Winter Sparrow Identification *VIRTUAL*, November 14th

Image: Courtesy The Clifton Institute, Winter Sparrow Workshop

Thursday, November 14, 2024
6:00 – 7:00 PM

This is a virtual event

ASNV Members-$10.00 (Non-members $15.00)

Click here for registration details.

A Clifton Institue Presentation

Get ready for winter by brushing up on sparrow identification! Every season brings its own challenges for birdwatching. In winter, similar-looking sparrows can be hard to tell apart and birding by ear becomes more difficult as birds sing less and call more. Join Executive Director and expert birder Bert Harris to learn some tips for identifying winter sparrows. Bert will walk you through the field marks of each species and use his years of birding experience to help you learn how to identify sparrows. Then in the second section of the program Bert will show sparrow photos to help you practice and test your new skills.

This program is intended for beginning and intermediate birders. We will send a Zoom link closer to the date.

Dam It: Partnering With Beavers to Restore the Planet, October 22nd

Photo Credit: Ellyne Geurts, via iNaturalist, North American beaver, Castor canadensis.

Tuesday, Oct 22, 2024
7:00pm – 8:30pm

Webinar – Advance Registration Required 

 

Webinar presented by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Can we learn to embrace the much-maligned beaver? In his book “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter,” environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern conception of a healthy ecosystem is wrong, distorted by the fur trade that once eliminated millions of beavers from North America’s waterways. The consequences were profound: Ponds drained, wetlands dried up and species from salmon to swans lost vital habitat. Today, a growing coalition of “Beaver Believers”—including scientists, farmers and passionate citizens—recognizes that ecosystems with beavers are far healthier than those without them. From the Nevada deserts to the Scottish Highlands, Believers are hard at work restoring these industrious rodents to their former haunts. In his talk on Oct. 22, Ben will discuss the history and biology of this world-changing species; how beavers can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire and climate change; and how we can coexist with this challenging but vital rodent.

This webinar will be recorded! Closed captions will be available during the live event and on the recording. By signing up on Zoom, you’ll be able to join live and receive a link to the recording approximately 1 week after the live webinar.

Sign up on Zoom to watch live or on-demand

View more Life on a Sustainable Planet webinars

October Citizen Science Survey Opportunities: Butterflies and Dragonflies

Photo by Ana Ka’ahanui, Halloween pennant dragonfly

Butterfly and dragonfly surveys are carried out in temperate months (April-October), normally on Friday mornings, at one of four sites around Occoquan Bay, all within the 15-mile diameter circle established for the annual North American Butterfly Association’s Annual Count.

Survey: Occoquan Bay NWR Butterfly and Dragonfly

Friday, October 4, 2024
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Occoquan Bay NWR
13950 Dawson Beach Road
Woodbridge, VA, 22191

Survey: Metz Wetlands Butterfly and Dragonfly

Friday, October 11, 2024
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Metz Wetlands
15875 Neabsco Road
Woodbridge, VA, 22191

Survey: Occoquan Regional Park Butterfly and Dragonfly

 

Friday, October 18, 2024
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Occoquan Regional Park
9751 Ox Road
Lorton, VA, 22079

Survey: Dyke Marsh Butterfly and Dragonfly Survey

 

Wednesday, October 23, 2024
8:30 AM 12:00 PM

Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve
George Washington Memorial Parkway and Tulane Drive
Belle Haven, VA, 22307

 

Survey: Meadowood Butterfly and Dragonfly Survey

 

Friday, October 25, 2024
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Meadowood Recreation Area
10406 Gunston Road
Lorton, VA, 22079

2024 Virginia Bluebird Society’s Biennial Conference, November 1st – 2nd

Photo: By Susan Cato, Bluebird at nest box

Friday & Saturday, November 1- 2, 2024
Friday 6:00PM – 10:00PM, Saturday 8:00AM – 4:00PM

Virginia Crossings Conference Center & Hotel
Glen Allen, VA.

Registration and Conference details

The Virginia Bluebird Society is celebrating its biennial conference on November 1st and 2nd.  Whether you are an experienced Bluebird landlord or just beginning and don’t know where to start, there will be sessions for you!

Topics include Nest Box Monitoring 101, nature photography, birding with children, nature journaling and so much more!  There will be a silent auction and fun merchandise to purchase.  

Keynote Speaker Mynra Pearman, biologist, author and nature photographer, will be sharing her expertise. Learn more about Myrna at: https://www.myrnapearman.com/ 

The conference will take place at Virginia Crossings in Glen Allen, Virginia. Registration opens September 9 on the Virginia Bluebird Society website. Contact [email protected]  for more information.

 

George Mason University Forager’s Forest, October 11th

Photo by: Ayman Rashid/Creative Services/George Mason University -Fruits of labor

Friday, October 11, 2024
4:00 PM – 6:30 PM

Anyone interested in volunteering should register for shifts on the University Sustainability volunteer portal (you will need to create an account, but it’s easy): https://gmufacilities.knack.com/sustainability-volunteer#my-events/

Project Description
Help sustain a new food forest on Mason campus! The stewardship activities will focus on the Foragers’ Forest and nearby riparian forest at George Mason University’s Fairfax campus. This includes weeding, mulching, planting, etc. in the Foragers’ Forest; and invasive plant removal in the riparian forest.

The Foragers’ Forest is a 100% locally native food forest that was installed in 2023 by Mason students and faculty. The space can best be described as part food forest, part rewilding experiment as it incorporates the Miyawaki method of reforestation. The Foragers’ Forest is adjacent to a recently restored stream and riparian buffer forest.

Important Information for Volunteers
Volunteers should wear pants, long sleeves, and closed toed shoes, and bring water. You may bring your own gardening gloves and loppers/pruners if you have them. We’ll provide gloves and tools if you don’t have them.

Volunteers will meet at one of the Forager’s Forest groves. The groves are located directly across the street from the Aquia Building (4461 Aquia Creek Lane, Fairfax, VA 22030) in the large lawn area. If you have trouble finding he location, call Sarah at 832-917-4024.

The best nearby parking option is the Mason Pond parking deck. Please note this is paid parking and we’re not able to cover parking costs. We will cancel the shift in the event of dangerous weather during the shift (e.g., thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, extreme heat, etc). We’ll try to notify you as soon as possible if we’re cancelling for weather. 

Invitation to Participate in Save the Night! Light Pollution Awareness & Dark Skies Day, November 17th

Photo: Fairfax County Park Authority – Dark Sky Celebration

Sunday, November 17, 2024
3:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Vienna Community Center
120 Cherry Street
Southeast Vienna, VA, 22180

DarkSky NOVA and Dark Sky Friends are hosting a Save the Night!

Join this family-friendly afternoon dedicated to exploring the effects of light pollution and how it impacts our lives and health.

Engage with astronomers, peer through telescopes, and immerse yourself in the planetarium experience. Discover how artificial light at night affects your health and that of birds, plants, insects and animals.

Light pollution, the excessive or misdirected artificial light that brightens our night skies, is a growing environmental issue with serious consequences. Discover the different forms of light pollution—such as skyglow, glare, and light trespass—and learn how they interfere with our ability to see stars and our everyday lives.

In addition to dimming our night skies, light pollution has far-reaching effects on human health, wildlife behavior, and energy consumption.

Learn how you can be part of the solution and how to stop light pollution!

Find out how you can help reduce light pollution and protect our night environment!

 

Project Learning Tree Facilitator

VMN is encouraging all chapters to get involved with an optional training opportunity facilitated by our close partner at the Virginia Department of Forestry.
VMN is working to build volunteer involvement in Project Learning Tree, which is a fantastic environmental education curriculum for youth. Involvement of VMN volunteers can include taking the PLT educator workshop (learning to use the curriculum for youth programs), taking the PLT facilitator training (learning to train other educators, such as fellow VMN volunteers in how to use the curriculum), doing EE programs for youth using the curriculum, and/or giving training workshops for other educators (for those who complete the facilitator training.)

To this end, the FMN Chapter has approved PLT as a CE Provider and established Activity Service code E003: Project Learning Tree Facilitator.
FMN CE hours may be recorded for taking the required training and then service hours may be recorded for actually preparing material and teaching the curriculum, as described in the attachments.

Please see the attached letter from Ellen Powell and Lesley Newman that describes a bit more.

Please follow up with Lesley Newman and Ellen Powell directly if you have questions! Contact info may be found in the FMN Activity Code E003 in BI under Outreach and Education.

Learn How to Protect Northern Virginia’s Birds, Webinar, October 9th

Photo: Purple Martins, Keith Kingdon/Audubon Photography Awards

Wednesday, October 9, 2024
7:30 – 9 pm
Free webinar.
Register here.

Over 100 million birds migrate through northern Virginia each spring,  and 160 million migrate through each fall. Their journeys are perilous because they can be attracted to and disoriented by brightly lit buildings, crashing into them or wasting precious energy flying around the lights.

Birds that live here risk colliding with glass and other reflective surfaces, and light pollution disrupts their feeding, sleeping and reproduction, as well as that of the plants and insects on which they depend.

Northern Virginia Bird Alliance has established a partnership with Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, DarkSky Virginia, DarkSky NOVA, Nature Forward, the Friends of Dyke Marsh and the Friends of Little Hunting Creek to initiate a Bird Safe NOVA campaign. Join them for a free online program to learn more about the dangers our birds face and what you can do to make their lives less risky.

FMN Superhero: Rescuing Native Plants and Turtles

Article and photos by FMN Katy Johnson, except as noted

I am writing this article in hopes to inspire you to become more aware of what is happening in your neighborhoods and to raise your hand to do what you can to help preserve our local flora and fauna.

My Master Naturalist journey began by joining the Virginia Native Plant Society’s Native Plant Rescue headed up by the Potomac Chapter VNPS Grass Bunch and Friends of Accotink Creek.  I like to joke and say Alan Ford suggested I become a Master Naturalist because he was tired of me following him around asking questions.  I appreciated the opportunity to learn and took his advice.  The project took longer than was expected and I was able to get through my FMN Training, had enough hours upon graduation to become Certified and became a Site Leader. The site became my Walden Pond.  I was able to spend countless number of hours there, observing and studying all that existed in this small patch of nature.

FMN Katy Johnson with rescued Jack-in-the-pulpit, photo by Laura Beaty

When the site eventually closed to be developed, I started reading Fairfax City Council meeting agendas to become aware of projects being proposed and other opportunities to rescue our native plants.  The City’s Stream Restoration seemed like a great opportunity.  I reached out and contacted our Publics Works Program Manager and later found out Friends of Accotink Creek had also reached out asking again to rescue the native plants in the disturbance area ahead of the project.  We were granted access to the site and have been heading up weekly rescues for over a year now.

Because of the enormous area to be disturbed, and need to find homes for the relocated plants, we decided it would be a good opportunity to create a Native Plant Demonstration Area to show the importance of Invasive Removal.  We chose a site at a very prominent park in the City that would be able to demonstrate the difference of a healthy habitat and one that has been smothered in invasives.  We removed the carpet of invasives and replanted with the native rescues. The difference is obvious even to passive observers. We were then able to get the site adopted as a Pilot for the Adopt a Spot Program and it is now being maintained.

Inspired by a Rod Simmons VNPS Program on Golden Rods, we decided that the local ecotypes of plants should be eventually returned back to the area after the stream restoration.  We reached out to the City’s Urban Forester with the idea, who walked the site with us and identified specific species she would like to save.  We have identified hundreds of native seedlings to be saved and eventually be relocated back to the site.  We have been saving plants in our yards and are working with the City to hopefully establish a Native Plant/tree Nursery.

Phil Latasa at native plant giveaway

By being aware and working with our City, thousands of native plants have been rescued.  Many were set aside for use in other City parks and projects.  We were able to give away hundreds of plants at City events such as Earth Day and HisTree to educate the public about the importance of native plants, and to get them started on their native plant journey.  The plan is to return as many local ecotype species as we have rescued back to where they came from after the stream restoration.

Because of our involvement and the relationship we had established with the City, the Public Works Program Manager for the Ashby Pond Dredging Project reached out to myself and Philip Latasa of Friends of Accotink Creek last year to see if there were native plants to rescue in the disturbance area of the Dredging Project. On our walk to identify plants, I asked “What about the turtles?” His response was “What turtles?” I said “The giant turtles that live here.” Philip mentioned a similar project in Manassas that had rescued a number of turtles ahead of a pond’s draining.  Philip passed along more information about the Lucasville Pond Retrofit in Manassas. The City then contracted Dr. Todd Rimkus of Hawksbill Hope, a Turtle Conservation Non-Profit. Dr. Rimkus had participated in the Manassas rescue. I offered to be the Volunteer Coordinator for the Rescue.

Dr. Rimkus with snapping turtle

Volunteers from Fairfax Master Naturalists and the community, were able to observe and assist as Dr. Rimkus and his team pulled traps that were baited with raw chicken legs.  The largest turtle caught measured in at 18 inches and an estimated 40 pounds.  So far, 58 turtles, snapping, painted and a river

cooter that would have otherwise been destroyed have been rescued.   The snapping and painted turtles have been tagged and safely relocated to ponds identified by Dr. Rimkus that could support them, but

Inserting the tracking device

do not currently have a turtle population.  Download a video taken by Dr. Rimkus of a big snapper being released. The river cooter will be held by Dr. Rimkus until the Project’s completion and then returned to Ashby Pond.  The project has been paused due to empty traps and high temperatures.  There have been a few turtle sitings reported at the pond so the project will continue on a smaller scale when the weather is more conducive.

 

I hope my Naturalist Journey will inspire you to reach out and create your own opportunities to do what you can do!

Native Vines for Hummingbirds and Beauty

Photo: Plant NOVA Natives

Native vines can be terrific additions to your landscape. The most popular one, Coral Honeysuckle, is a hummingbird magnet!

Unlike the non-native invasive vines that we see everywhere killing trees, our native vines seldom hurt them. They co-evolved with our trees and are important members of the ecosystem, attracting numerous and diverse populations of pollinators with their plentiful nectar, feeding many birds from late summer into the winter with their fruit, and hosting the caterpillar larvae of several butterflies and moths.

Their flowers are long blooming, showy, profuse, and often fragrant and remarkably complex. It is their nature to reach for a climbing surface and grow upon it rapidly, which puts their flowering and foliage beauty on full and glorious display.

Native vines grow well in average soil and in dry or moist conditions and are generally easy to cultivate. Some can be a nuisance due to their exuberant growth, but they can all be trained to climb walls, arches, fences, arbors, or trellises, or pruned or sheared for containment. Once trained, they add coverage, privacy, and striking beauty to any space.

Here are five native vines you can plant and enjoy for years to come.

Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)

Coral Honeysuckle, whose botanical name refers to its evergreen habit, is the hands-down favorite of the native vines for garden spaces and is the official wildflower of Fairfax County. It blooms profusely in the spring then continues to bloom all the way up to November. The hummingbirds in your neighborhood will visit it repeatedly throughout the day.

Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata)

Crossvine is semi-evergreen with stunning abundant blooms and claws at the end of its tendrils allowing it to cling to stone, brick, pergolas, and fences without support. Its green leaves turn purple in the fall. Hummingbirds also visit this plant during its May bloom time.

Virgin’s Bower (Clematis virginiana)

Virgin’s Bower is a fast grower and late bloomer with flowers turning to showy sprays of silky seeds in late summer. It climbs via twisted stems so needs something to wrap itself around to grow such as shrubs, trees, a fence or a trellis. Be careful to distinguish this from Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis ternifolia), a highly invasive plant that is sold in conventional garden centers.

Yellow Passionflower (Passiflora lutea)

Yellow Passionflower has interesting leaves and delicate, fragrant flowers that bloom in mid-summer. It is considered easy to control, train, and contain.

Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)

While it is primarily prized in the landscape for its brilliant red-burgundy fall foliage, Virginia Creeper is a generous provider of abundant food for hundreds of insects, birds, and other animals and a meaningful addition to the landscape.

Some native vines are a little too exuberant for most people’s gardens but are great additions to more naturalized areas. Purple Passionflower, Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) for example, is a beautiful nuisance when it pops up everywhere. The name Maypop comes from the loud “pop” the fruit makes when crushed. Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans) is another example. Its flowers are flamboyant and a magnet for hummingbirds, but it is a famously vigorous grower that scrambles over anything it can reach with aerial rootlets that will damage any wood, brick or stone it touches. It is also considered a nuisance.

Finally, there is one notable vine that is native in Virginia but not Northern Virginia: American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens). Widely sold in conventional garden centers, it has become the substitute for the highly invasive Asian wisterias which are wreaking havoc on our ecosystem, smothering trees and tearing them limb from limb.

For more information on all of these native vines, you can visit www.plantnovanatives.org/vines or visit our native plant guide.