Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

For those interested in Amphibians this will be an exciting week!  I was just checking the weather and there’s a chance of rain Wednesday through Friday and the temps are supposed to be around 50 degrees!!  PERFECT!!

We still have room in our Amphibians Afoot Class and Field Trip so if anyone is interested please sign up soon. If it rains those nights we’ll definitely be doing a night excursion and perhaps a road crossing assist.

So what’s the big deal about the first spring rains in March? Man, if the typed word could only show my excitement! I’m about to jump out of my seat on this and can barely catch all my typos!

The first warm rain in March is when Wood Frogs, Spring Peepers, toads, Jefferson Salamanders and others make their move! Imagine them in their forest homes, under logs, in burrows, nestled in the cushion of fallen leaves….the winter slumber is over and it’s time to breed!  They can’t leave their havens without some rain because their skin will dry out and they can’t move during a daytime rain because predators are out. So they wait……then it happens! Nighttime falls, the rains come and they migrate in force! 

They’ll migrate from as far away as 1/4 mile to get to the vernal pools and other wetlands where they were born in order to meet up with their fellow species to mate, stay a few days and then return to the forest. Wow – it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! Here’s an interview I did with Mike Hayslett when he was here with us last year: Spring Wetlands Interview

This special spring rain sets the season off and is also why we get our amphibian monitoring program going this time of year.  We have these big events and the amphibians are most visible from March through about June/July. Oh it is just so much fun!

So, watch the weather and if you’re out at night when it’s raining, watch the road – what you may think are leaves blowing across the road may actually be frogs, toads and salamanders trying to cross!  Let us know what you encounter!

And please do check out the Amphibians Afoot Class mentioned above – there’s a small fee for this one to help cover some of our costs but it’s well worth it!

I LOVE this time of year!  Our amphibians are waking up, tree sap starts to run, groundhogs start to stir, and birds are on the MOVE!  It’s so exciting! So alive!  and yet still the signs are subtle for now, and then in a few weeks, Whoooooosh – the full chorus of Spring is singing and all the dancers are on the stage! Oh how I love it!

Ok, so what inspired me to write this morning is that I just got the first email of the season about the Chimney Swifts and even though it will be few weeks before they get here, I love knowing that they’re on their way! They’re part of this amazing dance of life and hearing that they’re gosh, about half way here already sets my heart a flutter! While we were digging out from the snow, something in them sparked and said, it’s time to FLY! and off they went!

The whole migration “thing” simply amazes me – actually, nature in general just amazes me – it’s such an incredible and beautiful dance of life through time and space, like some complex waltz with partners handing off partners to other partners, a nod and curtsy here and there yet no instructions needed. Just beautiful.

So, back to the point, here’s the news: the first Chimney Swifts of the season have been sighted on the Gulf Coast returning from their wintering grounds in South America. As in past years Driftwood Wildlife Center will be plotting the swifts’ movements northward over the next few months. We won’t see them for a few more weeks but you can watch their movement as fellow naturalists south of us post their sightings at: WWW.CHIMNEYSWIFTS.ORG

There’s a really neat Bald Eagle project going on right now in Fauquier and Loudoun Counties and it’s just too cool not to tell you about! Furthermore, our own Liam McGranaghan and Laura Weidner will be involved in this as they help monitor sites, 3 of which are located in Loudoun.

Basically what they do is identify areas that are likely to attract eagles and then ask landowners if they’d mind having a dead deer carcass in their yard to attract the birds. So far they’ve had a lot of support from people they’ve approached – hey, it’s just another form of bird feeding, right ?

The property owners keep a journal of the eagles that show up throughout the day and email it in to the project lead. With the data in hand, the project team, trained in handling eagles, returns to the property, traps the birds, collects the data needed and immediately releases the birds.

The goal of this Eagle Project is to develop a better understanding of the Bald Eagle population in the area as well as migratory patterns, health of the birds and information on the age distribution of the birds.

The project is led through the Virginia Inland Eagle Project under the auspices of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and is planned to go on for 10 years to gather the trend data needed to draw strong conclusions about the population.

For more information and an excellent story told from the perspective of one of the property owners, you can read the article online here or download our clipping from the paper here.

Nature lovers entering grades three through seven will not want to miss our Natural History Day Camps (June 28-July 2 and July 12-16) taking place at the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve again this summer. 

Campers will explore the woods, fields, and water of the preserve and learn about the plants and animals that live there.  The camps will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. 

Banshee Reeks is located five miles south of Leesburg off Route 15.   The cost will be only $130 per week, and space is limited.  For a quick look at last year’s camp, here’s the link from Nature Camp 2009.

Staff leading the camp are Phil Daley as Director/Naturalist; Paul Miller as Assistant Director, and Ellie Daley as Special Activities coordinator. Our summer intern will again support the camp as well.

These two fun-filled weeks in the outdoors is sponsored by the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, Piedmont Environmental Council, Loudoun County Parks and Recreation, and Friends of Banshee Reeks.

For more information contact LWC’s Phil Daley at 540-338-6528 or pedaley@verizon.net.  More details will be provided in the next issue of the Habitat Herald and on our website on the Natural History Day Camp page.

Bruce Lemmert, the state game warden for Loudoun County as well as past President of the Wildlife Society of VA, is a long-time member & strong supporter of LWC & Loudoun’s wildlife.

Through the years, he has helped us navigate issues such as construction situations in the presence of hawk and owl nesting and advised on issues around human/wildlife conflicts such as those with our winter vulture populations. 

He also put on two programs for Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, helping to further share the knowledge of the great wildlife and habitats we have here in Loudoun. We truly thank him for all his effort and support (and now that he’ll have more free time….. ?)

He is now retiring after 21 years in his role and a celebration will be held in his honor. More information can be found in this flyer.

Just a quick reminder that we have this great program coming up on Sunday.

The Birds of Loudoun County― Sunday, February 28, 2:00 p.m. at the Purcellville Library. With Loudoun County’s wide variety of natural areas, including rich and large wet forests along the Potomac River, extensive farms and meadows, and large upland forests along the Blue Ridge that rise to more than 1,900 feet in elevation, bird life is abundant. 

Over 100 species of birds nest and raise their young here, and at least another 150 species migrate through each year.  Thousands of hawks and eagles migrate through every fall; ducks flock on the Potomac and Shenandoah in early winter and late spring; and warblers and other songbirds show up in May, sometimes for only a brief visit and sometimes to stay for a couple of months while they raise their young. 

Joe Coleman, president of the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and avid naturalist and birder, will discuss and show slides of the birds of Loudoun County and identify the best spots to find them. Questions: contact Joe Coleman at 540-554-2542 or jcoleman@loudounwildlife.org.

For more details you can download our program flier.

Spring really will be here soon and as an indication of that – the Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District is accepting orders for their annual tree seedling sale! They will also have rain barrels for sale (see below). You can find out more information about this and other initatives they have for spring on the Loudoun Soil and Water website but here’s the information on this particular sale in their own words:

The young, bare-rooted seedlings are well suited to Virginia soils and climate.  Tree species available this year include White Pine, Norway Spruce, White Dogwood, Redbud, River Birch, Sycamore, Shumard Oak, and Paw Paw. The shrub species this year are Indigobush and Silky Dogwood. The White Pine are $25 for a bundle of 50 seedlings and the Norway Spruce are $35 for a bundle of 50 seedlings.  The hardwood species, as well as the shrubs, are offered at $6 for 5 seedlings. Sales tax of 5.0% must be included.

Click on the link 2010-seedling-sale to download an order form  You can also call or stop by the office for an order form.   Pre-paid orders will be filled on a first come-first serve basis.  The deadline for pre-paid orders will be Friday, March 12th.   The pick-up date for the seedlings will be Friday, March 26, 2010 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the LSWCD office on Catoctin Circle in Leesburg (the Wachovia Bank building).  We recommend that you plant the seedlings as soon as possible to minimize transplant stress. 

The District will also have pre-assembled rain barrels available for purchase on pick-up day at $65 each.  If you have any questions, please call the LSWCD office at 703/771-8395 (8:00 am – 5:00 pm).

So, when I thought about doing this monthly series on Monarch Butterflies and “where are they now”, I thought it’d be a lighthearted fun set of posts throughout the year, tracking them as they went from Mexico to the US and Canada and back again to Mexico.

Then, I embarked on that first post in January with the reports of the lowest number of overwintering butterflies recorded but ending the post with a ray of hope….scientists modeled that with 6 more weeks of good weather in Mexico and enough milkweed in spring in the US, the population could rebound.

Well, as February hit and we dig out from our snow storm here, I was flooded by emails on a weather event of a different type in Michoacan, Mexico:  Rains, cold temperatures, mudslides and even a snowfall hit this tiny mountain area.  The towns of Angangueo, Ocampo, Zitacuaro and others were destroyed, leaving a trail of people dead, entire towns of people homeless and the future of Monarch butterflies as we know it in question.

Before I go further to recount the February events, I want to reflect on the words of Emily Dickenson that “hope is a thing with feathers”. To take that further, hope is a thing with wings, indeed, the wings of Monarchs. In this relay of life that our Monarch Butterflies endure, the surviving butterflies will start their journey northward in the next few weeks and we (you and I) play a key role in helping restore their population. The future of monarch butterflies is in our hands and it lies in the seeds of a simple plant, one that you and I can protect and grow far and wide: the Milkweed.

In coming days, I’ll do a post just on Milkweed, but for now, let’s step back into February to understand what happened to the people and the butterflies of Michoacan:

February 4^th was the first email I read and it started with this: “It has rained hard for 3 days and continues.  Angangueo’s river flooded all the way down to the Tuxpan river, and has done much damage in the area of the path of both rivers.  Also, a tornado went through the outskirts of Zitacuaro yesterday and destroyed some places we  know..…They have no electricity, which means also no water, no news….The hospitals have had to close.”

Then, Lincoln Brower sent this report:
“First killing winter storm for the 2009-2010 overwintering season.   I am just off the phone (4:30PM EST) with colleagues in Mexico 4 February 2010.   Pablo Span visited the Pelon colony when it was not raining on Tuesday 2 January and said there were more (presumably dead) monarch butterflies on the ground than he had ever before seen.   Pablo reports that the local Pelon guards told him that there are two colonies on Pelon, one called Carditos and the other La Costera.  According to our student, Raul Zubieta, there was a major winter storm occurring on the Sierra Chincua on Monday 1 February and that this likely has caused major mortality in all the colonies.

Second killer storm.  Pablo also told me that very severe weather is currently impacting the whole area.  At 6 AM on Wednesday 3 February heavy rain began falling and it is still raining at 5 PM on 4 February.  He measured the rain on 3 February at the hotel at 3.5 inches.  As of 740 PM 4 Feb, so far 15 inches of rain have fallen since Monday.  Two groups of tourists attempted to visit the butterflies at Rosario today (4 Feb). 

The first group succeeded, but the second did not because a bridge between Ocampo and Rosario washed out.  Pablo also said that the main highway bridge on Route 15 through Tuxpan washed out.  LPB tried calling Mitzi Mancilla in Tuxpan but could not get through.  Pablo also said that a colleague who lives near Crescencio Morales (located at the southern end of the Sierra Campanario – Rosario is at the northern end) reported serious flooding.  The ejido Crescencio Morales has been illegally and massively clear cut in the past 4 years.  It is likely that the erosion of the now barren former Oyamel forest area is extensive.  Another colleague in Angangueo reported frightening rain for 48 hours and still raining as of noon 4 Feb. and that a house fell down killing three children.  Little we can do…..”

While there was little to no coverage of this tragedy in our US news, there was some information gained through Mexican newspapers online and people posted videos to YouTube. Here is one of them: Angangueo Devastation

Reports show over 10,000 people impacted, 2,500 homes destroyed, hundreds injured and at least 37 killed. Dams broke, rivers overflowed, mountains deforested gave way to massive mudslides that buried homes and buildings below. The Mexican Army was deployed to help as they could. Through the rains, Monarchs clung to branches but were also pushed to the ground.

We hoped for weather above freezing so that they could survive. By February 7^th, the sun was out, rubble was being cleared and Angangueo was officially evacuated. I reached my friend Mario, who guided us through the sanctuaries and took us to special places when we visited last February. He and his family were fine but had lost friends in mudslides and floods.

Information on the Monarch population has been sketchy both because roads to the sanctuaries have been out so few people have been able to get to the colonies to check and because the clusters of Monarchs have dispersed some with the storms. I’ve seen reports that maybe 10% of the butterflies have died, but there have also been hopeful reports that while there has been mortality, it’s not as bad as it could have been for the butterflies.

Here is an account from Journey North with Lincoln Brower on data that has come in so far, pretty much leaving us with the recognition that we’ll have to wait and see: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarch/Brower022510.html

I’ll continue to follow this of course and will post again on our Monarchs in March. But in the meantime, start ordering those milkweed seeds!

Program on Lyme Disease – Friday Feb 26, 2010 at the Potomac Falls HS Auditorium. The program begins at 7pm but information booths open at 6pm

GUEST SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Dr. David Goodfriend, Director Loudoun County Health Department
Dr. Sarah Fletcher, Lyme Literate MD
Dr. Deanna Mitchell, DVM, Animal Medical Center of Cascades
Monte Skall, Executive Director National Capital Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Association
Andrea McGimsey, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Potomac District

Guest speakers will present information about the prevention, dangers, symptoms, and effects of Lyme disease.  Portions of the film “Under Our Skin” will be shown.  www.underourskin.com

There will be plenty of time for questions. If you have questions, please contact Lymecontact@comcast.net.

The spring reading selection has been selected!  Our next book is a collection of essays titled Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer.  Yes, it is about mosses – and also the interconnectedness of all living things. 

You can learn more about our nature book club and sign up to be a part of it by visiting our Book Club page.
 
Although our reading group has increased to 25 participants, we have yet to gather much interest in attending meetings. Hopefully when the weather improves and the days are longer we will have more in attendance. 

Stay tuned for the date of the next meeting which will be scheduled for a date in April, location TBD. As soon as it’s been set, the information will be posted on the website. In the meantime, enjoy this great book!