Howard County Conservancy Blog

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

Really Really Muddy

2007-08-10T14:30:00.000-04:00

By R

Enough said!

Down and Dirty

2007-08-06T14:05:00.000-04:00

Does your lunch come from dirt, or the shirt you are wearing? The campers will be discovering why soil is important for everything we do, while getting down and dirty in our soil pit or making dirt soup! On Tuesday, the campers will be visited by the Howard County Soil Conservation District staff in which they will take a hike around our property to discover why all of our topsoil is down by the stream (do you know why?) Wednesday is the big mud day, where they are making mud castles, mud tosses and other fun mud activities. Thursday is our water day, (we were supposed to go to the Patapso, which we are not allowing due to the swarm of last week.) Overall - it is definitely a down and dirty week, where the campers should get nice and muddy!

The Birds of Prey

2007-08-03T13:59:00.000-04:00

The above pictures are a screech owl, barred owl, kestrel and a red tailed hawk.

This is just a sampling of some of the birds that Mr. Heacock from Hashawa Outdoor School brought with him. It was a great program, and I think the kids really enjoyed seeing them up close! Don't worry, none of these birds could survive on their own, and Mr. Heacock really stressed the importance of not taking in any animal from the wild to be a pet.

One interesting fact: most owls get hit by cars because someone threw their leftover food out the window of their car. A mouse comes to eat the yummy morsel of food, then the owl comes to eat the mouse. Then you guess it: the owl goes to a place like Hashawa and lives the rest of its life in a cage. I think we all learned to keep our food with us, and to compost it if possible.

All about plants and birds and streams

2007-08-02T13:28:00.000-04:00

by K and R

Yesterday we went birdwatching. We built a shelter for them with sticks. Some people found two salamanders. There were down near the stream, one under the log in the mud.

On Monday we saw hiked to see the sassafras tree. It has three different shapes of leaves and the leaves smell like froot loops. You can kind of chew on the stems.

We ended up in the stream and got all dirty! It leads to the Patapsco and the Patapsco brings it to the bay.

Ants and snakes

2007-08-02T12:58:00.000-04:00

by E and E

Today, when we went to feed the goats I saw a colony of ants and they were eating this food but I don't know what it was. It looked mushy and orange. Here is a picture, but the food is gone:

On Monday, my class was looking for ants and we needed to see how much time it took the ants to find food. It took 4 1/2 minutes. They picked up yogurt-covered raisins! They left some behind.

Yesterday Miss Martha or someone else found a baby rat snake. I wonder how it sprayed that odor onto Miss Martha's hand. It really smelled bad! There was a tree near the house on the hill, near the barn. There were snake eggs in it. One of them hatched. That may be where the baby snake came from.

"Bee" Cautious

2007-08-01T14:51:00.000-04:00

Ryan and Eli

On July 31, 2007 our group was on a hike to Patapsco Forest and a camper stepped on a ground hornet nest hidden in a log. After someone got stung we all tried to run up a hill to get back to the trail. The hornet's chased us all the way up to the path. When we got back to the building everyone was fine except for a few bumps and bruises.

Eco-Detective Week (July 30-August 3)

2007-07-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

We have a very exciting theme this week. Of course I think so, I came up with them! Anyway the kids will become mini-detectives and look for clues of what calls Mt. Pleasant home. Along with this, I was able to get Mr. Heacock, the principle of Hashawa Outdoor School, to come and bring some of his feathery friends. The educators have plans for diseccting owl pellets, along with an archaeological dig and doing the Mentos and soda experiment. We are ending the week with tye dyeing, either their own shirts or camp shirts -(if they are new this week).

It is going to be fun, to find out everything that they see this week.