Fall Field Trips

It’s been a busy season for Howard County Conservancy Field Trips for K-4.  This is my second fall as a volunteer naturalist. There was an uptick in the number of field trips and there were definitely times that it would have been easier with more volunteers….but I enjoyed every one of my hiking groups. The buses generally arrive about 10 AM and the children are divided into hiking or lesson groups. The volunteer naturalists take 5-10 students with their chaperones on about an hour long hike then there is a big swap and the lesson group gets divided into hiking groups….and the volunteer naturalist guides a second hike. At the end there is hand washing and a picnic lunch (or return to school for lunch).

Everything is outdoors so the weather is sometimes a concern. The last field trip was last Friday and it was, by far the coldest of them all. But everyone dressed for the weather. Some of the children even decided it was worth taking a glove off temporarily to feel milkweed down!

You might be wondering what the pogo stick looking object in the picture is. It is a soil auger that is the favorite of all second graders on the soil hike. Everyone gets to use it and all the students are hands on with the samples collected. It’s my favorite from volunteer naturalists perspective too: it is indestructible, gets participation from everyone (sometimes even the chaperones), and the students are thrilled with transitioning what they’ve learned in class to ‘field work.’

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 18, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Corruption of health care delivery system?  - Most of us probably realize - at least occasionally - that the US healthcare system is a profit-driven service industry, where commercial interests overcome just about everything. I know that I don’t trust my doctor as much now as I did 20 years ago! Unfortunately - this study was more about documenting the problem rather than suggesting a solution.

Video Proof That Cats Are Furry Work Saboteurs - Fun! Anyone that has a computer and a cat can identify with the antics in this video.

These Are the 100 Most Interesting Geologic Spots In The British Isles - From the Geological Society.  The site that the article highlights is here.

Two posts about things Tucson….where I may travel later this year: Rehabbing Trails in Saguaro National Park and Surpassing Expectations Tucson Streetcar Ridership Enjoys Great Beginning

These Mirrors Are Part of the Biggest Space Telescope - The silver and gold mirrors for the James Webb Space Telescope

Conservation and Food Security: The $115 Billion Question - Increasing focus is on crop wild relatives (CWRs) - plans that are closely related to domestic agricultural crops. Over the past 30 years, at least 60 CWRs have contributed more than 100 beneficial traits to 13 major crops such as wheat, rice, tomato, and potato.

Yosemite Nature Notes: Monarchs and Milkweed - A short video about milkweed and all the insects (and birds) that come to it.  Are you ready to go out and plant some milkweed?

South Australia Achieves 100% Renewable Energy for a Whole Working Day - So - it can be done. How long will it be before some part of the US is able to do this?

Photo Break: America Puts on Its Fall Colors - I couldn’t resist at least one ‘fall’ post this week. Our area of Maryland is quite colorful.

Zooming - September 2014

Late summer and early fall is a time of transition…lots of changes to capture in photos. There are seed pods

And seeds.

Insects going about the business of feeding,

Mating and growing large enough to move to the phase of their life to overwinter.

The birds are through their nesting and getting ready for migration. There was a bright yellow mold that emerged from a knot in our deck railing after a rain.

And - last but not least in this collection of zoomed images - the bright colors of flowers and chard stems.

HC Conservancy - September 2014

I took a walk around the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant farm before a volunteer naturalist training session last week. The walk around the meadow started out cloudy and the temperature was near perfect. I took a picture of the dogwood just beginning to turn to fall colors along the drive to the farm house as I walked from the parking lot.

The sculpture of the owl in the natural play area for children is taking on a darker patina as is weathers.

I took lots of milkweed pictures; the pods are maturing and beginning to split…and lots of milkweed bugs.

The meadow has some fall blooms. Purple is a popular color (thistles and ironweeds and poke weed)

But yellow of goldenrods are overwhelming.

There was a cut up tree trunk along the stone fence that had quite an assortment of shelf fungus.

Along that same stone fence were two snake skins - one hanging from a tree that seemed to be growing roots into its own trunk and another along a tree branch.

A tidy nest was visible in the very young tree - probably fresh from this summer but now abandoned.

And last but not least - a huge caterpillar of a cecropia moth! I’m glad one of my fellow hikers spotted it!

On Milkweed

Do you recognize milkweed? This is the most common type in our area of Maryland and it seems to be coming up all over right now. I even have one coming up in a front flower bed - which I may decide to nurture and hope the butterflies find it. Years ago we had milkweed plants at the edge of our forest but it either got to shady for them or some other environment change caused them to stop growing there. The corn field near our community used to have milkweed plants along its margins but those are gone as well.

I’m thrilled to see more plants coming up this year since the Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on the plants and the caterpillars feast on their leaves.

There are even orange and black milkweed bugs that feed on the plants and are often seen in clusters of large and small insects (a picture from last fall).

 Many other butterflies and bees like the nectar of their flowers. Even humans can smell the sweetness of the milkweed flowers!

These are things to look forward to in the coming months!