Hayden Matthew BRNP Archaeological Presentation

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Friends of Banshee Reeks is privileged to have an exceptional informed speaker accompanied by subject matter experts in archaeology with displays of pre-historic and colonial artifacts discovered at Banshee and surrounding areas. A portion of the presentation will be considered continuing education for VMN members. An RSVP is required as the venue is the Education Annex where there is a 40 person limit. The presentation will start promptly at 6:30 PM, March 23, 2016. If you will be coming, please register athttp://bansheereeksnp.org/event-2167188 by this Sunday Noon so we can get a good head count.

 

In this program Hayden Mathews, current President of the Banshee Reeks Chapter of the Archeological Society of Virginia (BRASV) will present an overview of the archeological work that has been done at Banshee Reeks Preserve since its creation.  This program will discuss some of the representative archeological finds at Banshee and what they have revealed about the human presence here over the last 15,000 years and the soils, geology and topography of the Preserve and how they likely influenced human occupation on the land.  Representative artifacts from pre-colonial settlement by First Peoples as well as post-colonial European occupation will be shown in the program.

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Willowsford Conservancy Bluebird Monitoring Kickoff!

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A current VMN trainee :), Iris Gestram would like us to know about this opportunity.  This is in conjunction with the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy who will have two presenters at the program kickoff.

Here’s what you need to know if interested:

The kickoff date to remember is March 20th.

Join Us! 2016 Bluebird Monitoring Program Kick-off
When: Sunday, March 20
Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Where: Syacmore House
Ages: adults and children 8+
Cost: free!

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Fishers at Banshee Reeks?

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Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve is beginning a project on fishers (Martes pennanti) with the assistance of two Master Naturalists (Kathy Neal and Mike Manning), Ashley Greer (an intern from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute), and biologists from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. There have been two unconfirmed sightings over the past two years by hunters in the area. Fishers are considered an extirpated species in Virginia. Ron Circé, BNRP Manager, states, “We will be conducting a camera trapping survey using 15 new cameras. Project plans have already begun and it is hoped that the preliminary site selections will be done within two weeks and cameras set in one to two weeks.”

According to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries website, “habitat destruction, excessive trapping and shooting” have all but eliminated fishers from Virginia. “Wanderers from West Virginia are now appearing along Virginia border areas, (Highland, Rockingham, and Rappahannock counties), but there is no evidence of reproductive populations in Virginia.” The website also states that fishers were “probably formerly widespread in the mountains of Virginia”, and that “it survives best in extensiveforest and wilderness areas for its home range is large – 15 to 35 square km.” An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 2007 states that the West Virginia Division of Wildlife Resources released 23 fishers from New Hampshire in 1969. In just three years, “the population had grown large enough to support a legal trapping season.” Currently, fishers are frequently seen in forested areas of the state. If verified that fishers are at BRNP, biologists from various state agencies, e.g., the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Department of Environmental Quality will be notified and sent copies of the data. Several federal agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey, will also be notified and sent copies of the data. The confirmed presence of fishers here will rewrite the current natural history of fishers due to their range expansion and coming back as an extirpated species. The data will be published in a scientific journal. Evidently fishers are populous in other states: Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin even have a fisher trapping season in the late fall every year. David Cazenas and Ron Circé contributed to this report.

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American Coot

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The American Coot (Fulica Americana) or Mud Hen, is a fascinating and unique bird. A migratory bird inhabiting most of North America, the coot is a winter non-breeding resident to our area. This time of year, I always look for coots and usually spot them easily while they are walking chicken-like on the ice rather than waddling like a duck. Unlike web feet of ducks, coots have broad lobed scales on their lower legs and toes that fold back with each step. To me they look like oversized chicken feet which gives the coot a chicken-like gate and supports the bird on muddy ground. An awkward flier, they require long takeoff runs and look like they are trying to walk on water while flapping their wings furiously. The coot is seen in the company of ducks but doesn’t sound like a duck. Its call is a single reedy noted KRRRP. The coot is a plump dark bodied bird that is easily identified due to its sloping head with white wedge-shaped bill, red eyes and sometimes, a small red patch on its forehead. Their closest relatives are the Sandhill Crane and Rails.

coot

Coots eat mainly aquatic plants including algae, duckweed, eelgrass, wild rice, sedges, hydrilla, wild celery, waterlilies, cattails, water milfoil; when on land they also pick at terrestrial plants. You may also see them eating insects (beetles, dragonflies, and others), crustaceans, snails, and small vertebrates such as tadpoles and salamanders. In our area, which is out of the breeding season, coots fall prey to great horned owls, northern harriers, bald eagles and bobcats. In fact, coots may locally comprise 80% of a bald eagle’s diet.

One aspect of coots I find interesting is that during the breeding season, they display “conspecific brood parasitism”. That is, it will lay eggs in other coots’ nests. Unlike the brown headed cow bird who will use the nests of any bird species for their eggs, coots stick to their own species. Brood parasitism is usually done by females that either do not have a territory (coots are monogomous) or whose clutch has been destroyed, and is most common among females trying to increase their total number of offspring. The American coot, unlike other parasitized species, has the ability to recognize and reject conspecific parasitic chicks from their brood. They learn to recognize their own chicks’ “ornamental plumage” by imprinting on cues from the first chick that hatches. The first evidence for parental selection of exaggerated, ornamental traits in offspring was found in American coots. American coot chicks have conspicuously orange-tipped ornamental plumes covering the front half of their body that are known as “chick ornaments”, which eventually bleach out after six days. This brightly colored, exaggerated trait allows coot chicks to be selected by parental choice.

coot-range-map

American Coot are common and widespread, and populations appear to be stable, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Because they live in wetlands, coots can accumulate toxins from pollution sources including agricultural runoff, industrial waste and nuclear facilities. Because coots are so common and widespread, scientists sometimes monitor them as a way of evaluating these problems in the environment at large. Why is it called a “coot”? The American coot’s genus name, Fulica, is a direct borrowing of the Latin word for coot. Go figure. So if you see a duck that looks like a duck, but doesn’t walk or quack like a duck, it’s probably a coot.

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Cornell Labs offering its Spring Field Ornithology course online

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From a Cornell Lab’s email:

“Each spring for 40 years, bird enthusiasts have gathered at the Cornell Lab for Spring Field Ornithology to learn from world-renowned ornithologists. This year, for the first time, anyone, anywhere can take the course online. 

Focused on species native to the Northeastern U.S., course lectures are packed with bird identification tips designed to expand your birding skills. They also highlight key behaviors including migration, nesting, and song to make your birdwatching more rewarding.

The eight-week online course runs March 24 – May 16 with new lectures posted each Thursday. The course also includes special access to new online ID quizzes to help you practice.”

 

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Banshee Reeks Visitor Center needs staffing help

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The beautiful, revitalized visitor center is going to reopen on the third Saturday and Sunday of the month beginning in March (19th and 20th).  FOBR needs help staffing it with two volunteers for each shift (8 to 12 and 12 to 4).
This is a great way to build up your volunteer hours while introducing visitors to this beautiful location,  There will be a short Orientation session on Saturday, February 6th led by  Natalie Burnett from 9 to 10:00 AM.  If you are interested in volunteering, it is recommended that you attend this session, but it is not a prerequisite.  There is also a great volunteer handbook that provides all the details that you need for this job.
Email jillhjohnson@gmail.com if you would like to sign up for March, April (16 and 17) or future dates.
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American Woodcocks in the Spring

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I really enjoy the amazing variety of different bird calls and songs. But of all

the birds calls I recognize, the one that brings a smile to my face the quickest is that

of the Amercian Woodcock (Scolopax minor). Peent! Peent!

And the wonder of the Woodcock certainly doesn’t stop there. They have a

bill that defies proportionality. They walk in a wonderful way – look up ‘Dancing

Woodcock’ – I’ll wait; it’s definitely worth it. One of the wonderful birding

traditions of spring, is to try and witness the American Woodcock performing its

mating dance. At dusk, the male takes off from a meadow and flies in spiraling

circles. And while it flies these circles higher and higher, the air rushing past its

wings makes a unique twittering sound.

If you want to see these wonderful creatures, there are a number of birding

groups that host walks to see the mating display. Northern Virginia Bird Club

(NVBC) hosts a walk at 6:30pm on March 6th, 2016 at Huntley Meadows Park (the

Hike/Bike trail). Fairfax county sponsors several more walks at Huntley Meadows

and a walk at 6pm on March 4th, 2016 at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park in Chantilly. At

the Institue Farm in Aldie on March 10th, 2016, Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy will

host a Woodcock watch to see the wonderful display.

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