Steps in the Silver Maple Stump

The Silver Maple Stump that I wrote about a few days ago has been made accessible for shorter visitors! There are steps cut into the side that was not sanded to reveal the tree rings!

We looked at dogwood and Paulownia tree cookies to learn how to count tree rings and notice how the rings look different – the spacing, the shape, etc. The kindergarteners were thrilled to climb up onto the stump – three at a time – to gather around the center and count 5 rings from the center. The tree was not very big when it was 5 years old!

They were also surprised that the water on top of the stump was coming up from the roots…and that the stump was not perfectly round. They also noticed some ants that made their home near the outer edge of one of the steps…and a daddy longlegs spider climbing the steps too.

On the down side, when the steps were cut, additional rot was found so the stump may not last very long…I’ll just enjoy it as a field trip stop while it lasts.

Mt Pleasant Meadow

Late Last week, I arrived at Mt. Pleasant early enough to take a short walk in the meadow before a kindergarten field trip. I was surprised that there were so many people already there. It turned out there was a high school filed trip already in progress! I watched them head down the path to the stream. The morning was cooler than the stream field trips I’d helped with in September and earlier this month. Hopefully no one got water inside their boots.

The fields that are mowed for hay around the conservancy have bales now and the parts that are left for meadow are full of goldenrod and plants going to seed – typical fall. The late summer and fall has been drier than usual and the trees may never achieve the bright colors this fall. Some of the trees already look like they’ve lost their leaves – or may those are the ash trees that are succumbing to emerald ash borer (very common in Maryland). The meadow still has a few Callery pear saplings but they are gradually being removed (hard work!). Otherwise – the meadow looks good this fall. There is plenty of goldenrod for any migrating Monarchs that come through.

Silver Maple Stump

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Last month, two silver maples were cut down near the farmhouse at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm because they were dropping large limbs and endangering nearby structures. One of them is conveniently located between the drive that loops around the farm house and the Honors Garden. When I first looked at it, I was thrilled that the stump could be used to talk about tree rings generally…and the history of Mt. Pleasant specifically. The first challenge was that the saw marks were so deep that it was difficult to see the tree rings.

Fortunately, several volunteers stepped forward to sand the smoothest part of the stump so that the rings would be easier to see. It was still a little challenging. The stump includes rotting areas and splits near the center. The stump is still very much alive as well – with sap coming to the surface as the roots continue to collect water and nutrients from the soil. The first time I attempted to count the rings it was a cloudy day and the size of the stump was a bit daunting. I realized I needed a step stool to see the rings toward the center. I came back on a sunny day and climbed up to sit on the stump when I realized that the slope was not going to work with my step stool. I managed to count 124 rings!

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I made a strip of lightweight cardboard with years on it (counting from the outermost ring) and a page that talked about tree cookie parts. For kindergarten and 1st grade students that hike by the stump – we’ll talk about counting rings and then either count 5-6 rings from the outer edge (how much did the tree grow since you were born) or from the center (how big was the tree when it was as old as you). For adults, I have a time line for what was happening at the farmhouse and Mt. Pleasant over the past 124 years and plan to develop some discussion about the weather over the life of the tree. The 1940s and 1950s were the best years for the silver maple!

Stream Assessment – October 2017

I had planned to volunteer at two stream assessments by 9th graders in October.  Both assessments were scheduled to be at the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area but one was cancelled after a heavy rain caused a dangerous situation at the stream – so I only have pictures from one stream assessment. The stream was smaller than the two other locations along the Middle Patuxent that were assessed in September. We crossed it on some rocks (the path came to the river  near where the big log is lying on top of the rocks).

All the gear for the abiotic and biotic assessments was set up on the side of the stream across from the path. It was very calm and shady as we set up.

Then the students arrived…60 in the first group…a little break…and then another 60. I took a few pictures of critters during the break.

One last picture before the second group…what a great place to escape into nature. I’m not sure that the students experience the psychological rejuvenation I often feel in places like this when they come with the larger group (and they are teenagers) - although it was obvious that most of them enjoyed being outdoors and in the stream. When we finished the assessment, the students helped carry all the gear – including the boots – on the 15 minute hike back to the road where they got on their buses and we packed up everything into cars….another stream assessment day complete.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 14, 2017

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.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #107 – National Geographic Society (blogs) and #108 – kestrels and hummingbirds and kingfishers…oh my!

What Skills Will You Need to Be Employable in 2030? – It’s hard to predict the direction of technology…but we know that some types of jobs are easier for machines to do than others. What is left that humans will need to do?

13 Ways to Cut Cancer Risk | Berkeley Wellness – Hopefully none of these are new…they have all be publicized before but maybe not in a consolidated list.

Century-old cactus used for target practice in Saguaro National Park – Very sad. I hope the culprit is cost. It seems like penalties should be higher for this kind of vandalism in a national park.

National Audubon Society Offers Great Educational Resources -  I find myself checking in on the puffins and hummingbirds!

Rome's Colosseum Is Reopening Its Upper Tiers to Visitors | Smart News | Smithsonian – The upper levels have been closed for 40 years due to structural concerns. Now restoration efforts have allowed then to be re-opened.

A Little Calm in a Noisy World | The Prairie Ecologist – The restorative power of spending a little time out in the natural world.

Incredible Macro Photography of Peacock Feathers by Can Tunçer – I am a fan of peacock feathers; one of my grandmothers raised peacocks and I have some feathers she sent to me from the 1980s.

"Living" Chandelier is a Green Lighting Piece Filled with Algae – I like items that are beautiful and serve another function at the same time. I hope eventually that light fixtures are available…and affordable.

BBC - Future - Anti-ageing: Is it possible, and would we want it? – An update on science…and prompting for thoughts of the domino changes that would occur if anti-ageing was reality.

Walking in the Neighborhood

Our neighborhood is not great for a long distance walk…still – there are photographic opportunities at every turn. Before I even left my house, I saw a sycamore tussock moth caterpillar (dense white hairs with butterscotch tuffs at the head end).

I also realized I needed to do another round of raking; the sycamore is beginning to shed is very large leaves – some more than a foot across.

Along the walk I saw a few other leaves on the ground and photographed ones caught my attention. The oaks (not that there are two different kinds of oak leaves in our neighborhood) are shedding their leaves more than the other trees. Most of the maples – which provide the most colorful or our fall leaves – are still green.

The storm water retention pond is not appealing – still full of scum that is very visible without the vegetation that used to grow around the pond. On the plus side, the slopes have not been mowed so the erosion that happened right after the pond was cleaned out last spring has been stabilized.

I sat on the bench and took some zoomed pictures of some of the plants in the unmowed area.

I walked up to the entry of the neighborhood and took a picture of the cornfield across the street. It will be harvested soon. The only green left in the field itself area the weedy vines using the corn for support. There is some chicory growing in the area between the road and the field. Chicory seems to be resilient to just about everything – unlike milkweed which no longer grows in the margins around cornfield.

Belmont BioBlitz – Fall 2017 (Part II)

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The second day of BioBlitz, the area my group was assigned had some native trees planted as landscaping (one was just beginning to display it fall colors) and long row of white pines. We found mushrooms under the pines; one of the chaperones used the clip on macro lens to photograph underneath the bright yellow mushroom (with the phone in selfie mode).

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Of course there were insects and small flowers too….with pinecones to examine while we were enjoying the shade under the pines before heading to the front of the manor house for their picnic lunch.

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The third day of BioBlitz, my group was in the woods. We found several types of fungi growing on rotting wood.

Millipedes seemed to be everywhere. We talked about taking a video as we watched how their legs moved in ‘waves’ to push them forward.

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And then there were lots of small insects we tried to capture in the magnifiers so we could get good pictures!

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This was probably the best Belmont Bioblitz I’ve participated in: the weather cooperated (dry and not too hot) and the 5th graders were enthusiastic observers!

Belmont BioBlitz – Fall 2017 (Part I)

Last week, 5th graders from 3 Howard County elementary schools participated in a BioBlitz organized by the Howard County Conservancy at Belmont Manor and Historic Park. The three mornings were quite busy. I enjoyed the calm before the buses arrived – watching the birds at the feeder and photographing the generally calm early morning scene. Then someone would spot a bus starting up the tree lined drive to the manor house – and all the volunteers would spread out and wait for their group of about 10 students and at least one chaperone to be assigned. Then we headed out into the field.

The area my group was assigned on the first day was meadow rimmed with trees. We used iNaturalist to record observations of what we found: horse nettle, pokeweed, worms, spiders, wooly bear caterpillars, and black walnuts. iNatualist helped us identify things better – particularly if the pictures were good. One of exciting things we found but couldn’t photograph well was tiny worms feeding on the black walnut! We also found a birds nest in the tall grasses of the meadow…and lots of multi-flora rose bushes with thorns that seemed to grab pant legs. In two hours…the students were ready for their picnic lunch in front of the manor house and the return to school – tired from a great BioBlitz day.

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More on the other two BioBlitz days in tomorrow’s post….

Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area

My husband and I visited Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area yesterday – taking advantage of the dry fall day before a few days of forecasted rain. It’s located less than 45 minutes from our house and I’ve had it on my list of places to visit since I was in Master Naturalist training a few years ago; I’m a little surprised that we haven’t found the time before now.

The visitor center is open on Saturdays and sporadically on other days. We got there shortly after 11 and there was already quite a lot of activity. We got a map and headed out to hike. Rather than hiking from the visitor center, we drove a short distance to an overlook that doubles as parking from some of the trails. The overlook shows the area back toward the visitor center.

The loop trail we took started across the road – following red blazes then orange and rejoining the red to get back to the overlook. It past some remains of one of the mines – fenced off to prevent accidents.

There were leaves beginning to fall. Some of the oaks had a very large crop of acorns this year judging by the piles on the path. My favorite leaf was a red sassafras. There were some areas of invasive plants but not as many as places that have richer soils. There were swaths of ferns in a few areas. We walked down to a little stream. The water runs over bedrock in most places.

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The critter-find for the hike as a fuzzy yellow caterpillar with some black tufts. I looked it up after I got home – an American Dagger Moth Caterpillar. It eats oak leaves – among other things.

More than half the path was over rocky areas; Soldiers Delight is – after all – a serpentine barren.

Howard County Conservancy’s Fall Fest 2017

Last Saturday was Howard County Conservancy’s annual Fall Fest. I volunteered for the whole day. I went early since my first assignment was an activity new to the festival. It was good to be there when it was still relatively calm with just the vendors, volunteers, and staff getting ready – because the event was very well attended; toward the end of the day, one of the staffers said there had been about 1,500 cars (so double or triple that for numbers of people!). I know that both activities I helped with were busy the entire time.

The first segment was inside the Nature Center and was a giant map of Maryland provided by National Geographic that took up most of the floor. There were activities that came with the map designed for grades 3-4 classrooms…so I modified them for a walkup audience and varying ages of children. The first requirement was ‘socks only’ – what child doesn’t like taking off their shoes! Even some of the parents joined in. The ages skewed younger so I encouraged them the ‘walk the Potomac River’ either from western Maryland down to the Chesapeake Bay or from the Chesapeake Bay to the west. Almost everyone wanted to find where they lived on the map….I added to that by asking how they would get from their house to the beach and they had great fun finding the Bay Bridge and then Ocean City or the Delaware beaches. Many of the parents helped their children find where various family members lived. Some children walked the Appalachian Trail (an orange dashed line on the map. Others plopped themselves down on the map along a state boundary. Toddlers holding onto a grandparent or parent walked across the map – often standing in the ‘blue.’  Many people noticed that the highest point of Maryland was in the far west of the state…and the big bays: Chesapeake and Delaware.

I took a short break to sit down and eat a sandwich…then I was off to pumpkin painting. The activity was done on two paper covered picnic tables under an awning beside the farm stand selling small pumpkins. 8-10 children could be painting at the same time. The tables were set up with cups of paint and brushes…and my job was too try to keep the brushes in one color and the cups supplied with paint….wipe up the splatters on the paper when they got too thick. The original idea was to replace the paper during the day be there was never a slow time so the wiping kept them from getting too messy. The pumpkins were put on paper beside Montjoy Barn to dry; they were picked up as people left the event.

The hay ride (large wagon pulled by a tractor) line was near the pumpkin painting. There was a line every time I looked!

It was a busy day and the two places I worked were full of people enjoying a fall day. Maybe next year I’ll have time to walk around see more aspects of the festival!

Zooming – September 2017

I spent a lot of time outdoors this month; it’s fall and the weather has been near perfect. The moon was visible in the morning of one of the clear days and I took pictures through frames of leaves. This one is my favorite.

In the first half of the month the butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens was still open and I have lots of zoomed pictures for that but picked two of the blue morpho for this post. Toward the end it was hard to find one with wings that were not battered and palpi intact. These two are in reasonable shape.

Then there were butterflies out in the gardens. The Mexican sunflowers and cone flowers were popular. Do you see the tree skippers (butterflies) on the yellow cone flowers? Click on the image to get a larger view.

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The streams are beginning to be colorful with newly fallen leaves. The macroinvertebrates we search for to assess stream quality love matted, rotting leaves! I like the zoom on my camera that helps me get pictures without putting on my tall boots and wading into the river.

A large silver maple was cut down this month at Mt. Pleasant (Howard County Conservancy) and I working to count the rings and create material we could use with hikes we do for elementary school children. The saw marks were so deep that it had to be sanded before we count the rings…but insect damage was evident. More on this project as it progresses…

Of course, there are plants that area always a favorite – a graceful curve of a leave with water droplets, a flower turned to face the sun, a rose on a rainy day, a beechnut husk (the goody already eaten by a squirrel), birds hunting the bounty of seeds, and a tangle of succulent.

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Home Alone

I never lived alone so it is unusual to have some days to just be at home by myself – having no reason to be anywhere else. It happened this past weekend when my husband was away at the Black Forest Star Party at Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania. I would not like it to happen frequently, but what a luxury for a few days! I got caught up on so much and enjoyed the quiet house.

And I still enjoyed some views of the star party my husband sent. They had relatively clear skies for 2 of the nights making it a worthwhile endeavor for the 500 or so people that were there camping on the field with their telescopes.

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Gleanings of the Week Ending September 23, 2017

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.

Celebrate Cassini’s Historic Voyage in Eight Incredible Images | Smart News | Smithsonian – Cassini has crashed into Saturn’s atmosphere (intentionally) and there have been quite a few retrospective articles about its long mission. I liked this one…so am including in the gleanings for this week.

Eighteenth century nautical charts reveal coral loss -- ScienceDaily – The study compared the coral documented in the Florida Keys in nautical charts from the 1770s to satellite data. More than half the coral reef has disappeared completely. Nearer to land, the loss is closer to 90%.

What We Still Don’t Know about the Health Benefits of Nature – THE DIRT – I noticed this article first because the picture under the heading is of Klyde Warren Park in Dallas (I visited there several years ago and enjoyed it) but thin the article was worth looking at too. It defines some priorities for research to understand the health benefits of nature better although most people already agree that is it beneficial…but how exactly does it happen. Some doctors are already prescribing time in the park!

North American Ash on Brink of Extinction | The Scientist Magazine® - In Maryland many of the Ash Trees are already dead or dying. Very sad.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #105 – National Geographic Society – There’s an Eastern Bluebird toward the middle of this collection….perched a little differently than I usually see them.

A Monumental Road Trip in Northern Arizona - National Parks Traveler – I’ve been to most of these places…..and enjoyed them all.

BBC - Future - How we’re creating ‘super plants’ to help humanity – The article highlights 4 ideas: cross-breeding super plants, using plants as medicine, bananas on steroids, and fire-fighting plants.

Learn How to Create Zentangle Art, a Meditative Form of Drawing – This article is about doing Zentangles (drawing patterns) rather than buying an adult coloring book. I started doing doodles and graduated to Zentangles and never was tempted by the ‘coloring book’ craze.

Ruins of a Roman City Found Off the Coast of Tunisia | Smart News | Smithsonian – The area of ancient Neapolis is off the coast of Tunisia. It was destroyed by a tsunami in 365 AD.

Why are fossilized hairs so rare? -- ScienceDaily – Evidently, fossilized hair is 5 times rarer than feathers.  Chemistry? Environmental conditions? The research includes statistical analysis of where hair and feathers have been found in the fossil record and make some predictions about where and how to look for them going forward.

Wings of Fancy Volunteering Retrospective

I enjoyed volunteering at Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy exhibit. The seasonal exhibit ended on September 17th and I’m missing it this week; I’m already keen on volunteering when the 2018 exhibit starts next April. I started later this year because I only decided to volunteer for in in May…but even so – I managed 26 shifts during the summer months and the first weeks of September. I’ve posted about the earlier shift previously…but am including the last 7 (all in September) in this post.

Shift XX was a sunny day and I enjoyed a walk in the gardens – flowers and butterflies.

Shift XXI was wet and there were times that the only people in the conservatory were volunteers! I took some pictures inside the conservatory with my cell phone.

I parked near the Brookside Gardens Visitor Center rather than near the conservatory for Shift XXII. I hadn’t noticed the horsetail and gingko planting in the bed around the conservatory before…and the brightly colored bench. As I walked down on to the conservatory, I noticed a rotting stump with bright yellow function growing on it.

The moon was still out when I got to Brookside prior to Shift XXIII. Along the butterfly walk (the path to the ticket taker for the exhibit) the gold finches were enjoying seeds and there was still a Monarch caterpillar on one of the milkweed plants.

Shift XXIV was rainy – again. I manage a picture of a spider web that held big drops of water. Attendance was light enough that I took pictures inside the conservatory.

It was a sunny day again for Shift XXV…but attendance was light again. I took a series of Monarch pictures: caterpillars and two mating pairs.

For the final shift, I was fixated on palpi (structures that start on either side of the proboscis and then lay between the eyes) again because I had seen so many blue morphos that appear to not have any. Evidently the blue morpho frequently breaks its palpi while the owl butterfly (second picture) does not!

And so – a fond farewell to Wings of Fancy…until 2018.

Training for Fall Field Trips

Early September is training time for Howard County Conservancy’s fall field trips for Howard County Schools. The content of the field trips had not changed this year; that meant I could take pictures rather than focusing totally on learning the material as we took the example hikes.

Montjoy Barn

The barn is one of my favorite places. It dates from the 1700s and was moved to Mt. Pleasant in 2003. It has doors on two sides that make a great frame for pictures…and the pegs used in its construction surprise children and chaperones alike during the elementary school hikes.

Stream Assessment

We used the Davis Branch at Mt. Pleasant for the stream assessment training. We’ll be doing the student science activity with 9th graders in many streams and rivers around the county this fall. There is an abiotic component (testing the water) and then wading into the stream to look for macroinvertebrates.

Meadow

The hikes through the fall meadow are a joy with second graders studying insects or soil….or sometimes taking a tangent from the assigned topic to observe vultures soaring or small flocks of gold finches enjoying the seeds of meadow plants.

The volunteers are trained…primed for the fieldtrips to begin!

Hiking to the Patapsco

Last Saturday, I led a group from Belmont Manor and Historic Park to the Avalon area of Patapsco Valley State Park. It was a beautiful day for a hike – sunny and not too hot. I didn’t take any pictures going downhill since I needed to be in the front. I did stop to check some spicebush (understory trees) for caterpillars since I am more aware of spicebush swallowtail caterpillar behavior from the Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy caterpillar house (see my post about them here) while we made a short stop to allow the group to come together.

Once we got down near the river, a volunteer ranger met us to provide some park history. One stop was concrete Avalon Dam and I took a picture of it through the tangle of vegetation trees. The river bypasses the dam now! Looking down I noticed some self-fungus and very green moss among the accumulating leaves.

We stopped at the sign about Elkridge Landing. There is some controversy about exactly where the Landing was but it probably was not exactly where the sign I located. Another bit of history: the sign was made as an Eagle Scout project; it was very nice at the beginning - but has not weathered well. Maintenance in the park is always a challenge.

This is a wall that remains near what was the mill race in colonial times for the Avalon Nail and Iron Works – mended many times. It could be used for a geology talk as easily as for history.

While we were in the park we saw an ambulance come by with flashing lights and then leave again – lights still flashing. We heard that a hiker had gotten bitten by something. Later we learned the bit was from a copperhead and was on the ankle. It was a warm enough day that many people were in hiking sandals and shorts….scary that there was at least one snake not that far from where were hiking.

We started our hike back up the trail and noted the shelter along the trail that we hadn’t noticed on the way down because we stayed on the fire road rather than taking the trail.

The trail through the forest was up hill but shady and scenic.

I stopped to enjoy the stand of bigleaf magnolia. I didn’t hike to see them in the spring this year…maybe something to plan to do in 2018. That’s when they would be blooming.

The path is at the edge of the meadow for some distance and took pictures of a spider and meadow plants going to seed.

The hike was over 4 miles --- a good prelude-to-fall hike.

Spider Webs at Brookside Gardens

Every time I volunteer at Brookside Gardens, I go a little early and look around the gardens for about 20 minutes. One day I parked at the Visitor Center parking lot rather than near the conservatory and walked the path between the two locations. The lighting was good for seeing spider webs.

This one still looks relatively ‘new’ – no giant holes from catching some prey. Some of the anchor strands are visible too. I liked the neat semicircle shape.

Most of the time the webs are more circular. I was disappointed that I couldn’t get a better angle on this one to see the complete web…but the spider is waiting in the center!

Once I got close to the conservatory I noticed a lot of webs on the bushes at the side of the building. As I started photographing this one…the owner-spider made an appearance…surprising me enough that I only took one more picture of the web!

Some of the webs in the bushes were like little hammocks and this one had relatively large water droplets. It was more three dimensional that the picture captures. I decided that I still liked the image because of the water droplets on the web (there naturally…I was not carrying around a spray bottle!) and the foliage.

One of the greatest joys of these little walks before going into the conservatory is seeing something unexpected and unique for the morning. On this sunny morning….it was the spider webs!

Rainy Day Butterflies

There are always butterflies on the glass ledges of the conservatory in Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy. I took pictures of a blue morpho and owl butterfly looking out – imaging them like young children wishing the day was one they could go outside to play. They don’t stay at the window forever – eventually they flutter off to the banana tray or the plants in the conservator that are more natural places for them to roost.

When it rains, the conservatory has many leaky joints and sometimes the area near the windows is as wet as the outdoors. There was a butterfly that evidently succumbed while it was looking out the window and became a collection of the drips at the window. It’s always sad to find a dead butterfly. Their lives are often 30 days or less. This one managed to keep its wings intact – no missing pieces.

More Butterfly Eyes and Palpi

Last week I posted about the Blue Morpho and Owl Butterflies – included macro views of their eyes and palpi. This week I have pictures of eyes and palpi of some other butterflies in Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy. It’s also easy to see the proboscis (some coiled…others extended) in these images. Note also the number of legs. All appear to have 4 – rather than six!

It turns out that the largest family of butterflies – Nymphalida (brush-footed butterflies  or four-footed butterflies) stand on only 4 legs. The two that are closest to the head are not used as legs; their purpose is not clear and may be different for different species. In the picture below you can see them: bristled and pointing downward toward the legs. Note that one of the palpi is damaged. Butterfly wings often look battered…and other parts of their bodies are easily damaged too.  

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar

The food plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail’s caterpillar is spicebush – an understory tree here in Maryland. When the caterpillars get larger, they have spots on their head that look like eyes…and giver the illusions of a snake! They probably fool quite a few predators.

The caterpillars also fold leaves around themselves when they are not active and that folded leaf may be the easiest way to spot them in the wild. Next time I hike through a forest that I know has spicebush – I’ll be taking a few minutes to look at the leaves.

The caterpillars I photographed (and observed) were in the caterpillar house of Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy. When the caterpillars are large enough to pupate, they expel the waste in their gut and turn from green to yellow orange. They make a big effort to leave the food plant. Since the food plant is in a pot, the caterpillars trek around the rim then fall off…trek some more…we put them in a pupation chamber so they don’t get stepped on!