature puzzle fit together. Nature is intricately interconnected, and while we certainly don’t know how all the pieces fit, we can have some fun trying to put them together. Get a peek at just how interdependent our plants, fungi, insects, other wildlife, and, even humans, can be. You’ll be challenged to try to piece together parts of our local nature puzzle.