Here’s a quick recap from the organizers:

We want to invite all the friends of the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship (BRCES) to join us for a free picnic celebration on Sunday, Sept 25 from 3 – 5 pm during which time the BRCES will be presented with the Annual Friend of the Mountain Award by the Friends of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Those attending the picnic will also have the opportunity to take guided tours of our natural and historical resources.

There are well over 50 nests in the Sycamore trees that tower over that forest and more than half of those nests have already been claimed!

The herons we’re seeing on the nests are in full breeding plummage, which is gorgeous! They are staking out their nest territories, fighting each other off as they jockey for the highest nests in the trees.

Great Blue Herons reuse nests each year, adding on to existing nests, and building new ones as needed. They’re communal nesters which makes watching the rookery so fascinating!

If you want to watch these stories play out, grab your binoculars. There’s a tiny parking area at the intersection of Loudoun County Parkway and Marblehead Drive. 

You can watch them making repairs to the nests by bringing in sticks and having little tiffs with each other.

What I am especially amazed by is how they can fly in and land on what looks like the lightest twig, and barely bend it!

Nesting season is a touchy time.  It’s important that people stay a good distance away from the rookery so the birds are not spooked from their nests. Watching from this pull-off is the perfect spot – both for us and the Great Blue Herons. Binoculars are all you need and you’ll see all the action perfectly.

Watch our programs calendar for opportunities to go out with us to watch the Great Blue Herons.  We’ll bring spotting scopes which make it that much more of an amazing sight.

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.

Surprisingly, it was nice weather until about 10am when the winds picked up. We found several locations where the birds were very active–mostly sunny spots that were out of the wind. Many sparrows were foraging in the shrubs and the various hawks were calling and flying over. We were rather startled to see many mallards and a single black duck flying up from the ponds. Some open water was there. Once the wind picked up, we decided to leave.

Highlights of the walk included an Eastern Phoebe, American Black Duck, Field Sparrow, Brown Creeper, and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.

Our total tally was 39 species:

American Black Duck 1, Mallard 47, Great Blue Heron 1, Black Vulture 1, Turkey Vulture 2, Bald Eagle 1, Red-shouldered Hawk 2, Red-tailed Hawk 4, Ring-billed Gull 3, Mourning Dove 2, Red-bellied Woodpecker 3, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3, Downy Woodpecker 4, Hairy Woodpecker 1, Northern Flicker 7, Pileated Woodpecker 1, Eastern Phoebe 1, Blue Jay 5, American Crow 11, Carolina Chickadee 2, Tufted Titmouse 4, White-breasted Nuthatch 3, Brown Creeper 1, Carolina Wren 2, Golden-crowned Kinglet 1, Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1, Eastern Bluebird 9, American Robin 30, Northern Mockingbird 2, European Starling 27, Yellow-rumped Warbler 2, Eastern Towhee 3, Field Sparrow 2, Song Sparrow 4, White-throated Sparrow 25, Dark-eyed Junco 20, Northern Cardinal 4, Brown-headed Cowbird 5, American Goldfinch 2

Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve is definitely one of Loudoun’s Great Places for wildlife and nature explorations. Hike the trails, breathe in the fresh air, enjoy the wild sights and sounds! More information can be found on our page highlighting Banshee Reeks.

About 75 Waterford community members attended a Labor Day weekend picnic at the Old Mill to celebrate the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the Phillips Farm Interpretive Trail on September 5. After enjoying a barbeque dinner arranged by Foundation development manager Kathleen Hughes, Phillips Farm Committee Chair Mimi Westervelt and Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy (LWC) President Joe Coleman cut the ribbon, and together with John Souders, citizens of all ages enjoyed a tour of the natural and cultural history of the Phillips Farm along the new trail.

Appreciation for this new educational resource on the farm and the community was expressed to committee members, the Piedmont Community Foundation’s Peter M. Howard Memorial Fund (which provided a generous grant for the trail), and Foundation staff Margaret Good and Martha Polkey.  A gift was presented to Rob Hale, in absentia, who designed the brochure, and designed and constructed the posts and new signs for the trail. 

Children’s activities included a “Can You Find?” hunt for information about the Phillips Farm and identifying, tagging and releasing live Monarch butterflies.  Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy President Joe Coleman and his volunteers, who partner with the Foundation on many Phillips Farm programs, discussed LWC goals and activities.

In August, Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy volunteers installed netting to protect some of the more than 1,000 trees and shrubs in the riparian buffer planting from rodent damage. LWC volunteers report that the plantings are thriving.

As we started out into the woods, the morning chill (about 55 degrees) kept many of the wildflowers in their closed night time slumber but within about 30 minutes, as soon as the sun started to hit them, the forest floor was carpeted with the tiny white flowers of Spring Beauties and others.

We saw 26 different wildflowers in bloom and many others getting ready to bloom soon.  The ones in bloom yesterday were: Jack-in-the-Pulpit, White troutlily, Yellow troutlily, Toad shade, Wild ginger, Pussytoes, Blue cohosh, Virginia bluebells, Garlic mustard, Smooth rockcress, Cutleaf toothwort, Star chickweed, Redbud, Squirrel-corn, Dutchman’s breeches, Wild geranium, Squaw-root, Spring beauty, Shooting star, Rue anemone, Bluets, Virginia saxifrage, Speedwell, Blue violet, Smooth yellow violet, and Small flower crowfoot.

The bluebells carpeted the floodplain area while Spring beauties carpeted the upland forest area. Troutlilies covered areas of the banks and the bluets were sprinkled in along the trail.  We did our part throughout the walk to pull the invasive garlic mustard but boy is there a lot of it there – choking out bluebells and others.

In addition to the wildflowers, we had great views of a Barred Owl that watched us as we learned the difference between stinging nettle and garlic mustard, Ruby-crowned kinglets that flitted through a scrubby area along the trail, painted turtles that basked in the sun along the river, gray tree frogs calling, a couple of huge centipedes, and mourning cloak butterflies. 

Oh, and did I mention the snakes (heh heh) – yea, it was *really cool* – a few of us went up to an area where black snakes live and saw three wonderful ones coiled around a branch, warming up, and perhaps selecting mates.  It was wonderful. We also saw a few garter snakes slipping through the leaf litter, no doubt in search of tasty earthworms or beetles for lunch.

Also in this issue, we have the continued adventures of Zoom and Compass as they discover worms. There’s also an interesting article on the Mourning Cloak butterfly, and a story of the lifecycle of bumblebees and their humble bumble homes (which you can build as a neat project). You can also learn about Lichens….part fungi, part algae or cyanobacteria…..oh this crazy world!

And, as always, our programs from now through July are listed along with programs offered by organizations with which we partner.

This latest edition of the Habitat Herald will be going out to our members in the next week. If you’re not yet a member, we could really use your support! You can join online. Your membership will run through December 2009!  ($20 for an individual, $30 for a family) and, it is tax deductible as allowed by the law. 

If you join soon we can get this latest issue of the Habitat Herald out to you in our next mailing – if you join after we have our mailing party then you’ll receive a copy of this issue in your New Member Information packet. The Habitat Herald is a member benefit and is published each quarter.

This year I have begun to think about what I want to do on my walks in the woods, what is the goal? After writing down a bunch of goals and tasks I still didn’t have the answer I was looking for. The question was all wrong. So then I asked why do I go and what do I experience. The answer wasn’t what I thought it would be. The answer was that WOW moment that I cherish, that always draws me back.

I love that sense of wow and wonder that I get when I am truly in the moment and I discover something that has been there all along. It is brand new to me and suddenly I see it everywhere. My eyes have been opened and I marvel at the new discovery and beauty of this new object. I look around for someone to tell and want to shout from the mountain tops, “Look at this…..it is sooooo cool.” These moments are addicting like a drug that opens up my consciousness. I guess John Denver would call it a Rocky Mountain High.

The challenge is to continually find that new wonder, the new discovery on the same trail year after year. But the challenge is always met. Something always pops out. Even one small thing is enough to experience that wonder. Mother Nature never fails to deliver.

Sometimes just seeing old friends like spring ephemerals is wonder enough. I can delight in the fact that they are back and I recognize them. Seeing them only once a year keeps them fresh to my eyes. But there is always the fear that they won’t return signaling the end of the world as I know it. I just can’t conceive of spring without Dutchman’s breeches along the Shenandoah River. It would be too much to bear.

So my goal this year is to just be there in the moment and notice what is right in front of me. And to say hello to old friends and see what they have to offer I didn’t notice before.

How about you?

Cheryl

Note: The photo included here is from Algonkian Park – as I went there this past weekend, hundreds of Wood Frogs and Spring Peepers filled one of the vernal pools that runs through the property. Their chorus was so loud, people stopped their cars in wonder. It was fabulous.

The following is the report that we also posted on eBird:
Location:     Bles Park
Observation date:     10/4/08
Notes:     Andy Rabin led a Family Bird walk at Bles Park in eastern Loudoun Co this morning.  The highlights were some well-seen warblers including a NASHVILLE, NORTHERN PARULA, and a PALM WARBLER.  Besides good numbers of CHIMNEY SWIFTS and TREE SWALLOWS we also found a few INDIGO BUNTINGS.
Number of species:     40

Canada Goose, Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Nashville Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow

We also saw a few butterflies including Cabbage White, Clouded Sulphur, Common Buckeye, Eastern Comma, Monarchs

Joe Coleman

note: Photo shown is a flycatcher

Except for one very surprising highlight, a flyover dark morph SNOW GOOSE, Saturday morning’s walk, led by Mary Ann Good & Joe Coleman, was a bit slower than expected but was still a great deal of fun.  The effects of last year’s drought and the lack of recent rain in this area can be clearly seen in the rapidly drying out wetlands.  While still not bone dry and somewhat muddy, it is drying out quickly.  It was fun to also see several waders including several GREAT EGRETS, GREAT BLUE HERONS, GREEN HERONS, 2 adult BALD EAGLES, a WILSON’S SNIPE, and a few more shorebirds.