Photo by Franceso Gallarotti on Unsplash The Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District’s annual seedling sale makes low-cost bare-root native shrub and tree seedlings available to Northern Virginia residents. Seedling packages go on sale in February and are available for pickup in April. Trees and shrubs help cleanse water, prevent soil erosion, provide habitat, […]
Article by Plant NOVA Natives staff For anyone who enjoys watching birds at a feeder, there is another pastime available that is just as entertaining but less well known: watching the dragonflies and damselflies patrolling your yard. There are over eighty species in Northern Virginia, a few of which are happy to frequent our gardens […]
Article by Elaine Sevy, FMN member Mention bats and many people cringe. Not me! Though I didn’t know much about them, I looked forward to seeing them each summer, emerging at dusk to dive and swoop in the sky chasing insects. They’ve always seemed mysterious but never frightening. As the years passed, I saw fewer […]
Article and photos (c) by Barbara J. Saffir; Feature photo from dcr.viginia.gov No need to zip off to Zimbabwe or cruise to Costa Rica to photograph cool critters, bodacious birds, and blindingly beautiful flowers. Just go on safari at a Virginia State Park. Sunflower-yellow prothonotary warblers adorn the trees and the trails at Mason Neck […]
Photo of Eastern Towhee by Bob Howdesell, CBC Central Loudoun Christmas Bird CountWhen: Monday, December 28, 2020Join Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy as they participate in the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count. The count circle has a 15-mile diameter and covers 177 square miles of Loudoun’s countryside: north to Waterford, south to Aldie, east to Ashburn, […]
Photo by Jennifer Renteria Sunday, January 17, 20213 – 4:30 pmFreeRegister here. Join Audubon Society of Northern Virginia and learn how birds stay warm in cold weather and extreme elevations. Sahas is an avian evolutionary ecologist and currently a Peter Buck Fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where he studies how birds […]
Photo by Melanie Choukas-Bradley Friday, December 4, 202012 – 1:15 pmOnline eventRegister here. Explore Washington DC’s beautiful and wild Theodore Roosevelt Island with renowned naturalist Melanie Choukas-Bradley and Capital Nature. Who knew that a kingfisher and Theodore Roosevelt island would be the antidote to a year full of disappointments? After the unexpected and surreal outcome […]
Photo courtesy of audubonva.org Sunday, December 6, 20202 pmRegister here.Note: This training is for those interested in volunteering as Ambassadors, not a program for those wanting to learn how to landscape with native plants in their own yards. Tami Sheiffer, Audubon at Home Coordinator for Fairfax County, will be holding virtual training for new volunteers […]
Photos and article courtesy of Valeria Espinoza, Volunteer Coordinator Marilyn Kupetz (right, in feature photo) Marilyn has volunteered at Riverbend for almost two years now. She serves as an Animal Caretaker and Roving Naturalist. Marilyn plays a key role as part of our Animal Care team. From enrichment to health monitoring, Marilyn helps us make […]
Presented and recorded by Clifton Institute This talk is intended for community/citizen scientists who help collect data but may not have the knowledge they need to analyze it, for nature journalers who record numbers in their journals but aren’t sure what to do with them, and anyone else who is curious about how scientists use […]