Whatta deal! Mount Rogers Spring Naturalist Rally, May 10-12th

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Konnarock Community Center, 6635 Whitetop Rd., Troutdale, VA
Friday, 10 -Sunday, 12 May 2019

Three days of exploration & discovery for all ages! 

Bring your family and celebrate Mother’s Day in the most beautiful place on Earth. There is something for the entire family to enjoy with an expert speaker Friday night, trips Saturday and Sunday, and nighttime programs at the campground.

Blue Ridge Discovery Center has assembled a wide variety of field trips with leaders who are experts in their field and who are able to make the subjects understandable and interesting for everyone from inquisitive amateurs to accomplished naturalists.

Rally tickets for the entire weekend are $10. Ticket price includes Friday Night Program, Saturday Field Trips, Saturday Night Program and Sunday Program. Guides and persons 17 years or younger are FREE!

Friday night dinner tickets are $10. Dinner hosted by the Konnarock Community Center. The dinner is limited to 125 total tickets. Dinner tickets available by prepaid reservation only! Reservations due by May 3rd. No dinner tickets will be sold at the door.

For more information and registration, visit the website.
Also, check out the Mt Rogers Naturalist Rally Facebook page for event updates www.facebook.com/MountRogersNaturalistRally or call 276-293-1232.

Blue Ridge Discovery Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring, discovering, and sharing the natural history of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Attend Spotted Lanternfly First Detector Training

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Fairfax County Government Center
12055 Government Center Parkway
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM

The spotted lanternfly, a pest that poses significant risk to many agricultural crops and some trees, was found in Frederick County, Virginia in January 2018.  It is commonly associated with the invasive tree-of-heaven.  This pest has not yet been found in Fairfax County, but you can help find it!

Fairfax County is seeking volunteers to help find and identify areas of the county with established tree of heaven.

Join us to learn more about spotted lanternfly and how you can help control it before it infests Fairfax County. The training is a joint effort with Virginia Cooperative Extension and Virginia Department of Forestry.

Please register

 

Feather drawing class, April 11th

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Hidden Oaks Nature Center
7701 Royce St., Annandale, VA
Thursday, 11 April 2019
7-9 pm

Join naturalist and artist Avery Gunther to learn how to draw feathers with colored pencil on toned paper.  Learn about types of feathers and feather identification.  Watch a demonstration about how to draw feathers, then draw your own feathers in this interactive class.  Drawing is a great way to sharpen your observation skills.  Paper is provided for a small fee.  A suggested list of supplies will be provided when you sign up.  Register on ParkTakes, https://fairfax.usedirect.com/FairfaxFCPAWeb/ACTIVITIES/Search.aspx.

Your Camera as Eco-Warrior

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Photo (c) Barbara J. Saffir

Margaret Fisher

We are surrounded by the ecosystem, even in our urban/suburban areas, but most of us never notice it. If we do see a plant, an insect or a bird, we lack the background to recognize it. Our experience of life is becoming more and more virtual as we live in a world of technology. Paradoxically, that very technology is now making it easy to find and identify the small residents of our yards. Getting to know our fellow beings makes us more likely to value and protect them.

The tool you need for this experience is a camera, even a basic cell phone camera. If you take a photo of an insect and enlarge it on your screen, you will be in for some big surprises. What you took to be a drab brown bug may turn out to be a wildly colorful and patterned creature, living its life and paying attention to your doings, even while you were unaware of it. The same discoveries are there to be made about birds, frogs, and all our other neighbors.

Better yet, if you upload photos of wild plants and animals to the free iNaturalist website or app, the artificial intelligence will suggest possible identifications, and then two actual human beings will review them to make the final determination. All this data is automatically entered into a worldwide global biodiversity database that is populated by contributions from citizen scientists such as yourself. All your observations will be saved and labelled in one place for your amusement. You can even create a project that collates all the observations from one location, such as your homeowners association, park, school, or faith community. Once you get hooked, you may find yourself trying to document all the life in your neighborhood. Here is an example from Huntley Meadows Park.

From April 26-29, iNaturalist invites everyone to join City Nature Challenge 2019, in which metropolitan areas participate in a friendly competition to see who can make the most observations. Events will be held all around the region, but you can also just take your camera outside and start documenting on your own. All observations made during that four day period will count.

What will become clear to you as you do this is that the more native plants you have, the more butterflies, bees, birds, and other wildlife you will find. You will see how preserving natural resources even in our built-up areas is critical to the survival of wildlife, and how the landscaping in your own yard can contribute to or degrade biodiversity, depending on your landscaping choices.

Watch Plant NOVA Native’s lovely one-minute video about iNaturalist and City Nature Challenge.

Cheerily, cheer up: Colt Gregory on birding by ear

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It’s impossible to miss the robins outside the window right now, but even if you missed Colt Gregory’s “Introduction to Birding by Ear,” at the March 18 FMN chapter meeting, it’s not too late to start understanding birdsong.

An Arlington Regional Master Naturalist and lifelong birder, Mr. Gregory entertained the crowd with reasons to learn the songs of local birds: they hide, for one thing, and it’s easier to hear them than to see them. Listening and parsing their music requires focus, which is good discipline for our fragmented attention. And, well, it’s fun to impress people. There’s more to it, of course, and he’s graciously shared his slides as a resource.

You’ll find a sound suggestion for what not to do: don’t play recorded calls outside because it confuses the birds and annoys other birders. But you’ll mostly find excellent resources for developing your skills. Mr. Gregory particularly recommends the CD Birding By Ear: A Guide to Eastern Bird-Song Identification, narration by Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson: “This is an excellent way to learn songs and calls. Using an interesting approach, the CD places birds in general groups like whistlers, sing-songers, mimics, name-sayers, and high-pitchers.”

Birding by Ear, by Colt Gregory, ARMN, March 18, 2019

Thank you to Kit Sheffield for arranging the presentation. If you are interested in sharing your skills with our members or community, please contact Mr. Sheffield at [email protected]

George Mason University hosts free lecture on climate change, Apr. 24th

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An Evening with Dr. Ed Maibach: What Do Americans Think About Climate Change, and What—If Anything—Do They Want to Do About It?

Old Town Hall, City of Fairfax
3999 University Drive, Fairfax VA
Wednesday, 24 April 2019
7 pm

Dr. Edward Maibach will present an overview of the findings from public opinion polls regarding climate change conducted over the past decade. Recently there has been a sharp increase in the public’s understanding of and concern about climate change. He will discuss Mason’s efforts to increase public understanding of climate change. There will be an opportunity for questions following the presentation.

Dr. Maibach serves on the advisory council of George Mason University’s newly launched Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE), which will address Earth’s future, including the problem of global climate change. He is also a Mason distinguished University Professor and a communication scientist who is expert in the uses of strategic communication and social marketing to address climate change and related public health challenges. His research – funded by NSF, NASA and private foundations – focuses on public understanding of climate change and clean energy; the psychology underlying public engagement; and cultivating TV weathercasters, health professionals, and climate scientists as effective climate educators. From 2011 to 2014, Ed co-chaired the Engagement & Communication Working Group for the 3rd National Climate Assessment, and he currently advises myriad government agencies, museums, science societies and civic organizations on their climate change public engagement initiatives. He earned his PhD in communication science at Stanford University, his Masters in Public Health at San Diego State University, and his BA in psychology at University of California, San Diego.

FrogWatch USA training and service

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Photo by Barbara J. Saffir (c)

Trainings:
Thursday, 11 April 2019, 6-9 pm @ Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA
Sunday, 14 April 2019, 3-6 pm @ National Zoological Park, ­ Rock Creek Campus
Saturday, 27 April 2019, 3-6 pm @ National Zoological Park, ­Rock Creek Campus

The FrogWatch, USA, National Zoo chapter is entering its seventh season of FrogWatch USA at the zoo. To date it has monitored 75 sites in DC, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maine and has submitted almost 2,000 frog call observations.

FrogWatch tracks frog populations throughout the United States. Participants will choose a monitoring site that is easily accessible and close to where they live or work to listen to frogs that are calling throughout the warmer months. The three indoor trainings help orient people with the frogs that are in the DC-metro area and their calls. Content is the same, so chose one training that fits your schedule. If you are interested please contact Matt Neff: [email protected].

VMN CE Webinar: Maple syrup as a forest product, Mar. 28th

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Virginia Master Naturalists Continuing Education Webinar

Thursday, 28 March 2019, 12:00 pm
Meeting Number: 199-915-948
Link to join: Join Webinar

It’s possible to collect sap sustainably from any species of maple, sap that can be processed into a valuable syrup.  In many parts of Virginia, this can prove to be a viable cottage industry (or at least an interesting demonstration project).  The VMN-High Knob Chapter has overseen a demo “sugar bush” on the Powell River Project Research & Education Center in Wise County for the last four winters.  Chris Allgyer and Phil Meeks will discuss the process for collecting sap and making syrup, as well as its potential as an off-season forest product.  Other species of trees that can yield a usable syrup will also be discussed.

Presenters:

Phil Meeks is the Extension Agent for Agriculture & Natural Resources in Wise County and is the chapter advisor for the High Knob Chapter of VMN.

Chris Allgyer is President of the VMN High Knob Chapter. He recently retired from Mountain Empire Community College where he taught mathematics for 46 years.

Link for recordings of this and past webinars: VMN Continuing Education page.

If you have specific technical questions, try the Zoom Support Center.

What kinds of insects do birds eat? Find out from Audubon, March 24

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The Audubon Society of Northern Virginia will hold an Audubon Afternoon on Sunday, March 24 at the National Wildlife Center, 11100 Wildlife Center Drive in Reston.  Ashley Kennedy, a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware, is an entomologist who has used her own research and photos provided by citizen scientists from around the country to determine what types of insects various types of birds eat.   She will present fascinating photos and videos of birds bringing food to their young as she discusses birds’ diets and the role of native plants in attracting the insects that birds rely on.  There will be a social gathering at 2:30 followed by Ashley’s presentation at 3 PM.  The event is free and open to the public.

Learn about Audubon at Home, May 9th

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Photo by Barbara J. Saffir (c)

Green Spring Gardens
4603 Green Spring Road, Alexandria, VA
Thursday, 9 May 2019
7:30 – 9 pm
Program and talk with Betsy Martin & Alda Krinsman

The Audubon at Home program was created to make a difference by supporting the efforts of property owners and managers to become better stewards of nature in their own outdoor spaces. It embraces the principles of the National Audubon Society’s Bird-Friendly Communities and promotes citizen participation in conserving and restoring local natural habitat and biodiversity.

The Wildlife Sanctuary Program brings trained naturalists together with property owners and managers on a mission to restore natural habitat. The program offers information, on-site consultation and recommendations to help you establish and nurture sustainable natural habitat in your backyard, neighborhood, school, church, park or business in spaces that range from a small corner of your yard to many acres. Results-based sanctuary certification depends on the success of the habitat to attract and support wildlife. The program seeks to expand wildlife habitat in the area and fosters appreciation for the value of native plants and all the wildlife that depend on them.