Volunteering in December 2016

I always enjoy volunteering at The Howard County Conservancy’s Natural Holiday Sale in early December. This year was no exception.

I got to Mt. Pleasant about an hour before the event started at 10 and kept the refreshment table stocked with cookies, water, and Russian Tea until about 1 when the next shift came on. I enjoyed the food in the kitchen for volunteers and vendors too: scones in the morning and then a scrumptious lunch of white chili, salad, chips…and cookies for dessert.

It was a cool but sunny day and the turnout was the highest ever at just under 500 people. The vendor with wreaths and larger arrangements sold out by 1 when I left. The event continued until 3. The critter construction with natural materials and glue guns was going strong the whole time. I took some pictures of some of the materials and sample constructions before the event got started…and then got too busy to do more. Next year maybe I’ll make a critter myself. The activity started years ago for children but now it is popular with people of all ages (although still mostly children).

I’d planned to hike a little after my shift but it was cold and I was tired. I hiked past the farm house where a squirrel was active in the leaves

Because I wanted to see Ranger (the barred owl) in his new enclosure. He seemed calm even with all the activity of people constructing the goat house in the enclosure next to him.

On the way to my car, I couldn’t resist a picture of the flower pot people – in their December garb.

Now – I’m in the holiday mood!

Mt Pleasant – October 2016

It was very damp – almost raining – last Saturday during my hike at The Howard County Conservancy’s Mt Pleasant Farm. I took a few pictures to document the day: black walnuts on the ground in various stages of ripeness,

Colorful dogwood and grass along the drive to the farmhouse….and a zoomed view of the grass.

But the biggest surprise of the hike was some chicken of the woods fungus growing high on a tree near the stream. I was leading a hike so I only took time to take one picture….and then went back again yesterday to take some more documentary pictures. The one below shows that the fungus is at least 10 feet above ground level (near the middle of the image below).

Zoomed in a little – it appears to be growing in a groove in the trunk…maybe a place where lightning damaged the tree. The tree may be standing deadwood since it had no leaves.

Zoomed some more – the groove where the fungus is growing has no bark.

I walked a little further to take some pictures from directly underneath. The underside of the fungus seemed to glow in the morning sunlight.

There were other things to see as well yesterday: the fork in the path down to the stream,

Water on horse nettle fruits and past-prime flowers (the water on the grass soaked through the tops of my hiking boots and got my feet wet!),

And the larger rocks deposited by the storms of last summer at the ‘beach’ area of the stream.

I hiked back to the nature center to get ready to hike with first graders. It was quite a change from last week’s fifth graders!

Belmont BioBlitz – Fall 2016

Last week was BioBlitz week a Belmont Manor and Historic Park. It was 4 fall days with 5^th graders from 4 different Howard County Schools. My husband volunteered as well and we worked together all 4 days. We arrived about 30 minutes before the students to get our gear (a backpack of magnifiers, identification books, a white cloth, and a ruler) and listen to the briefing about what was unique about the day. The students arrived in 2 or 3 busloads with their chaperones and we were assigned a group. The first day we had 5 girls; it was a huge contrast when we had 11 boys the second day! The last two days we had groups with boys and girls - about 10 students.

We started each group with a short introduction and then helping everyone that had smart phones get the iNaturalist app and sign on to the Howard County Conservancy’s id…then we were out in the field. I had added a pair gardening gloves to my backpack and that helped the students find things in the leaf mats, soil and rotten logs – like small mushrooms and worms and slugs!

We made a stop back to the nature center for a briefing about looking at the data they were collecting during BioBlitz after they returned to school – emphasizing the Citizen Science aspect of what they were doing. The observations of the students last week and previous Belmont BioBlitz weeks can be found here: http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/belmontbioblitz.

Most days the students were able to use a spotting scope pointing to the birdfeeders at the edge of the meadow near the nature center. I got a picture of a woodpecker one morning before the students arrived. It seemed like the house finches were gutsier and stayed around the feeders even when the students were not that far away.

And then – after all the flurry – BioBlitz for Fall 2016 was done. I took a picture as my husband and I headed out of Belmont on the last afternoon.

Fall Beginnings

This past weekend, I volunteered Fall Festival held at the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm. It was a misty day. As I drove to the event, I was using the windshield wipers and wondering how many people would show up --- but there were already quite a few people there when I arrived about 11:30 (I wasn’t the 1^st shift of volunteers). I was early enough to take a short hike through the meadow to try out my new camera. I held it so the lens would not get misted…and experimented. One of the first pictures I took was of a cabbage white butterfly that was perched on a flower; I didn’t see it move at all and it had droplets of water on its antennae!

There were lots of spider webs that were made visible by the mist. I didn’t see the spider on this one so maybe they don’t like a web full of water droplets! The sheer number of webs in the meadow – on plant stems, in the grass – was quite large and it occurred to me that they are probably always there but just not as visible when things are dry.

Do you see the bug underneath this thistle flower – using it as an umbrella?

The break in the stone wall allows the paths to connect. I like the area because the rocks are covered with lots of lichen and moss.

The bridge was warped by the storm water surge from the same event that almost destroyed Ellicot City last summer. You can tell that the water was moving under this bridge (left to right)! Before the storm the bridge was straight.

I hiked back to the Nature Center where I was volunteering in the Children’s Crafts area. They made owls with glued on google eyes and stamped feathers (using celery stalks as stamps). There were over 70 children over a 2-hour period!

Only two children make owls with outstretched wings…and one of those was a younger child that decided that using a finger on the stamp pads was more fun that the celery.

And a good time was had by all….

Ten Days of Little Celebrations – September 2016

This September includes some unique ‘little celebrations.’ Two of them occurred in Florida.

OSIRIS REx successful launch. This was only my second time to see a launch (Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral). I can’t imagine that every launch I attend will not make it to the celebration list!

Pelicans. I don’t remember every seeing American white pelicans before…or if I did I didn’t realize what I was seeing. They were the highpoint of the drive around Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge for me.

Happy ‘what if’ thoughts. Both my daughter and son-in-law are close to finishing their graduate work and looking at post docs. September was the first month that there seemed to be a potential ‘what next’ and we all spun all kinds of ‘what if’ scenarios. The celebration will get bigger when we actually settle on a plan – which might not finalize until early spring 2017.

There were things that were not entirely unique – but not things that happen frequently either:

4 hikes with three and four year old children. I was very excited and keyed up while I hiked with each of the groups (about 10 children and 4 adults in each group) talking about trees in the fall and seeds. I celebrated when they were done (I was exhausted) but even more than I’d managed to connect. It was probably my best grandmother-in-training experience to date!

Stream assessment with high schoolers. Putting on boots…checking water quality…identifying macroinvertebrates….with high schoolers that are interested in what they are finding --- celebrating the fall day in the stream as much as I did.

Hummingbird moth. I’m not sure why – but I don’t see hummingbird moths all that frequently. I didn’t see one at all last year. And then there was one at Brookside earlier this month. Celebration (and lots of pictures).

Chipmunk in the garden. I heard some rustling noise in the dried leaves under then bushes then looked around….and saw the chipmunk looking up at me from the end of the drain tube from the sump pump. Yes – chipmunks are rodents…but they are the cutest ones as far as I’m concerned and I celebrate that they survive in my front flower bed.

And then there are the normal things that happen frequently enough…but that I still celebrate when they do:

A rainy day after a long string of hot and dry days. All the plants seem to be celebrating too.

Abundant fall veggies. I celebrate the amount – the colors – the flavors. The harvest time is a special kind of celebration.

Celebration being home. Every time I am away for a few days…or even a week…I celebrate returning. The ‘no place like home’ sentiment rings true for me.

Nature Photography with Mt. Pleasant Summer Camp

The day after I volunteered at Belmont – I was at the other Howard County Conservancy location - Mt. Pleasant – for the same activity. The situation was easier because I had more assistants and the day was not quite as hot. It was harder because there were 15+ more campers (3 groups instead of 2). I started out with a short loop hike before the first group – just to check out what might be interesting topics. I focused on a stand of milkweed after I noticed a smallish Monarch caterpillar. It was the only one I saw on any of the plants but one is better than none!

There were very active red milkweed beetles – mating and foraging.

There were aphids too.

I took fewer pictures with the campers since the groups all had 15 children. The two youngest groups needed a lot of attention. With the oldest group – ages 9-12 – more of the campers had some experience with cameras and were more independent taking pictures so I took some pictures of my own. My favorites were of ripening blackberries,

Horse nettle (with thorns visible…and obviously a plant that is buzz pollinated),

Milkweed bugs on butterfly week (the orange of the bugs matches the flowers quite well!),

Spice bush swallowtails on cone flowers,

Tiger swallowtails on cone flowers (the ones with blue are females, without blue are males),

And my favorite image – a black eyed susan flower just opening amid a lot of greenery.

Photography with Belmont Manor and Historic Park Summer Camp

Last week I volunteered to lead a nature photography activity the Howard Country Conservancy’s Summer Nature Camps at Belmont Manor and Historic Park. The day was hot, humid and there was an air quality alert as well. I got there early and took a walk along the path I planned to take with the first group…and that is when I took most of the pictures for the day. I noticed the Norway maple’s ripening samaras (invasive tree that was planted as part of the landscaping around The Cottage),

The wineberries (good to eat but watch out for the thorns),

Thistle seeds ready to blow away with the next strong breeze,

Caterpillars making their tent in the morning sun,

And chicory (from afar it looks like it is mostly stem but the small blue flowers are lovely at close range).

Later in the morning when I was hiking with the 6 to 8 years old campers, I managed to capture a picture of ripening Jack-in-the-Pulpit seeds and

The forest canopy reflected in a mud puddle. It was getting hotter all the time and our hike lasted less than 45 minutes.

With the older group (9-12 years old) we headed to the formal gardens. It was after lunch and me tried to stick to the shade as much as possible. It worked for a little while. We took a lot of pictures at the water lily pond. Many of the children were as patient as I was to get a picture of a dragonfly on a water lily bud.

I liked the margins of the lily pads – the green, the black water, the glint of the sun…and tiny piece of brown debris.

We misted everyone with water we’d brought to make spider webs more visible and managed to stay out as long as the morning group even though the temperature was hotter than in the morning. Everyone welcomed the cool of the nature center building when we got back!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations – July 2016

Our July has been hot….a very summery month. My celebrations included.

Fireworks – but on July 9^th rather than on the 4^th. It was just when our local community held their event. We did buy a watermelon to enjoy on the 4^th of July – a typical food for summer celebrations.

“The Mother Nature” Award – I was so pleased to be recognized by the Howard County Conservancy for my volunteering with them. The contents of the goody bag (artisan bread and strawberry jam) was part of my little celebrations for about a week!

Photography with campers -  I’ve just finished 2 days of nature photography sessions with campers aged 5-12…and I am celebrating their photographs. I’m glad I’ve made it through the 2 very hot days too. Blog posts about the experience to come in the next few weeks.

Green Heron – I always celebrate seeing a bird in the wild that I don’t see very often…the green heron at Kenilworth is a good example. It was certainly the highpoint of that visit to the gardens.

Butterfly outreach – I volunteered to assist with butterfly outreach to 4 Montessori schools this month…one of which my daughter attended 20 years ago! I celebrated that the school is still going strong, much the same as it was when my daughter attended and the wonderful interaction with the children that are there now. They were all very interested in learning about butterflies.

Indoors, staying cool – We’ve had some very hot days recently and I celebrated most of them staying indoors with air conditioning – glad that I didn’t need to do anything outside!

Milkweed tussock caterpillars – Since I have quite a crop of these caterpillars at my house I have been able to photography them a lot this season. I’ll be doing an update soon since they are now even bigger than they were when I posted about them earlier this month.

Kitchen flooring – We have started the process to replace the flooring in our kitchen. It is 25 years old and needs to be done. I celebrated that my husband and I agreed easily on what we wanted and the materials have been ordered.

Carrot cake and Zucchini bread – This is two celebrations. I am using the bounty from my CSA to bake. I love having one of these for breakfast these days so the ‘celebration’ continues for more than just the day that I back. And I have bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer to make more!

6th Graders at Storm Water Engineering

Last week I volunteered during a 6^th grade field trip to Belmont Manor and Historic Park. It was the last of the Middle School spring field trips there. The field trips activity were a mixture of history, technology, and science. My station for one of the day was about storm water engineering. The majority of the students realized that Belmont is on a hill and that the rain water would run downhill to the Patapsco River into Baltimore Harbor then to the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean. Each team of 4-5 students was given a paint tray with a mound of earth at the high end of the tray as a model for what happens to storm water. They could add sticks, stones, and dry grass in any way they wanted to slow the flow of the water when it ‘rained’ (via a watering jug) on the soil. After 10 minutes of engineering by all the teams, the teams did a short description to the whole group and then the ‘rain’ came as everyone watched.

A surprising number of teams did not think to cover the soil at the top of the tray. It ‘eroded’ when the rain came down and often resulted in fast water runoff and the water was muddy too.

Some of the teams did cover the soil and used rocks and sticks to hold grass in place both over the soil and rocks; the grass turned out to be very absorbent. The water took a long time to get through to the bottom of the paint tray….and was generally clear.

As I watched the teams decide what they were going to do, implement their design, present their design, and then test it, I was intrigued by the ‘light bulb’ moments of learning that were visibly occurring all along the process.

As I walked back to my car after the last field trip – I took a picture of the bald cypress down near the pond – the tall grasses waving in the misty day…. feeling happy to have been a part of the field trips for middle schoolers at Belmont.

Belmont Cemetery

One of the stations on the 6^th grade field trip to Belmont is at the cemetery not far from the Manor House. It was my station earlier this week; I walked out early to get everything set. The cemetery is situation on a gentle slope at the edge of the forest. Looking toward the Manor House, the trees on the grounds are large enough to almost hide the house. The cemetery was used by the family that owned the land from the late 1700s until the mid-1900s.

The longest lived person in the cemetery was 95 years old…and a relatively recent burial.

There was a baby that only survived a few weeks. The cemetery prompts discussion of history…of health care. There are also other topics. Note the difference in weathering of the stones between the one from 1922 and the one from 1972; the newer one (1972) looks more weathered --- different types of stones --- geology.

Another stone toward the back – a child 2 years old with a different last name than any other person in the cemetery. This child was a visitor from Baltimore that died at Belmont and buried in the cemetery in 1834. Her grandfather was Francis Scott Key – another link to history. This grave is toward the back and appears to be isolated but a survey with ground penetrating radar found graves in the open area in the center of the cemetery --- bringing up technology and archaeology.

Lichen growing on a stone that is old enough to be so weathered it cannot be easily read brings up biology and how rock is chemically weathered by the algal/fungi symbionts.

The very large (and old) Tulip Poplar tree just outside the cemetery’s fence is also something the students noticed.

The buses were 20+ minutes later than expected so I had time for some bird observation as well. The blue birds, robins, and tree swallows were enjoying the mowed grass area in front of the cemetery.

Other posts about volunteering at Belmont this month:

• Belmont BioBlitz
• Birds at Belmont for Pre-Schoolers

Mt. Pleasant in May 2016

I volunteered for several field trips in May at the Howard Country Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm – but only managed to take pictures the morning I spent with some middles schoolers engaged in ‘service learning’ which translates to cutting or pulling invasive species. It was a cool, cloudy day like much of our May has been. The Honors Garden gate was open as I walked by – the fountain was on and the garden looked well-tended.

I noticed the old pump – now disconnected but still in its originally location.

The flower pot people were dressed in spring finery.

The wagon shed has a display explaining tree rings but I’ve also become quite familiar with the space since it is ‘cover’ when the day as become rainy – a frequent occurrence this field trip season.

And then this odd gall in a cedar. I did a quick search for it when a got home. It looks like a cedar apple rust gall.

By the time I took these few pictures it was time to get focused on the business for the morning – the wheelbarrows for each group were full of tools,

the left glove and right glove bins were positioned. I got the tutorial on recognizing the plants we were to remove. And then the buses arrived!

We worked for a couple of hours. Honey suckle and wine berry were the most dominate in the area my group was assigned. We cut and unwrapped honey suckle from a small tree – saving it from being strangled and suffocated by the vine. Everyone worked on cutting wine berry to the ground and trying not to grip it to tightly since the fine tips of the thorns sometimes penetrated the gloves. The pile of culled invasives was pretty high when we finished and the students went off to have their picnic lunch – a job well done.

Four Days of Belmont Bioblitz

I spent Monday through Thursday of this week at the Belmont Bioblitz. Fifth grade students from 2 elementary schools participated on Monday and Tuesday; on Wednesday and Thursday it was seventh graders from a middle school. The observations the students logged into the iNaturalist app will be used to refine the Belmont Species List; the list originated from previous Bioblitz events at Belmont. All four days started our similarly – the volunteers gathering in the morning to help the staff prepare. It was quiet enough for some birds (like the nuthatch below) to be at the feeders near the nature center; the feeders would get refilled before the students arrived.

The volunteers would gather in a long line across the drive from the Manor House where the buses would eventually pull up.

Turning around - the swallows and red-winged black birds swooped over the grasses and down to the pond. The volunteers enjoyed the past bit of calm.

And then the buses arrive – almost hidden by the trees as they first come through the entrance gate.

Then more visible as they get closer. The students pour out of the buses and into groups - each with a chaperone (or 2) and 2 volunteers. The volunteers have been assigned zones where their group will focus for the duration of the morning.

Trees are easy to document although the blooms of the horse chestnut were already fading by Monday.

The leaves still were distinctive enough to make identification easy.

The pecan was a popular entry into iNaturalist – one of the native trees that produces something we eat.

Many students were surprised that there are different kinds of oaks – easy to tell by just looking at their leaves.

There were toads hanging out near the pool on the first three days – laying eggs.

They liked the wells around the pool where the water was shaded by the cover.

By the fourth day they were mostly gone and we found one further away into the trees and brushy area.

On Tuesday it rained and on Wednesday, the participants found quite a few mushrooms in several areas where the grass is mowed.

One the last day – the highlight (for me) was a lacewing one of the students managed to capture. We photographed it in a magnifying box

Then released it….it paused for a few seconds for me to get one last picture.

At the end of each day - there is hand washing and then a picnic lunch. On Monday and Thursday, the picnic was on the lawn in front of the Manor House. On Tuesday is raining and the BioBlitz picnic was inside the big tent used for weddings at Belmont. The students sat on the carpet under candeliers. The same location was used for Wednesday too since the lawn was still very soggy.

After lunch - it's time for the students to return to school on their buses...the Belmont Bioblitz field trip is over. But - the collection of pictures and descriptions in iNaturalist has grown each day of the event - quite an accomplishment.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - May 2016

May was the height of the spring school field trip season and three was something to celebrate about all of them –

The preschoolers that earned to recognize red winged blackbirds both by sight and sound

Being remembered by a 2nd grader as his hike leader from last fall (and the hike that followed),

Getting through a very wet field trip with 3rd graders – hiking with umbrellas through the meadow,

The 5th graders on the first Bioblitz day finding a toad near the pool in a formal garden – on their sunny day,

The 5th graders on the second Bioblitz day documenting beetles and trees and slugs and flowers – in the rain making the most of their teams of two or three: one holding the umbrella and the other entering the data into iNaturalist…..and then having their picnic brown bag lunch under the chandeliers in the tent that usually hosts weddings,

And the group of middle schoolers that removed a big pile of invasive plants…..before the rain started!

The trip to Conowingo was worth celebrating. I enjoyed it while I was there and then even more once I looked at my pictures! It helped that we managed to go on a sunny day.

A wildflower talk was worth celebrating for the topic and the ‘new to me’ tidbits sprinkled through the lecture.

I am celebrating a good start to my project to digitize our slides. There are some hidden treasures there!

Another project – cleaning out stuff – is also proceeding well. In this early phase, one of the measurements is how much (paper) is going in the recycle directly or being shredded (and then recycled.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations – April 2016

April was full of springtime activities. Volunteer activities took me

Outdoors with 7th graders in a stream looking for macro invertebrates (and seeing bluebirds and tree swallows on the way to the stream),

To my daughter’s elementary school (15+ years ago) for an outreach program with a barred owl and his expert handler

Into the flurry of activity helping preschoolers craft butterfly models (our of coffee filters, clothes pins, pain, and pipe cleaners), and

To the county STEM fair as a judge – hearing about a project that taste tested mealworm cookies!

There are multiple reasons I celebrate these volunteer activities --- the interaction with the students, the topics, and the frequent connection to the natural environment.

I saw two birds that were worth celebrating (along with the bluebirds and tree swallows already mentioned): a male wood duck at Brookside Garden and loons at Centennial Park.

I enjoyed some traveling and celebrated

Being TSA Pre for both flights – it makes the passage through security faster (and not feeling like I have to get stuff out and off…then back together)

Helping build a chicken coop,

Baking carrot cakes that turned out yummy for 2 birthdays,

Earth Day at Dallas’ Fair Park (and remembering times I had been to the Fair Park many years ago).

And finally – I celebrated a day just being at home!

About Trees

I volunteered to be the ‘tree lady’ - staffing the tree nature station at the family event following the 5K Green Run at Belmont last weekend. Some of the children just enjoyed looking at tree cross sections (tree cookies) and buds cut from trees around my yard earlier in the morning (tulip poplar, black walnut, red maple, and sycamore) with magnifiers while others were keen to fill in all the blanks in the booklet to earn the Howard County Conservancy’s Junior Naturalist Badge. Most of them left my table and headed down the slope to look at some trees up close – sweet gum, white pine, and sycamore. The sugar maple around the corner from the carriage house got some attention too.

It was a good day to be outdoors – sunny and a near perfect temperature. The turnout was not huge – but enough to make it worth the effort.  It was good to see children learning something new about the natural world…and enjoying the outdoor activities (the tree nature station was one of three stations).

I didn’t take a picture of the whole table – just two of the small branches I took as ‘living’ examples. The black walnut has leaf clusters coming out of knobby stems.

The sycamore is just beginning to pop its buds! I had some sycamore leaves pressed from last summer to illustrate how big the leaves would eventually get. Looking at the branch at it is now, that size increase hard to imagine.

The black walnut and sycamore are far behind the tulip poplar that already has leaves as big as a hand and big flower buds. The red maple is already shedding its seeds while the green leaves rapidly unfurl.

Field Trip Training

I attended all the training sessions this month for the spring field trip volunteers by the Howard County Conservancy. The field trips for elementary and middle school students will start soon even though this year the weather has been warm enough they could have started earlier than mis-April. Some of the training sessions were the same as last spring – but I learn something a little extra each time…and I enjoy the short spring hikes that are incorporated into the training. Things change so fast along the paths in spring that there is always something new to notice.

Once the field trips start – the challenge will be to focus on the hiking groups and guiding their discoveries. Every hike is different. Sometimes it works to stay totally on topic…other times there is something along the trail that captures everyone’s attention so we just celebrate the serendipity. Last spring several of my groups just stood for several minutes and watched tree swallows building a nest in blue bird box! I was impressed with how quiet the second graders could be when their interest was focused. Will the same happen this spring? I hope so.

I have a little break for a week and then the flurry of spring field trips start. It will be over by mid-June (even with snow days delaying the end of the school year). It's a great volunteer gig!