Howard County Conservancy Blog

Pygmy Goats

2009-06-05T10:37:00.003-04:00

The Conservancy has welcomed 2 baby pygmy goats! The male pygmy goat is black and white and weighs about 15 pounds. The female is party colors (white, grey, brown) and weighs about 12 pounds. After their arrival in April, we put jars out in our nature center and asked visitors to come up with name ideas for the goats. During School's Out this spring, students pulled names out of the jars. Results: the little girl is name lily and the boy is Rocky. Thank you to everyone that participated! Rocky and Lily have made themselve right at home and they love visitors! If you have not already had a chance, stop by the goat pen and to meet them.

Trout Lily

2009-06-05T10:24:00.004-04:00

The trout lily, also known as the dogtooth violet and adder's tongue, gets it name from the resemblence of its mottled leaves to a brook trout. The latin name is Erythronium americanum. These plants grow in moist fertile woodlands, forming low-growing colonies. Young plants have 1 purple-brown mottled leaf and no flower. As they mature, plants grow a 2nd leaf and can then produce a single flower. The flower is yellow and has 3 petals and 3 sepals. Most of the trout lilies at the Conservancy bloomed breifly in late April. These pictures were taken by the East Branch stream during the Earth Day celebration on April 18, 2009.

Earth Day Celebration Bird Hike List

2009-04-20T11:29:00.003-04:00

HCC celebrated Earth Day on Saturday, April 18th. The day started with a morning bird hike. The following list shows give species names and the number of individuals observed.

Location: Mount Pleasant Farm
Observation date: 4/18/09
Number of species: 49

Canada Goose 19
Hooded Merganser 1
Common Loon 27
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 5
Cooper's Hawk 1
Broad-winged Hawk 4
Red-tailed Hawk 1
hawk sp. 3
American Kestrel 1
Killdeer 1
Wilson's Snipe 2
Rock Pigeon 1
Mourning Dove 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)2
Eastern Phoebe 2
White-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 6
Fish Crow 1
Purple Martin 2
Tree Swallow 14
Barn Swallow 1
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Eastern Bluebird 4
American Robin 8
Northern Mockingbird 2
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 2
Eastern Towhee 2
Chipping Sparrow 1
Field Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 3
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)1
Northern Cardinal 6
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Common Grackle (Purple) 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 12
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 7

Fox

2009-03-18T12:50:00.002-04:00

Spring is finally here, and things are becoming active at the Conservancy. This fox walked right by our office windows Monday morning. Meg Schumacher, executive director, snapped the picture.

Josie's Birthday Party

2009-03-18T12:36:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, March 7, 2009 Josie Shirah celebrated her 9th birthday at the Conservancy. It was a beatuiful day for a party - all the snow had melted from the storm earlier in the week thankfully.
Josie had one of the best birthday cakes! She asked the bakery to creat an outdoor scene with some of the animals that we have here at the Conservancy. If you look at the picture, you will see Sticky- our tree frog, Roho- the corn snake, the 3 baby terrapins, Mr. Brown- our bunny, and even an owl (a scout has constructed an owl cage for the Conservancy, and we are in the process of aquiring the proper permitting for a captive owl). A good time was had by all!

School's Out Bird Count February 16, 2009

2009-02-16T15:00:00.003-05:00

The Howard County Conservancy's School's Out Program participated in the Audubon bird count on February 16, 2009. Participating in the bird count were Tabby Fique, Education Director and students Patrick Swentzel, Colin Steplowski, Lewis and Sidney Hollander, Emily Tardell, Meg and Caroline Tippett, Anna Boyd, Kevin Aguilera, Ivy Liu and Dylan Boswell. This is what they saw:

3 Black Vultures
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Mourning Dove
1 Red-shouldered Hawk
1 Red-bellied woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
5 Carolina Chickadee
1 Tufted Titmouse
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
3 White-breasted Nuthatch
5 Eastern Bluebird
1 European Starlings
1 Warbler
2 Song Sparrow
5 Dark eyed Junco
7 Northern Cardinal
1 Common Grackle
5 House Finch

Howard County Bird Club Count

2009-02-09T10:01:00.003-05:00

The Howard County Bird Club conducted a mid-winter bird count at the Conservancy on February 7th. Here are their results:

The Club was on the property from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m. and found 32 species, down from last year’s 35 species. The biggest miss was American Tree Sparrows. Mount Pleasant has consistently yielded American Tree Sparrows for the Mid-Winter Count for as long as I’ve covered the farm, so this was a big surprise. But we had two new species, one Brown Thrasher, and six Pine Siskins. Brown Thrasher is a new species for winter on Mount Pleasant. I see that Pine Siskin is already on the list, but no season has yet been designated for it. At least four were visiting the feeders behind the Gudelsky Center. We found two more at the north edge of the big field owned the State

The count:

Canada Goose 12
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Ring-billed Gull 32
gull species 7
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 6
Downy Woodpecker 6
Northern Flicker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Blue Jay 16
American Crow 32
Fish Crow 6
crow species 2
Carolina Chickadee 13
Tufted Titmouse 11
White-breasted Nuthatch 4
Carolina Wren 3
Eastern Bluebird 12
Northern Mockingbird 9
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 21
Eastern Towhee 5
Song Sparrow 29
White-throated Sparrow 26
Dark-eyed Junco 25
Northern Cardinal 12
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Common Grackle 2
blackbird species 300
House Finch 11
Pine Siskin 6
American Goldfinch 19

The Howard County Conservancy would like to thank the Howard County Bird Club for conducting this count at Mt. Pleasant.

Recently seen at the Conservancy

2008-08-19T14:25:00.001-04:00

Richard Orr from Mid-Atlantic Invertebrate Field Studies has been hiking the property and shares these finds. Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonflyhunter/sets/72157606790070356/

New babies at the Conservancy

2008-06-26T14:33:00.005-04:00

We are the proud parents of four baby chicks and three baby terrapins. The chicks are 2 Americana, 2 Golden Polish. The terrapins will be cared for here until they are ready to release this fall. They were found in a hotel parking lot. Our summer campers will give them lots of TLC to help them grow strong.

Chipping Sparrows

2008-04-18T11:37:00.002-04:00

Chipping Sparrows are singing around the farmhouse. Look for their bright chestnut crown and listen for their dry trill, all on one pitch.

Cooper's Hawk Sighting

2008-04-03T08:42:00.002-04:00

On Sunday, March 9, 2008 I arrived at the Conservancy to find a Coopers Hawk perched on one of the chairs on the back porch. The hawk was likely stalking our bird feeders looking for a meal. I ran and got the camera; this was not an opportunity that I was going to miss. The hawk flew up onto the bird feeder and I snapped the picture. I then proceeded to follow it into our field before it finally flew off.

Persimmons and weasels

2007-11-02T13:15:00.001-04:00

Oops, I was wrong! After a little bit of research we now think the weasel is a mink, which is still in the weasel family. I actually find it very fascinating that a mink would be on our property, considering that it really doesn't have large bodies of water. It must of been following the east branch in search of some water during the drought. The east branch does eventually hit the Patapsco, maybe that is where it came from.

Today hiking with the school's out children we ran into several persimmon trees. Not quite ready to eat, leaving a very dry feeling in your mouth. The word persimmon is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, or pessamin, from Cree, an Algonquian language of the eastern United States, meaning "a dry fruit". No wonder - if you ever tasted an unripe persimmon you would understand.

Bird Club Field Trip

2007-10-29T14:45:00.000-04:00

A lightly-attended Howard County Bird Club field trip yielded a nice selection of seasonal birds:

Canada Goose
Black Vulture: 1
Turkey Vulture:
Sharp-shinned_Hawk:
Cooper's_Hawk:
Accipiter_species:
American_Kestrel: 2
Mourning_Dove:
Belted_Kingfisher: 1
Red-bellied_Woodpecker:
Yellow-bellied_Sapsucker: 1
Downy_Woodpecker:
Northern_Flicker:
Eastern_Phoebe: 4
Blue_Jay:
American_Crow:
Northern_Cardinal:
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 15
Eastern Bluebird - 20
Hermit Thrush - 3
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 19
Palm Warbler - 12
Eastern Towhee - 5
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow - 4
Red-winged_Blackbird:
Eastern_Meadowlark: 2
Common_Grackle:
House_Finch:
American_Goldfinch:

Kurt
Conservation Chair
Howard County Bird Club

Weasels!

2007-10-23T14:42:00.000-04:00

We always said that a weasel killed our chickens, and now we have proof that they live on the property. On Saturday, I was leading a birthday hike focusing on slithery, slimy creatures. We were down by the stream, and I had the children go into the dry stream bed to turn over rocks and logs to see what was under them, when a parent told me there was a "dead thing" up the hill. Of course I immediately went to check it out! It was the size of a squirrel with a long furry black tail, but not as bushy as a squirrels. I tried to get the skull (with my bare hands - which the kids loved!) to take it back to the center, but the darn thing just was not participating. I told the children that it was OK and I would get it later. There was plenty of things to capture their attention - I had them suck on some spice bush, dye their hands with some walnuts, a dad passed out some wild grapes, and we checked out a box turtle that was crossing the path!

Today, as I was retelling the story, one of the staff members decided to go get the carcass for me (I have a horrible chest cold). She brought it back to the center - and it is definetly a Weasel! We will try to preserve the skull and tail. So come on over, take a hike, you never know what you are going to discover!

Mt. Joy Update

2007-10-03T20:41:00.003-04:00

More pictures of Mt. Joy. It should be all ready by our Fall Festival!

Question of the day

2007-10-02T21:41:00.000-04:00

Can anyone tell me what is happening to these leaves?

2007-09-28T09:47:00.000-04:00

During the naturalist training on September 27, a few of the things we saw were:

Praying mantis ootheca eggsack
Brown Praying mantis (fortune teller) eating a small brown butterfly with 1 inch spotted wings.
Monarch butterflies
Cabbage butterflies
Webworms on tips of branches

Trees
Sassafras and Dogwoods turning color
Catkins on musclewood/hornbeam trees
American beech full of beech nuts
White oak full of acorns
Black cherries with ripe fruit

Vines
Virginia creeper turning red with blue berries
Fox Grapes with ripe fruit
Poison Ivy

Grasses
Red top
Little bluestem
Big bluestem with turkey foot seed heads
Deer-tongue

Flowering plants
goldenrod
knapweed
chicory

Bluebirds and Hawks

2007-09-26T20:51:00.000-04:00

During the walk for the volunteer naturalist training, we noticed some bluebirds hanging out on the railing of the bridge. The bird expert in our group thought they may of been a little tipsy from eating too many ripe cherries. But low and behold there was a coopers hawk sitting right above them! They weren't drunk, just scared!

Fall Birds

2007-09-21T14:04:00.000-04:00

Look up! The birds are migrating. An American Kestrel has been hunting over the meadow below the barn for two days now. Northern Flickers are exploring for tasty worms and bugs. This one disappeared in tall grass for a while and then looked things over from a handy log.

Scott

Volunteer Naturalist Training Session Three

2007-09-20T20:25:00.000-04:00

It is pretty amazing what you can see when you just stop. During the trainings we tell the naturalists that they are not tour guides. To teach what they love the most, and to make the most out of those 'serendipitous moments'. Well this was a perfect example. Even though the class was about weather, we couldn't help but be amazed at this moment - a praying mantis eating a milkweed bug.

Mt. Joy Barn

2007-09-17T11:06:00.000-04:00

I know this isn't nature oriented but I love this picture. This is the progress of the Mt. Joy Barn. Hopefully it will be completed sometime in October. Please visit us on Fridays or Saturdays from 9:00 - 4:00 during our open hours and check out the barn yourselves!

Volunteer Naturalist Training

2007-09-13T13:00:00.000-04:00

Volunteer Naturalist training started on September 6th. (If you wanted to learn more about our education programs please visit: http://www.hcconservancy.org/) This is a great opportunity to hike around and learn about the natural history of Mt. Pleasant. Today we walked the grassland loop and found many wildflowers and grasses (yes I know most of these are non-native) but they are still pretty.

Goldenrod - usually blamed for allergies, which is not true. Their pollen is heavy and falls to the ground. It is the ragweed that is to blame.

Knapweed - Grows in disturbed areas.

Chicory - It has many uses, but one of the most popular is as an additive for coffee.

6ft. bunch of grass - None of us know what it is, but we will have fun researching it!

Pears from our pear tree (not in the grasslands, but the orchard). They are hard and really good for pies, as they don't break down. But beware, add lots of sugar as it is not a sweet pear.

Of course you can find more information on various websites like wikipedia and enature.org.

Peace,

Martha

Animal mayham(fun filled week of animals)!

2007-08-16T12:36:00.000-04:00

By Katie
On Monday,we went on a hike and saw a fox hole. After that we saw bones.On Tuseday we found a toad by the creek. It was brown with golden spots.On Wednesday Tabby`s group found a baby garden snake. It was hanging from a spiderweb and we saved it.

A Home in the Woods

2007-08-16T12:26:00.000-04:00

By,Enya

This week(Strive to Survive) Mrs.Tabby group helped build a shelter with big sticks and grass(stilt grass and grass). I never would have thought that it could take 2 days to build a basic shelter made out of sticks and grass. Maybe you could come and see what we did? See you next time

Butterfly Hike on Saturday

2007-08-13T10:39:00.000-04:00

The butterfly hike on Saturday was a big success. 37 people attended. Dick Smith helped the group find and identify 17 types of butterflies.

Species sighted:

Silver-spotted Skipper
Horace’s Dusky Wing

Swarthy Skipper
Least Skipper
Fiery Skipper
Peck’s Skipper
Zabulon Skipper, Male

Black Swallowtail
Tiger Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail

Orange Sulphur
Cabbage White

American Copper
Red-Banded Hairstreak

Pearl Crescent
Red-spotted Purple

Monarch