Conservation Buffer sign
One of the places that we visit frequently is a private 370 acre park, called Horsepen Run. It’s part of the Countryside HOA, so to visit you need to be part of the HOA or a guest of a member of the HOA. It’s a wonderful property sitting on the Potomac River and abutting Algonkian Park. [Continue]
For the last several years, we have been monitoring a bluebird trail in Loudoun. It is a great volunteer opportunity. It gets you outdoors on a regular basis; you get to watch the whole lifecycle of birds; you get to help out local native birds; and sometimes you get access to some great habitat. For [Continue]
Baltimore Oriole (confirmed breeding at Morven Park)
Today, we attended a workshop at Riverbend park sponsored by the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia that trained us on survey techniques for the Breeding Bird Atlas project. The breeding bird survey is a 5 year “survey of all bird species breeding in the state. Data collected will help map the distribution and status of Virginia’s breeding [Continue]
The Banshee Reeks chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalist program just published its upcoming class schedule. The What You’ll Learn section of the Virginia Master Naturalist website provides a good high level overview of what the classes cover. The Banshee Reeks chapter’s upcoming classes start on September 17th, 2016 and run through April 2017 on [Continue]
McKee Besher sunflower
One of our favorite places to visit in the middle of the summer is actually in Montgomery County, Maryland. Just across the river, near Poolesville, is McKee Beshers WMA. They have a wonderful set of fields of Sunflowers that they plant every year and we try and schedule a trip up to visit them in peak bloom. [Continue]