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Nature in Isolation: Fairfax Master Naturalists find things to do during the pandemic, Part II

Sit Spot example

Claudia Thompson-Deahl recommends signing up to start a Sit Spot routine. A Sit Spot is a place on the land that you go to every day or several times a week. It is your special spot that is kind of like an anchor where you get to watch all that is going on in nature over the course of the year. You might sit on a rock, lean against a tree, up on a hill, etc. It is a place where you sit quietly, observe, interact and get to know the land on a deeper level. Subscribing provides daily emails for 14 days. Read the email, then go to your Sit Spot and do the daily nature activity. Claudia observes, “It’s been a really great way to start each day and these posts are a great inspiration.”

Mike Walker: Being confined to my home and having to cancel all time consuming outside volunteer activities, coincided with this long, cool spring and has evolved into a wonderful opportunity to examine closely my quarter acre corner of the universe, just like Thoreau did at Walden Pond. I have lived in my home for over 30 years but having much more time (and newly cleaned windows) has shown me many signs of nature that I had never seen before. By keeping the bird feeder filled into late May, I have been rewarded with visits from many bird species right outside my dining window. Just today a Rose Breasted Grosbeak, tufted titmouse and Black-capped nuthatch had breakfast with me. Maybe they were always around, but more time at the window means more interesting sightings.

Photo by Mike Walker

Two fox families are also in the neighborhood, one a block away with six hungry kits. Mother or dad pass through several times a day, I know of at least 5 squirrels that won’t try to rob my bird feeder anymore.

As I patrol my shrub and flower beds with more time on my hands, I am more aware of individual plant phenology, particularly given the cool spring and chilly nights. Watching the rapid spring growth of cool tolerant shrubs like the hollies and winterberry is amazing. I am in Year 8 of a battle to eradicate the six types of bamboo I cultivated (yes, willingly) for my koi pond. I lost the battle to “control” it and resolved to remove the bamboo before it and my wife and neighbors removed me. I am “down” to about 500 pencil-thin shoots that I trim back daily, finding the occasional 3 foot renegade hidden within a shrub when on bamboo patrol. My goal is to deprive the roots of any chlorophyll. I cautiously hope I am winning!

Photo by Mike Walker

Using instructions from Google, I have made multiple Mason Bee Houses (try it – help our native bees) and my compost bin door is left open so the wrens and chickadees can harvest the many insects for their nestlings. I am hopeful that the many bags of leaves from my yards and my neighbors that cover the perimeter of my property will reap a huge harvest of Fireflies in June.

Like Thoreau or Aldo Leopold, taking the gift of time to watch, be be aware, to listen, puts me closer to the natural world that exits right outside my kitchen door. I am making the most of this gift of time.

Cape May Warbler from mpnature.com

Janet Quinn: I saw my first warbler! After watching Bill Young’s Audubon Society of Northern Virginia’s two webinars on Spring Warbler Plumage and Behavior, and viewing his webpage mpnature.com, I traveled to Monticello Park in Alexandria with binoculars and mask. Although I had to ask my fellow birders what I was seeing, I will always remember the brightly yellow-hued Cape May in the honeysuckle bush along the stream. On a second trip, an American Redstart sang cheerfully on a branch right above my head. Although there were many flits and shadows in the bushes and trees I could not identify, I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to learn about and experience these tiny natural wonders.

Beverly Rivera: I am using this ‘calmer’ time to improve other aspects of my life. For years, I have complained that my household throws away too much food, but now with more leisure time, and with my family captive to meal-planning meetings, we are using up everything, spending a lot less on food, and throwing away (or composting) far less. I also repurposed pieces of fabric and sewed napkins and cleaning cloths so that we have cut back on the use of paper towels to almost zero (and the timing couldn’t have been better).

I’ve also come to notice that you can still tell that someone’s smiling even though they’re wearing a mask. Everyone is going through a lot at the moment and a friendly ‘Good Morning’, a smile and a wave can go a long way to making someone’s daily routine more enjoyable.

Nature in Isolation: Fairfax Master Naturalists find things to do during the pandemic

Photo by Barbara J. Saffir

Tired of wearing a mask and lounging around the house? Fairfax Master Naturalists are finding ways to educate the public and appreciate nature despite the lockdown.

Margaret Fisher: To celebrate Earth Month, the Wild About Clifton team organized a virtual screening of the movie Hometown Habitat for all interested residents of Greater Clifton, a daily posting on Facebook and NextDoor.com of suggestions for helping nature on our own properties, and an online pledge to implement at least one of the suggestions. https://www.wildaboutclifton.org/clifton-earth-month-2020

Morel photo by Bill Hafker.

Bill Hafker has taken the opportunity having a lot more free time available than anticipated, combined with the annual 4-day April City Nature Challenge being changed to a celebration of City Nature Month, to try to get out each day into a new environment that remains open and safe, to hike, bike or kayak. While out getting physical exercise, he’s also “hunting” for as many species of living things as he possibly can in one month, and then uploading photos of his “catch” to iNaturalist, and identifying what they are. It is amazing how much more you find when you really slow down to look closely around your house, yard, and nearby neighborhood as well as the fields, woods, ponds, and waterways of northern Virginia. While spotting inspiring macro fauna like a kit fox playing outside its den is uplifting, he has especially enjoyed the excitement of finding some truly beautiful, but less noticed, bugs and fungi. While he picks places few people are frequenting, he did meet a mycophile on the hunt, who showed Bill (from a safe distance) where and how to spot the elusive morel.

Black and Gold Flat Millipede photo by Bill Hafker

If you are able to get out in April in the greater NOVA area and spot wildlife and upload it to iNaturalist, your observations will automatically become part of the City Nature Month data set. If you are not able or comfortable going out to make nature observations, your assistance would still be welcome if you could spend time in iNaturalist helping to identify the observations of others less knowledgeable in identifying what they are seeing.

Mike Walker found a way to continue to promote the educational and service goals of the Master Naturalist Program by using his “neighborhood” nextdoor.com website. Over the past few months he has written short articles on a variety of topics, such as the value of keeping some leaf litter and compost in the yard, garden and shrubby areas to create habitat for Fireflies…or “lightening bugs” depending on where you grew up. His catchy title “What if there were no fireflies this summer” drew  many responses and was sent to over 10,000 email accounts. Other postings addressed removing invasive English Ivy from trees,  Earth Sangha’s offer to deliver Virginia Native nursery plants directly to homeowners, and the recent decision of Fairfax County and other refuse companies to suspend collection of yard debris. (Why are you throwing away green gold: compost it!)

There may be other opportunities for FMN members to reach out to promote our programs- through community of HOA newsletters or other avenues. Watch for them!

Janet Quinn revived her interest in pressed flowers. She collects a variety of colorful flowers and interesting greenery, places them between two pieces of card stock or waxed paper in the pages of a thick book for a week and then uses craft glue to attach them to bookmark- or greeting card-shaped card stock. Using a self-adhesive laminating sheet to cover her masterpiece preserves it. The detail that is revealed in the plants is stunning. It’s fun to experiment with plants! What will garlic mustard and lesser celandine look like? Her favorite is the redbud flower that resembles a hummingbird when it is dried.

Mike Walker asks, “Small yard or deck? No space for a pond?” Consider a “small” water garden. I have a 30-gallon container on my patio with one lotus. These remarkable plants are winter hardy and grow in soil and standing water! Top it off each week and you will be rewarded with an exotic, amazing plant. Plus, the “water”will attact all sorts of creatures. This spring I found several damsel fly nymphs. Lily Ponds, a premier water lilly and water garden plant outfit near Frederick, Maryland is offering no covid contact buying and free shipping!

George Ashley, with tongue in cheek, gives us this account of his typical week during this period:

Monday: I mow my lawn.
Tuesday: I rest.
Wednesday: I comb my lawn.
Thursday: I rest.
Friday: I speak with the lawn critters. Salty the slug and I discuss his latest trails. Cheap Charlie the chipmunk is my bookie so we go over the games not played. Don’t know how but I still usually owe him a couple hundred bucks.
Saturday: I stand in my lawn and wave to my neighbors and the passing cars. A couple times folks waved back.
Sunday: I call friends and rest to prepare for another arduous week.