Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

The EPA has created an absolutely amazing little video called “Wetlands and Wonder: Reconnecting Children with Nearby Nature.” Click on the link here to view the video. It’s really terrific.

In the video you get to hear great naturalists like Robert Michael Pyle, Richard Louv and others talk about wetlands and the great opportunities they give us for exploring nature.  They talk about the importance of wetlands in our ecosystem and ways that kids (of all ages…me too)  can connect with nature through wetlands.

Wetlands are one of our richest habitats in terms of diversity of life and they’re so much fun to explore! From birds to amphibians to turtles and snakes to insects to fish to bats to really interesting plants – they’ve got it all. Some even have beavers! They serve as nurseries, water filter systems, safe havens and places to rest or fuel up if you’re a migrating bird. 

Where are the nearest wetlands near where you live? Is there a steam, a swamp, a pond, a flooded field or marsh? With all the rain we’ve gotten over the past few days, the wetland near you will likely be teaming with live. Take a few minutes to check out the Wetlands and Wonder video and then go out exploring!

The best part about going out to explore nature is that we already carry with us all the gear we need to get out there and have fun….carry with you all your senses – your eyes, your ears, your nose, your sense of touch, and of course, your imagination. Touch the water, feel the plants, get mud between your toes! Yeah! It’s simply wild out there!

This coming Saturday (May 9th) is International Migratory Bird Day!  To celebrate this great day, we have twelve (yes you read that right!) excellent bird walks planned in places across Loudoun, and they’re prefect for people who are new to birding as well as those who have been bitten by the bug already.

A few years back I was in Peru and was on a bird walk with a local group. I was wearing my IMBD t-shirt from the year before and the woman leading the trip asked me what it was all about. 

I’d never been asked that before, but it’s always been a special day for me.  My answer was a quick, knee-jerk response: “It’s a day when we celebrate the connections between our countries, between North America and South America, through our birds.” She was intrigued and we talked further about the birds we were seeing there in her home town, the perilous journey that many of them would soon make back towards our area, and the places that I would then enjoy watching them through the summer. It was a really neat discussion and probably the first time that I had really connected with someone who was my counterpart, thousands of miles away from home, sharing in both the love of birds and the responsibility of caring for their habitat.

So, IMBD has a variety of facets to it. It’s a wonderful day to get outside, enjoy nature and see some beautiful spring arrivals. It’s a time to witness the amazing journeys birds make between countries and continents. It’s a time to look at our habitat from a bird’s eye view and consider what is here and what has disappeared. And, it’s a time to think about the places and the people in the countries to whom these birds connect us.

We encourage all of you to come on out and join us for one of our walks this weekend, see some of these wonderful birds, enjoy the springtime with us….and bring your friends!

You can sign up for our walks online on our IMBD Signup page and also learn more about IMBD (and download some free materials) by visiting the Partners in Flight website. 

As part of this event, some of us are also participating in the Birdathon to raise money for the development of the Loudoun County Bird Atlas – this Atlas will, for the first time, provide a reference on the birds that rely on Loudoun for habitat. Having this data will enable us to better engage in conservation efforts to preserve (or restore) wildlife habitats. If you’d like to make a pledge to one of our teams, you can do so online: Make a pledge.  Every bit helps!

I hope to see you out along the trails!