August 19, 2018

Belmont Hikes with Summer Campers V

August 19, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

The theme for last week’s summer campers at Howard County Conservancy’s Belmont location was STEM (Science – Technology – Engineering – Math). I decided to a pick some STEM related activities that were more like field work than actual hikes.

As usual there were two groups of about 15 each. The first group was the younger one; some of that group were just getting ready for kindergarten. I started out by handing a ruler to each camper.

We started by using the rulers to measure samples I’d brought in a bin (a stick and tulip poplar seedling were popular) and parts of the nearby barn. We did quick tutorials for campers that had not used a ruler before. One student measured one of the tiles – discovering that it was the same across and up/down (i.e. a square). Six campers collaborated to measure the lentil over a low window of the barn (5 feet 4 inches)! Most of the time we tried to measure in centimeters although we used both sides of the ruler.

I started a log of everything we measured on a pad of paper and clipboard.

We measured most of what we encountered on our hike including flowers, several feathers, grass, pine needles and cones, a fake rock (used to cover equipment), holly leaves and berries, a stump and and some very colorful mushrooms.

The second group campers were a little older – up to 12 years old. First, we talked about examples of science new sources (like Science Daily). I used an article about the discovery of moths roosting in hollow trees in Florida as an example. Then I showed them the information about the moth in the Maryland Biodiversity Project site…the way I knew the moth lived in Maryland as well as Florida. And we all knew there was a hollow tree nearby.

I had two small flashlights and we started out.

We didn’t find any moths but there were a lot of spider webs in the hollow tree. There was something there that kept the spiders well fed! We found a dead cicada nearby in the grass and examined it closely before we started out next activity.

The second activity with the group was to determine the height of a tree using a piece of paper and a tape measure. The technique worked but after using it for 2 trees we decided a 25 feet long tape measure for measuring trees over 125 feet tall was too painful (we measured a tulip poplar and white pine)…and it was too hot for more field work. We headed back to the air conditioning and lunch.

It was the last day of summer camp at Belmont. These STEM themed hikes were a good finale for us all. Everyone is getting ready for school to start…and the training sessions for field trip volunteers start too.

August 17, 2018

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in August 2018 – Part III

August 17, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the posts about last week’s visit to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, this post features the birds we saw. The first was a Great Blue Heron in one of the lotus ponds. It was moving around. Maybe it was looking for breakfast, but it didn’t find it while we watched.

We saw a Great Egret just off the boardwalk out over the marsh toward the Anacostia River. It was looking for breakfast…and found a fish!

A fish crow surveyed the marsh overhead….making noise to let the rest of the marsh know we were there.

Further out toward the river were some more Great Egrets on a snag among the drying lily pads. One flew off its perch after a fish and then continued hunting among the lily pads.

As we walked back through the gardens toward the parking lot, my husband spotted a Great Blue Heron on a bridge over a pond. Do you see it?

We slowly walked toward it. It noticed us and turned around….then flew off.

We noticed as we crossed the bridge that it must use the bridge railing as a perch frequently – based on the white bird droppings there.

August 16, 2018

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in August 2018 – Part II

August 16, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Last week we made our last trip to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens for this year. Today’s post features the insects and a turtle that we saw. There were a few monarch butterflies; there are so few these days that I always celebrate even if I just see one!

The insects my husband wanted to photograph were dragonflies. There were several species flying in the garden but the only ones that sat long enough to photograph were the blue dashers. They like to perch while they survey their surroundings. I photographed individuals on a dried flower (note how battered the wings look),

On signs,

A lotus pod (did something take a bite of the pod?),

And on other vegetation.

My favorite critter of the visit, was a Eastern Painted Turtle. It was getting some sun at the edge of a pond and looking very Zen. It was not still. When I first saw it, the front legs were tucked in. Then it stretched them out and turned itself toward me. I was on the other side of the pond an appreciating the zoom on my camera to capture the turtle without disturbing its morning.

August 15, 2018

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in August 2018 – Part I

August 15, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Last week we made our last trip to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens for this year. The lotus flowers are nearing the end although there were still a few plants blooming.

a 20180809_091941.jpg — There are many more seed pods than flowers now…at all stages of development.

The button bushes have a few blooms still…but are also showing off seed pods.

There was an oak leaf in the parking lot that looked a lot like a city map (white roofs) with noticeable greenways.

The rose mallows are still full of buds and blooms.

I was glad to see the water lilies still blooming. The extra rain might have prolonged their season a bit this year.

Stay tuned for a post about insects and a turtle we saw at Kenilworth tomorrow…and then the birds we saw will be featured in the post for Friday.

August 14, 2018

Butterflies Resting – on Me

August 14, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

While I was manning the exit at Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy the first hour after it opened yesterday, I had 3 different butterflies decide to take a rest on me. The first was a blue morpho that sat on my left hand. It must have felt very secure since it sat still while I got my cell phone out, entered the security code, started the camera app, and braced the cell phone on my arm to get pictures – moving in closer and closer. The butterfly’s wings were tattered but the orange in the upper legs and the palpi (between the eyes) was very distinct. The proboscis is neatly coiled.

The second butterfly was another blue morpho that started out on my sandal. I crossed my leg, so I could get a get a closer shot. The butterfly was very interested in the strap of my sandal and then my ankle with its proboscis. The wings were in better shape that the first butterfly; notice the yellow and orange color toward the outer edges of the wing.

The third butterfly was a malachite that was on my hat. A visitor told me I had a butterfly on my hat and it stayed there when I took my hat off so I could see it! I had to one-hand the phone again but was pleased with the pictures I got of this butterfly. I like the patterning of the underside of the malachite butterflies…even more than the brighter green of the other side of the wings.

I’ve never been so lucky to have so many butterflies resting on me during a visit to the exhibit. They were on other people as well…something special about yesterday.

August 12, 2018

Neighborhood Walk – August 2018

August 12, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

I started out about 7:30 AM. The temperature was in the mid-70s already and the humidity was high. It was better than waiting until later when the forecast was for 90 degrees. The birds were quiet again; it was well after sunrise. I did see a robin with a grub (or caterpillar).

The storm water pond sometimes has egrets or herons…but not on this morning. The frogs were noisy at the pond although I didn’t see them. It seems like there were enough of them to attract the herons as they have in previous years.

I did notice two dragonflies flying over the pond attached to each other – the male clasping the female behind the head. He landed on some grass in the pond – too low for them to complete the ‘wheel’ that is the next phase of the mating choreography. I didn’t stay long enough to see the finale.

A female purple finch (white eyebrow) flew to one of the dried reeds.

On the way home there were quite a few mushrooms in one yards – on both sides od the sidewalk. They were not all the same kind either. I wondered if the owners had done something in that area that made it good for mushrooms since I didn’t see others during my walk.

I returned home – ready to be in the air-conditioned house for the rest of the day!

August 10, 2018

Morning Walk at Mt. Pleasant (part 2)

August 10, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Today I’m focusing on the plants I photographed during my morning walk earlier this week at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant. The seed pods on the sweet bay magnolia are in all stages of development: from green to

Seeds bursting from the pod (I always think they look like red M&Ms) and then pods that are mostly empty and dry.

There are always chicory flowers after each rain. I liked the blurs of yellow and green behind this macro image.

Goldenrod is beginning to bloom. Goldenrod is one of the nectar plants for butterflies into the fall. People thought it caused their terrible fall allergies but now ragweed is said to be the primary culprit.

There was Queen Ann’s Lace in the meadow as well. It’s always interesting to me how different a plant appears in the macro view.

As I hiked along the narrow path near the stream there was a young sycamore that had leaves that were beginning to lose their chlorophyll for fall. The leaves were backlit so I took some macro images to show the changes.

There are still new leaves being unfurled on the tree too; this one was about the size of a dime.

Thistles are not very friendly looking! Too many prickles.

Bind weed is an occasional plant in the meadow. The flowers always look like they have little pleats.

This mint flower – taken from above with the macro lens – was coated with morning dew.

Dandelions are always attention getters. They look a bit like bursts of fireworks…or yellow streamers.

Even the clovers that are usually not noticed have a unique beauty seen through the macro lens.

Do you recognize mile-a-minute? It’s an invasive plant that grows very quickly and has wicked thorns.

And now for the Pokeweed. The ones I photographed were still blooming and the fruits that were formed were still green. They’ll turn purple later…and the stem will be bright pink. I’ll remember to photograph the plants through the fall to track their development.

By the end of the walk – I was hot…ready to cool off in the air-conditioned car as I drove home and to drink a lot of water.

August 09, 2018

Morning Walk at Mt. Pleasant (part 1)

August 09, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Earlier this week, I took a morning walk at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant. I stopped by the nature center first to leave some comments on a new BioBlitz guidebook; my plan was to hike down to the Davis Branch. I forgot my camera at home so was ‘roughing it’ with my Samsung Galaxy S7 and clip-on macro lens.

I stopped near the Honors Garden to look at the sweet bay magnolia…and noticed some eggs under one of the leaves. The only way I know to figure out what they might be would be to isolate the leaf and wait for them to hatch! I didn’t do that…so it will be a mystery. Maybe a ‘leaf footed bug’?

I walked down toward Montjoy barn and noticed that the pear tree in the old orchard looks terrible – many bare branches. It’s an old tree and I hope it sees another season.

Near the demonstration garden at the top of the path, an Augochlora sweat bee was slow enough that I got a picture!

Some id references: http://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Documents/CommonBees.pdf and https://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-state.asp?thisState=Maryland

I saw a flock of goldfinches as I walked down through the meadow. They kept moving just ahead of me all the way down the hill. I regretted leaving my camera at home. There were also lots of dragonflies and butterflies and gnats in the meadow. I should have sprayed my clothes and hat with insect repellent for the gnats.

When I got down to the stream, it was cooler because I could easily stay in the shade. I walked down stream a little and saw what looked like one of the trees purposefully upended as part of the upstream restoration that must have been sweep away by one of the recent rains. It is now caught on some rocks and other tree debris and will ‘slow the flow’ in its new location too.

When the water is high – there are two paths for the stream in the old ‘beach’ area. The one in the upper left is the main channel; the one in the middle of the picture is no longer flowing and will dry up if we don’t get another big rain this week.

I took the narrow path along the stream. There is high vegetation on both sides. Sometimes it opens enough for sun loving plants like milkweed to grow…and this skipper landed just in time for me to take a quick portrait.

There was a vista of a restored area of the stream. The pools look a little larger than I remembered – possibly because it has been so rainy recently. One part of the path was very muddy and I wondered if there was an intermittent spring there.

There were two butterflies on a Joe Pye Weed nearby. Rather than use the digital zoom on the phone, I clipped the area I wanted when I got home. It’s easy to identify the two butterflies: tiger swallowtail and monarch!

I hiked back to Montjoy barn on the sunny side of the stone wall. I didn’t stop along the way since it was hot and sticky. When I got to the shade near the barn I looked more carefully at the vegetation and found a new-to-me orange, white, and black insect. I had no idea what it was but I took several pictures and then identified it when I got home: an ailanthus webworm moth. It’s an insect that followed the invasive Tree of Heaven to our area. Aargh!

Tomorrow I’ll post about the plants I saw along my hike.

August 07, 2018

Horsenettle

August 07, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

When I first got to Belmont…well before it was time to organize for the hike…I walked down into the meadow and discovered an area of shorter vegetation that was thick with Carolina Horsenettle. It looked like an area that might had soil added…and the seeds of the weed must have come in with the new soil.

I started taking pictures. The flowers of these plants are like tomato flowers – although considerably bigger. Horsenettle is in the same genus as tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant but no part of this plant is edible. The flowers are pollinated in the same way as those food plants…with bumblebee’s buzz pollination. I suspected if I had a very high-speed camera that the bee I saw on the flowers we getting showered with pollen as he buzzed close to the flower. Note that many of the leaves have holes; whatever that is eating them, gains the plant’s toxicity as a security against predation. The stems have thorns so it’s better to use the zoom on the camera instead of trying to get close.

The fruit of the plant looks like a tiny green striped tomato right now. In the fall they will be yellow. I point them out on school field trips…making sure the students know they are not tomatoes…not edible (and about the thorns as well).

Horsenettle in Wikipedia and Maryland Biodiversity Project.

August 06, 2018

Belmont Finches and Red Winged Blackbirds

August 06, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Before the big hike last week at Belmont, I sat in the shade and took pictures of birds coming to the bird feeders while the summer campers were inside the Carriage House getting ready. I noticed finches at first. Sometimes there are 3 or 4 at the feeders together.

When the red winged blackbirds come the finches scatter. I managed to get one picture with both. The red winged blackbirds are a little bigger…and they tend to dominate wherever they are.

There was another bird that showed up that looked scruffy. Was it another red winged blackbird? I continued taking pictures to find out.

I think it is – one that is either sick or a juvenile getting adult plumage! The patch of color on the top of the wing looks mottled but it’s there.

August 05, 2018

Belmont Hikes with Summer Campers IV

August 05, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Last week was probably the longest hike of the season for the summer campers at Howard County Conservancy’s Belmont location. It was the combined group of campers so when we started there were just under 30 campers and all their junior counselors and counselors. More than half of them made it the whole distance.

While we were getting organized I took a few pictures of the lichen and moss in the large English Elm to the side of the carriage house. I also noticed that there was more moss than before on the roof of the carriage house – probably from all the rain we’ve gotten this summer; we go for days where nothing dries out completely.

Once we headed out, I didn’t have much time for taking pictures. We cut across the mowed grass field to connect with the Morning Choice trail and enter the forest near the grove of Bigleaf Magnolias. We saw at least one seed pod high in the trees. They have the look of tropical trees with their large leaves.

We continued – connecting with the Ridge Trail and noticing that the trail that goes down the Avalon Area in Patapsco Valley State Park was closed. On and on through the forest – noticing some trees that had recently fallen – their roots not being able to keep them upright in the soggy soil. Even though it was the Ridge Trail it was up and down…we even crossed a stream. We stopped for a little bit longer rest.

I photographed a millipede. There were several that the campers found…very pleased with themselves since the critters are well-camouflaged in the forest.

We finally made a final trek into the valley and over a little stream we were all familiar with because of its proximity to the Carriage House. It was time for lunch and I had already met my 12,000-step goal for the day before noon! Everyone was tired…in a good way…thrilled to have made it back from our trek.

August 04, 2018

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 4, 2018

August 04, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

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.

Babcock Ranch in Florida Is to Sustainable Living What Tesla Is to Sustainable Transportation | CleanTechnica – This is how new development meshes with sustainability. We need to figure out how to retrofit existing communities toward sustainability too.

Interview: Adventurous Photographer Shares His Experiences Shooting Lava – I don’t have a desire to photograph active volcanoes with flowing lava….but I enjoy photographs taken by others.

US opioid prescribing rates by congressional district -- ScienceDaily – Opioid addiction is such a sad outcome in the US medical system…and it doesn’t seem like we are making progress even with the recognition that we have a problem.

Think everyone died young in ancient societies? Think again | Aeon Ideas – Even before the advent of modern medicine – there were people that lived to be very old. One of my great grandmothers lived into her 90s and all my grandparents survived their childhoods before vaccines. But many people didn’t. Epidemics like flu, typhoid, yellow fever and bubonic plague killed many people in the areas where they struck….but some people survived.

New battery could store wind and solar electricity affordably and at room temperature -- ScienceDaily – Lots of research on batteries and other forms of energy storage now….required if wind and solar power can supply 100% of our energy needs. I almost brought of ‘the grid’ but I’m not sure that a grid is going to dominate the future of our energy needs…it might…or might not.

Truth, Disrupted – An article from Harvard Business Review about false (not fake) news.

Researchers are one step closer to developing eye drops to treat common sight loss condition -- ScienceDaily – Good news…if this development lives up to the early results.

Top 25 birds with a sugar rush – Have to include some eye candy….and birds…in every gleanings post!

Unique Assemblage of Stone Tools Unearthed in Texas - Archaeology Magazine – The age of the assemblage is older that Clovis-style tools. The variety of colors and shapes of the stone (picture) is appealing too.

Researchers explore popular food trends in nutritional review: Evidence suggests beneficial outcomes from legumes, mushrooms, coffee and tea -- ScienceDaily – The most surprising result from this research: “The verdict on dairy as part of a heart-healthy diet is still out, and if consumed, full-fat dairy should be avoided.”

August 03, 2018

Dogwood Sawfly Larvae

August 03, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

The saddleback caterpillars were not the only new insect for me last weekend at Brookside Gardens. I noticed a lot of white ‘caterpillars’ on a yellow twig dogwood near the gift shop end of the conservatory….they were dogwood sawfly larvae!

When I went back with my husband on Monday, there was a person spraying the plants just as we got to the gardens. I’d heard that other plants in the garden were infected and it didn’t take me long to find some that had not been sprayed. I got close enough pictures to realize that the larvae have a similar color and texture to lemon bars: white (like a dusting powdered sugar) on top and glistening yellow underneath.

They were so plentiful on the dogwoods that some fell off into the grass below

Or started climbing up into the bald cypress that was overhead.

Probably by the time I go to Brookside this weekend they will mostly be gone – either because of spraying or the plants will be devoured and the larvae in the pupa stage.

August 02, 2018

Saddleback Caterpillars

August 02, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

I had heard about saddleback caterpillars in the training for field trip hikes with the Howard County Conservancy…but only seen them in pictures. One of the surprises last Saturday when I went to Brookside Gardens for a Wings of Fancy shift was the news that the caterpillars had been found in the part of the conservatory not used for the exhibit; they were feeding on canna plants. So – the staff had put them with the plant in a closed case in the caterpillar house giving me and everyone that visited the exhibit an opportunity to see them without the pain that comes from touching them (their bristles have venom!) by accident. On Monday morning, my husband I returned to try to photograph them through the glass of the case. They’d almost doubled in size between Saturday morning and Monday morning! My camera did an OK job – not fabulous but they are clearly saddleback caterpillars.

My husband got the better picture.

2018-07-30-Brookside butterflies-058.jpg

If you are interested about this and other poisonous caterpillars, Nancy Goor has an informative page with great pictures on her web site.

July 31, 2018

4 Free eBooks – July 2018

July 31, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Last month I have 4 eBooks to highlight and the same is true for this months – so I gave up and changed the title from 3 to 4. I had a lot of books to choose from…went for a bit of variety.

Yōfu gajō (v. 1). Kyōto-shi: Yamada Unsōdō. Published originally in the Meiji period, 1868-1912. Available from Smithsonian Libraries here. I liked the scenery in this volume – muted colors except for the red that pops. In the image below – do you think it is a Japanese maple? This was one of the last books in the collection of Japanese books available from this site; if you want to take a look at the whole collection – do so from the Japanese Illustrated Books from the Edo And Meiji Period page.

Andō, Hiroshige. Tokaido gojusantsugi. Published originally in the Edo Period, 1600-1868. Available from Smithsonian Libraries here. I couldn’t resist two images from this book – rain and snow. I think the snow is my favorite because of the pink….maybe sunrise?

Catlow, Agnes. Drops of water : their marvelous and beautiful inhabitants displayed by the microscope. London: Reeve and Benham. 1851. Available from Internet Archive here. The book was published just before or early in the Victorian surge in microscopy and became one of her most successful books. She was also one of the early science writers that wrote science books for young students.

The Craftsman. New York: United Crafts. A magazine founded and edited by the American furniture designer Gustav Stickley and published from October 1901 to December 1916. All issues are available from the University of Wisconsin Library’s Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture here. I am working my way through the issues a year at a time. I’m up to 1907 as of yesterday.

2018 0731 ebook4.jpg — There are lots of ideas that would work in modern situations….like hanging curtains far enough away from a window to allow chairs to be in front of the windows without having any curtains at all in the way of the light. I can imagine sitting in the chairs on a sunny winter day with sun streaming in…closing the curtains so that the area gets cozy warm…reading or writing on my laptop or creating a Zentangle.

July 30, 2018

Ten Little Celebrations – July 2018

July 30, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

The little celebrations of every day add up to far more joy that the big celebrations of the years. I always find it easy to highlight 10 each month. For this month – I celebrated

Being home again after being away the last 3 weeks of June. I always appreciate being able to have my quiet time…sleep in my own bed.

The CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) bounty. I sign up for the smallest share but it is still a lot. Still - love the fresh veggies and find it easy to ‘eat healthy’ with the abundance and variety.

2018 07 IMG_1722.jpg — **Compost in Howard County**. I learned a lot when I toured the compost facility in my county and celebrated that they are building a second phase.

A free compost bin. I picked up a free compost bin from the county and have started my one composting – so far so good. I trained enough to be dangerous.

2018 07 IMG_2082.jpg — **Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC).** I’m always exited to find new/interesting places that are close enough to where live to explore again and again. I am waiting until it is a little cooler to return.

2018 07 lo IMG_2012.jpg — **Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.** One of the places we’ve enjoyed in June-July for the past few years. Lotuses are always worth celebrating.

Photo shoots with summer campers. It’s been a summer volunteer gig for the past few summers – always some results worth celebrating. This year I discovered that it was still good even with it rained.

**Wings of Fancy.** Butterflies area always worth celebrating…and being At Brookside frequently enough to notice other people celebrating too.

Saddleback caterpillars and sawfly larvae. I always celebrate when I see organisms I’ve heard about but not seen before (I’ll be writing a post about these soon).

Cleaned out flower beds. The vegetation in front of our house was overgrown by the time I got back from Texas. I celebrated when several mornings of work begin to make it tidy.

July 27, 2018

Belmont Hikes with Summer Campers III

July 27, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Yesterday I was at Howard County Conservancy’s Belmont for photography hikes with the summer campers. We could hike because the rain moved out during the night and the morning was sunny. The cardinal flowers near the entrance were blooming well after the deluge of the previous days.

I started off the younger group with an activity looking at sycamore leaves from the branches I had cut from my tree at home: looking at the holes made by caterpillars and comparing the sizes of the leaves. We made a pattern on the pavers of the patio in front of the Carriage House as a subject for our first photographs.

We found a very small caterpillar on one of the leaves.

Then we went around to the other side of the house and looked at the pollinator garden and the surrounding vegetation.

The older group of campers went to the formal gardens behind the manor house. There were three kinds of butterflies that I managed to photograph….but missed the monarch that some of the campers managed to catch on the cone flowers. I took the common buckeye, a cabbage white, and a hairstreak (maybe a gray hairsteak). The last one was new to me….had to look at it closely when I got hope. It looks like it has antennae on both ends!

We gathered around the water feature in the gardens and enjoyed the variety water lilies and a lotus growing there. There were bees – usually head down – in several flowers.

Dragonflies are hard to capture with cell phone type camera (which is what most of the campers were trying to use) but everyone saw them…and I managed a picture.

Behind the formal gardens – the campers with cell phones experimented with the macro lens to photograph lichen.

There were tree roots damaged by mowers that look like eyes in the soil!

Overall – a good day for hiking and photography!

July 26, 2018

Mt. Pleasant Nature Photography on a Rainy Day

July 26, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

This is the week I do nature photography with summer campers at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant and Belmont. The photography day at Mt. Pleasant was very rainy. It was the first time the weather kept us from the hiking/photo shoot. I cut some lower hanging branches from the sycamore in my yard and we used them for photography and to study the size variation…and the holes in the leaves. All three groups of campers (grouped by ages 5-12) did something with the leaves.

There were a few critters that we found on the covered porch of the nature center: a daddy-long-legs that become very interested in the pile of sycamore leaves,

A slug on a log that had come in from the floor of the nearby forest, and a house centipede that seemed to be just escaping the rain. All three critters stayed around for the 3 hours we were working.

I got some other things out from the storeroom: snake skin, antlers, skulls, honey comb, a nautilus shell, pelts from a racoon an fox.

One of the most popular items was a talon from a red shouldered hawk.

I had my clip on macro lens for campers that were using cell phone cameras. The tattered butterfly wings were popular objects for that experimentation.

The very last group was the luckiest of all because it stopped raining for a little while and we went out into the Honors garden a few steps from the porch. The campers took pictures of flowers and

An Achemon Sphinx moth that was wet and twitching on the ground near one of the flower beds – probably after being bitten by a spider.

I had a few minutes between groups and was thrilled when a couple of hummingbirds braved the sprinkles of rain and came to the feeder!

I would rather have hiked with the campers…but we managed a ‘next best’ on a rainy day in Maryland.

July 25, 2018

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center - Part II

July 25, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing about my day at SERC last Friday…

I got to SERC early enough that I walked around a small pond and took my first pictures of marshmallows.

There were more of them in the marsh near the boardwalk as we made our way out to Hog Island. They were – by far – the biggest flowers of the area.

A tiny flower that I photographed along the trail from very close up was a mint. I was careful to look for poison ivy and plants with thorns before I positioned myself to take the picture.

2018 07 IMG_2095.jpg — And then there were trees…trees with lichen…a canopy of green…a pathway lined with green.

There are ongoing studies that make exact measurements of tree trunks over time. Metal bands are used; they expand as the tree grows and the amount they have expanded is measured.

2018 07 IMG_2092.jpg — There were trees with holes in their trunks. The rows of holes are probably made by a bird – a yellow-bellied sapsucker. I remembered seeing a similar tree during my last hike at Belmont and being thrilled that the campers already knew the bird that made the holes!

There are young paw paw trees in the forest and I realized that I had seen these at Belmont as well. I know the tree from its bark but not is leaves!

2018 07 IMG_2145.jpg — There was a standing dead tree that had the thickest collection of shelf fungus I’ve ever seen.

A sickly dogwood had more colorful bark that I am used to seeing on a dogwood.

As we got back to the cluster of buildings – on the road by the geothermal well area – there were some sycamores – with a few skeletonized leaves…something was eating them…and the last flower of the day:

Some black eyed susans.

After the hike, we had lunch followed by a lecture about orchids. The North American Orchid Conservation Center is based at SERC and there are 9 native orchids that have been found there! We saw one on the earlier hike (the cranefly orchid) – unfortunately I didn’t get a good picture of it. The website for the organization - https://northamericanorchidcenter.org/ - is full of get information about native orchids and there is a colelction of orchid-gami printables if you want to make paper models of orchids!

July 24, 2018

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center - Part I

July 24, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

I spent last Friday at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) near Edgewater MD. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources had organized the day and announced it to Master Naturalists. It was a day well spent! When we were not hiking, we were in a classroom in the Mathias Lab Building, a LEED platinum facility complete with solar panels and geothermal wells.

The first lecture of the day was about spiders (and other creepy crawly critters) that sometimes are unappreciated or frightening to some people. I find myself being more interested in looking closely at spiders – although when one crawled across the ceiling of my bathroom there was still a cringe.