Howard County Conservancy Blog

2010-07-23T12:15:00.001-04:00

Summer Camp 2010

2010-07-23T11:49:00.004-04:00

Summer Nature Camp is in full swing at the Conservancy. Campers have been investigating soil science, exploring the streams and woodlands. They have been learning about the Chesapeake Watershed, insects, trees and plants. They have been enjoying daily hikes, feeding the animals, working in the garden, games, activities and crafts. Miss Katie's group above is pictured with the boats they build and raced!

Barred Owl!

2010-01-25T16:27:00.002-05:00

The Conservancy welcomes a barred owl! On Friday, January 15th Laura Seiple(the Land Manager) & Tabby Fique(Education Director) drove down to Falls Church to the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia and picked up a non-releasable barred owl. This owl broke its metacarpals (basically its finger tips) at the end of one of its wings. The bones died after the break and cannot heal as a result. Not fully flighted, the owl can fly short distances. The Conservancy will be using the owl in education programs for elementary schoolers, summer campers and the general public.

Welcome to Winter

2009-12-21T13:44:00.003-05:00

The snow is piled pretty high at the Conservancy on this first day of Winter!

Pileated Woodpecker Sighting

2009-12-07T12:37:00.007-05:00

Last Monday, Chris Garbart (the Conservancy's Program Assistant) noticed a pair of pileated woodpeckers visiting the Conservancy's bird feeder. We took a few photos before both male and female flew off. The Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus plieatus, is the largest woodpecker in North American standing approximately 17" tall. With a prominent red crest and a black and white striped neck, males have a red mustache and females have a black mustache. The female pileated woodpecker is what we captured in these pictures. These birds live in forests and border lands, and are typically shy and not easily observed. Pileated woodpeckers stay together in their territory all year long, and prefer to make their nests in large trees. This pair was interested in our suet cake feeder, but they normally feed on carpenter ants and wood boring beetles.

Conservancy Blacksmith Shop at work

2009-10-15T12:28:00.002-04:00

From a local stream eyesore to a hand forged garden hook.
On April 4, 2009, Guilford parent Ricardo Whitaker brought community parents and
children together in support of the Patuxent River Keepers annual stream clean up effort.
The Guilford “Raising the Bar” event collected over 15 large garbage bags of debris and
dumped items from the Oakland Mills stream. During the stream clean up, Howard
County Board of Education member, Allen Dyer, retrieved a long, rusty steel rod.
On April 16, 2009, during a Howard County Board of Education meeting, Allen reported
on the Guilford “Raising the Bar” stream clean up and displayed the rusty rod retrieved
from the stream. Fellow board member Ellen Giles suggested the metal rod be recycled
into a plant hanger or garden accessory.
On October 3, 2009, during a blacksmith demonstration at the Fall Festival for the
Howard County Conservancy, Allen hand forged a portion of the rusty rod from the
Oakland Mills stream into a hook for use around the yard or in the garden.
On October 16, 2009, at the Long Reach High School Conexiones Night, Allen donated
the hand forged garden hook to the silent auction for the benefit of the awards program.
Hand Forged Garden Hook: Creation and Care.
This garden hook was hand forged at the Howard County Conservancy blacksmith shop
using traditional blacksmith tools and a coal fired forge.
First, a hardy cutoff tool was used to cut a length from the discarded and heavily corroded
steel rod that had been retrieved from the Oakland Mills stream. Second, the end of the
heated rod was squared off, drawn out and scrolled into a square ribbon tip. Third, the
horn of the anvil was used to shape the hook curve. Fourth, a section of the rod just
above the hook curve was heated, squared and then twisted between the post vise and a
wrench. Fifth, the top end of hook was heated, drawn out and spread. Sixth, a punch was
used to punch a hole in the top of the hook. After the demonstration at the Conservancy,
the hook was wire brushed to remove scale, touchmarked with “DYER 2009", and given
a mineral oil finish.

Pygmy Goats

2009-06-05T10:37:00.003-04:00

The Conservancy has welcomed 2 baby pygmy goats! The male pygmy goat is black and white and weighs about 15 pounds. The female is party colors (white, grey, brown) and weighs about 12 pounds. After their arrival in April, we put jars out in our nature center and asked visitors to come up with name ideas for the goats. During School's Out this spring, students pulled names out of the jars. Results: the little girl is name lily and the boy is Rocky. Thank you to everyone that participated! Rocky and Lily have made themselve right at home and they love visitors! If you have not already had a chance, stop by the goat pen and to meet them.

Trout Lily

2009-06-05T10:24:00.004-04:00

The trout lily, also known as the dogtooth violet and adder's tongue, gets it name from the resemblence of its mottled leaves to a brook trout. The latin name is Erythronium americanum. These plants grow in moist fertile woodlands, forming low-growing colonies. Young plants have 1 purple-brown mottled leaf and no flower. As they mature, plants grow a 2nd leaf and can then produce a single flower. The flower is yellow and has 3 petals and 3 sepals. Most of the trout lilies at the Conservancy bloomed breifly in late April. These pictures were taken by the East Branch stream during the Earth Day celebration on April 18, 2009.

Earth Day Celebration Bird Hike List

2009-04-20T11:29:00.003-04:00

HCC celebrated Earth Day on Saturday, April 18th. The day started with a morning bird hike. The following list shows give species names and the number of individuals observed.

Location: Mount Pleasant Farm
Observation date: 4/18/09
Number of species: 49

Canada Goose 19
Hooded Merganser 1
Common Loon 27
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 5
Cooper's Hawk 1
Broad-winged Hawk 4
Red-tailed Hawk 1
hawk sp. 3
American Kestrel 1
Killdeer 1
Wilson's Snipe 2
Rock Pigeon 1
Mourning Dove 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)2
Eastern Phoebe 2
White-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 6
Fish Crow 1
Purple Martin 2
Tree Swallow 14
Barn Swallow 1
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Eastern Bluebird 4
American Robin 8
Northern Mockingbird 2
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 2
Eastern Towhee 2
Chipping Sparrow 1
Field Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 3
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)1
Northern Cardinal 6
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Common Grackle (Purple) 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 12
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 7

Fox

2009-03-18T12:50:00.002-04:00

Spring is finally here, and things are becoming active at the Conservancy. This fox walked right by our office windows Monday morning. Meg Schumacher, executive director, snapped the picture.

Josie's Birthday Party

2009-03-18T12:36:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, March 7, 2009 Josie Shirah celebrated her 9th birthday at the Conservancy. It was a beatuiful day for a party - all the snow had melted from the storm earlier in the week thankfully.
Josie had one of the best birthday cakes! She asked the bakery to creat an outdoor scene with some of the animals that we have here at the Conservancy. If you look at the picture, you will see Sticky- our tree frog, Roho- the corn snake, the 3 baby terrapins, Mr. Brown- our bunny, and even an owl (a scout has constructed an owl cage for the Conservancy, and we are in the process of aquiring the proper permitting for a captive owl). A good time was had by all!

School's Out Bird Count February 16, 2009

2009-02-16T15:00:00.003-05:00

The Howard County Conservancy's School's Out Program participated in the Audubon bird count on February 16, 2009. Participating in the bird count were Tabby Fique, Education Director and students Patrick Swentzel, Colin Steplowski, Lewis and Sidney Hollander, Emily Tardell, Meg and Caroline Tippett, Anna Boyd, Kevin Aguilera, Ivy Liu and Dylan Boswell. This is what they saw:

3 Black Vultures
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Mourning Dove
1 Red-shouldered Hawk
1 Red-bellied woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
5 Carolina Chickadee
1 Tufted Titmouse
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
3 White-breasted Nuthatch
5 Eastern Bluebird
1 European Starlings
1 Warbler
2 Song Sparrow
5 Dark eyed Junco
7 Northern Cardinal
1 Common Grackle
5 House Finch

Howard County Bird Club Count

2009-02-09T10:01:00.003-05:00

The Howard County Bird Club conducted a mid-winter bird count at the Conservancy on February 7th. Here are their results:

The Club was on the property from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m. and found 32 species, down from last year’s 35 species. The biggest miss was American Tree Sparrows. Mount Pleasant has consistently yielded American Tree Sparrows for the Mid-Winter Count for as long as I’ve covered the farm, so this was a big surprise. But we had two new species, one Brown Thrasher, and six Pine Siskins. Brown Thrasher is a new species for winter on Mount Pleasant. I see that Pine Siskin is already on the list, but no season has yet been designated for it. At least four were visiting the feeders behind the Gudelsky Center. We found two more at the north edge of the big field owned the State

The count:

Canada Goose 12
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Ring-billed Gull 32
gull species 7
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 6
Downy Woodpecker 6
Northern Flicker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Blue Jay 16
American Crow 32
Fish Crow 6
crow species 2
Carolina Chickadee 13
Tufted Titmouse 11
White-breasted Nuthatch 4
Carolina Wren 3
Eastern Bluebird 12
Northern Mockingbird 9
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 21
Eastern Towhee 5
Song Sparrow 29
White-throated Sparrow 26
Dark-eyed Junco 25
Northern Cardinal 12
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Common Grackle 2
blackbird species 300
House Finch 11
Pine Siskin 6
American Goldfinch 19

The Howard County Conservancy would like to thank the Howard County Bird Club for conducting this count at Mt. Pleasant.

Recently seen at the Conservancy

2008-08-19T14:25:00.001-04:00

Richard Orr from Mid-Atlantic Invertebrate Field Studies has been hiking the property and shares these finds. Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonflyhunter/sets/72157606790070356/

New babies at the Conservancy

2008-06-26T14:33:00.005-04:00

We are the proud parents of four baby chicks and three baby terrapins. The chicks are 2 Americana, 2 Golden Polish. The terrapins will be cared for here until they are ready to release this fall. They were found in a hotel parking lot. Our summer campers will give them lots of TLC to help them grow strong.

Chipping Sparrows

2008-04-18T11:37:00.002-04:00

Chipping Sparrows are singing around the farmhouse. Look for their bright chestnut crown and listen for their dry trill, all on one pitch.

Cooper's Hawk Sighting

2008-04-03T08:42:00.002-04:00

On Sunday, March 9, 2008 I arrived at the Conservancy to find a Coopers Hawk perched on one of the chairs on the back porch. The hawk was likely stalking our bird feeders looking for a meal. I ran and got the camera; this was not an opportunity that I was going to miss. The hawk flew up onto the bird feeder and I snapped the picture. I then proceeded to follow it into our field before it finally flew off.

Persimmons and weasels

2007-11-02T13:15:00.001-04:00

Oops, I was wrong! After a little bit of research we now think the weasel is a mink, which is still in the weasel family. I actually find it very fascinating that a mink would be on our property, considering that it really doesn't have large bodies of water. It must of been following the east branch in search of some water during the drought. The east branch does eventually hit the Patapsco, maybe that is where it came from.

Today hiking with the school's out children we ran into several persimmon trees. Not quite ready to eat, leaving a very dry feeling in your mouth. The word persimmon is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, or pessamin, from Cree, an Algonquian language of the eastern United States, meaning "a dry fruit". No wonder - if you ever tasted an unripe persimmon you would understand.

Bird Club Field Trip

2007-10-29T14:45:00.000-04:00

A lightly-attended Howard County Bird Club field trip yielded a nice selection of seasonal birds:

Canada Goose
Black Vulture: 1
Turkey Vulture:
Sharp-shinned_Hawk:
Cooper's_Hawk:
Accipiter_species:
American_Kestrel: 2
Mourning_Dove:
Belted_Kingfisher: 1
Red-bellied_Woodpecker:
Yellow-bellied_Sapsucker: 1
Downy_Woodpecker:
Northern_Flicker:
Eastern_Phoebe: 4
Blue_Jay:
American_Crow:
Northern_Cardinal:
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 15
Eastern Bluebird - 20
Hermit Thrush - 3
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 19
Palm Warbler - 12
Eastern Towhee - 5
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow - 4
Red-winged_Blackbird:
Eastern_Meadowlark: 2
Common_Grackle:
House_Finch:
American_Goldfinch:

Kurt
Conservation Chair
Howard County Bird Club

Weasels!

2007-10-23T14:42:00.000-04:00

We always said that a weasel killed our chickens, and now we have proof that they live on the property. On Saturday, I was leading a birthday hike focusing on slithery, slimy creatures. We were down by the stream, and I had the children go into the dry stream bed to turn over rocks and logs to see what was under them, when a parent told me there was a "dead thing" up the hill. Of course I immediately went to check it out! It was the size of a squirrel with a long furry black tail, but not as bushy as a squirrels. I tried to get the skull (with my bare hands - which the kids loved!) to take it back to the center, but the darn thing just was not participating. I told the children that it was OK and I would get it later. There was plenty of things to capture their attention - I had them suck on some spice bush, dye their hands with some walnuts, a dad passed out some wild grapes, and we checked out a box turtle that was crossing the path!

Today, as I was retelling the story, one of the staff members decided to go get the carcass for me (I have a horrible chest cold). She brought it back to the center - and it is definetly a Weasel! We will try to preserve the skull and tail. So come on over, take a hike, you never know what you are going to discover!

Mt. Joy Update

2007-10-03T20:41:00.003-04:00

More pictures of Mt. Joy. It should be all ready by our Fall Festival!

Question of the day

2007-10-02T21:41:00.000-04:00

Can anyone tell me what is happening to these leaves?

2007-09-28T09:47:00.000-04:00

During the naturalist training on September 27, a few of the things we saw were:

Praying mantis ootheca eggsack
Brown Praying mantis (fortune teller) eating a small brown butterfly with 1 inch spotted wings.
Monarch butterflies
Cabbage butterflies
Webworms on tips of branches

Trees
Sassafras and Dogwoods turning color
Catkins on musclewood/hornbeam trees
American beech full of beech nuts
White oak full of acorns
Black cherries with ripe fruit

Vines
Virginia creeper turning red with blue berries
Fox Grapes with ripe fruit
Poison Ivy

Grasses
Red top
Little bluestem
Big bluestem with turkey foot seed heads
Deer-tongue

Flowering plants
goldenrod
knapweed
chicory

Bluebirds and Hawks

2007-09-26T20:51:00.000-04:00

During the walk for the volunteer naturalist training, we noticed some bluebirds hanging out on the railing of the bridge. The bird expert in our group thought they may of been a little tipsy from eating too many ripe cherries. But low and behold there was a coopers hawk sitting right above them! They weren't drunk, just scared!

Fall Birds

2007-09-21T14:04:00.000-04:00

Look up! The birds are migrating. An American Kestrel has been hunting over the meadow below the barn for two days now. Northern Flickers are exploring for tasty worms and bugs. This one disappeared in tall grass for a while and then looked things over from a handy log.

Scott

Volunteer Naturalist Training Session Three

2007-09-20T20:25:00.000-04:00

It is pretty amazing what you can see when you just stop. During the trainings we tell the naturalists that they are not tour guides. To teach what they love the most, and to make the most out of those 'serendipitous moments'. Well this was a perfect example. Even though the class was about weather, we couldn't help but be amazed at this moment - a praying mantis eating a milkweed bug.

Mt. Joy Barn

2007-09-17T11:06:00.000-04:00

I know this isn't nature oriented but I love this picture. This is the progress of the Mt. Joy Barn. Hopefully it will be completed sometime in October. Please visit us on Fridays or Saturdays from 9:00 - 4:00 during our open hours and check out the barn yourselves!

Volunteer Naturalist Training

2007-09-13T13:00:00.000-04:00

Volunteer Naturalist training started on September 6th. (If you wanted to learn more about our education programs please visit: http://www.hcconservancy.org/) This is a great opportunity to hike around and learn about the natural history of Mt. Pleasant. Today we walked the grassland loop and found many wildflowers and grasses (yes I know most of these are non-native) but they are still pretty.

Goldenrod - usually blamed for allergies, which is not true. Their pollen is heavy and falls to the ground. It is the ragweed that is to blame.

Knapweed - Grows in disturbed areas.

Chicory - It has many uses, but one of the most popular is as an additive for coffee.

6ft. bunch of grass - None of us know what it is, but we will have fun researching it!

Pears from our pear tree (not in the grasslands, but the orchard). They are hard and really good for pies, as they don't break down. But beware, add lots of sugar as it is not a sweet pear.

Of course you can find more information on various websites like wikipedia and enature.org.

Peace,

Martha

Animal mayham(fun filled week of animals)!

2007-08-16T12:36:00.000-04:00

By Katie
On Monday,we went on a hike and saw a fox hole. After that we saw bones.On Tuseday we found a toad by the creek. It was brown with golden spots.On Wednesday Tabby`s group found a baby garden snake. It was hanging from a spiderweb and we saved it.

A Home in the Woods

2007-08-16T12:26:00.000-04:00

By,Enya

This week(Strive to Survive) Mrs.Tabby group helped build a shelter with big sticks and grass(stilt grass and grass). I never would have thought that it could take 2 days to build a basic shelter made out of sticks and grass. Maybe you could come and see what we did? See you next time

Butterfly Hike on Saturday

2007-08-13T10:39:00.000-04:00

The butterfly hike on Saturday was a big success. 37 people attended. Dick Smith helped the group find and identify 17 types of butterflies.

Species sighted:

Silver-spotted Skipper
Horace’s Dusky Wing

Swarthy Skipper
Least Skipper
Fiery Skipper
Peck’s Skipper
Zabulon Skipper, Male

Black Swallowtail
Tiger Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail

Orange Sulphur
Cabbage White

American Copper
Red-Banded Hairstreak

Pearl Crescent
Red-spotted Purple

Monarch

Really Really Muddy

2007-08-10T14:30:00.000-04:00

By R

Enough said!

Down and Dirty

2007-08-06T14:05:00.000-04:00

Does your lunch come from dirt, or the shirt you are wearing? The campers will be discovering why soil is important for everything we do, while getting down and dirty in our soil pit or making dirt soup! On Tuesday, the campers will be visited by the Howard County Soil Conservation District staff in which they will take a hike around our property to discover why all of our topsoil is down by the stream (do you know why?) Wednesday is the big mud day, where they are making mud castles, mud tosses and other fun mud activities. Thursday is our water day, (we were supposed to go to the Patapso, which we are not allowing due to the swarm of last week.) Overall - it is definitely a down and dirty week, where the campers should get nice and muddy!

The Birds of Prey

2007-08-03T13:59:00.000-04:00

The above pictures are a screech owl, barred owl, kestrel and a red tailed hawk.

This is just a sampling of some of the birds that Mr. Heacock from Hashawa Outdoor School brought with him. It was a great program, and I think the kids really enjoyed seeing them up close! Don't worry, none of these birds could survive on their own, and Mr. Heacock really stressed the importance of not taking in any animal from the wild to be a pet.

One interesting fact: most owls get hit by cars because someone threw their leftover food out the window of their car. A mouse comes to eat the yummy morsel of food, then the owl comes to eat the mouse. Then you guess it: the owl goes to a place like Hashawa and lives the rest of its life in a cage. I think we all learned to keep our food with us, and to compost it if possible.

All about plants and birds and streams

2007-08-02T13:28:00.000-04:00

by K and R

Yesterday we went birdwatching. We built a shelter for them with sticks. Some people found two salamanders. There were down near the stream, one under the log in the mud.

On Monday we saw hiked to see the sassafras tree. It has three different shapes of leaves and the leaves smell like froot loops. You can kind of chew on the stems.

We ended up in the stream and got all dirty! It leads to the Patapsco and the Patapsco brings it to the bay.

Ants and snakes

2007-08-02T12:58:00.000-04:00

by E and E

Today, when we went to feed the goats I saw a colony of ants and they were eating this food but I don't know what it was. It looked mushy and orange. Here is a picture, but the food is gone:

On Monday, my class was looking for ants and we needed to see how much time it took the ants to find food. It took 4 1/2 minutes. They picked up yogurt-covered raisins! They left some behind.

Yesterday Miss Martha or someone else found a baby rat snake. I wonder how it sprayed that odor onto Miss Martha's hand. It really smelled bad! There was a tree near the house on the hill, near the barn. There were snake eggs in it. One of them hatched. That may be where the baby snake came from.

"Bee" Cautious

2007-08-01T14:51:00.000-04:00

Ryan and Eli

On July 31, 2007 our group was on a hike to Patapsco Forest and a camper stepped on a ground hornet nest hidden in a log. After someone got stung we all tried to run up a hill to get back to the trail. The hornet's chased us all the way up to the path. When we got back to the building everyone was fine except for a few bumps and bruises.

Eco-Detective Week (July 30-August 3)

2007-07-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

We have a very exciting theme this week. Of course I think so, I came up with them! Anyway the kids will become mini-detectives and look for clues of what calls Mt. Pleasant home. Along with this, I was able to get Mr. Heacock, the principle of Hashawa Outdoor School, to come and bring some of his feathery friends. The educators have plans for diseccting owl pellets, along with an archaeological dig and doing the Mentos and soda experiment. We are ending the week with tye dyeing, either their own shirts or camp shirts -(if they are new this week).

It is going to be fun, to find out everything that they see this week.

Assasin or Wheel Bug

2007-07-28T13:31:00.000-04:00

I was showing one of the campers yesterday a cone flower that had two cones attached with pedals that were growing around the middle, when I came across this really cool Assasin Bug (or Wheel Bug). It was in the coneflower bed behind the carriage house, along the sidewalk. As you can tell it is using its rostrum to pierce then suck out the insides of the bee. This is a really cool web site to go to: http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4TH/KKHP/1INSECTS/assassin.html for the people who want to learn about the mechanics of it all. I just found it awe inspiring, we usually just see them hanging out on a leaf or the buildings.

The fun friday at camp!

2007-07-27T16:12:00.000-04:00

By Enya

Ms. Tabby had a pet ferret, his name was Apple Jack a.k.a AJ. AJ is very cute and in the morning he was very squirmy when we brought him to the stream. Then after that he slept for the rest of the day.
When we went to the stream with Ms Tabby, we looked for different kind of larva. We found something with pinchers and legs that curved out. After that we made a book about the different kinds of animals that live at the East Branch and Davis Branch streams.

My last day at camp

2007-07-27T16:03:00.000-04:00

by Bryce

Today we did tye dying after lunch. I made a spiral with orange, yellow, dark green, and maroon. I don't know what it looks like yet, because it is still drying. My favorite type of tye dye is the spiral. Whenever I do tye dying I mostly do spiral.

In the morning my group went to the Honor's Garden and checked the filter so that we could make sure there was nothing in there, but we found a gray tree frog. We put it into the terrarium that we built for it. Then we went back to the Honor's Garden to go to a stream and we made an amphibian habitat for our stewardship project. Then we went back to the building and got some butterfly nets to catch some bugs for the frog to eat.

Animals

2007-07-26T15:40:00.000-04:00

by Erik

Today I saw a turtle and a toad. I saw fish and crayfish in the Patapsco River. Yesterday I saw two salamanders in the stream closer to the building. I tried to catch one of them and I missed. They were black with two yellow lines on the back.

The Wierd loking SNAKE!

2007-07-26T15:13:00.000-04:00

By Enya

On the hike to Patapsco I was walking and a snake slitherd right in front of me(I almost stepped on the snake). It was about 13 inch. and it had green and yellow stripes down its back.

Turtles and frogs

2007-07-26T15:00:00.000-04:00

by Sophie

On the way back from the walk to the river, Miss Kayla found a turtle and then Erik passed it back to Miss Virginia so they could see, then somebody put it back in the grass. It was little about the size of a small wall clock. A couple days ago I saw a leopard frog and it was sitting on a rock in a little stream and we saw it while we were crossing the bridge.

a walk through the woods

2007-07-26T14:37:00.001-04:00

By Ryan

At the conservancy we see all kinds of animals. At the Patapsco river we saw box turtles, ground hogs, fish, different birds, grass hoppers, and water striders. Earlier in the week we saw fox's in there dens and a raccoon.
One kid even found an injured Owl and saved it by taking it to the sanctuary.
Today we saw what i thought was a rock i went to pick it up to throw in the water but then it leaped into the bushes. Turns out it was a well camouflaged toad.
We played fun games some to learn about wetlands called "float that boat", "eat it", and "winged migration".
we also played like "black magic" and "a blind man needs eye's to see" just for fun.

The Davis Branch Stream

2007-07-24T16:31:00.000-04:00

By Bryce

The waterstriders found in the streams and the rivers at the Conservancy, are fast. To catch them you need to find a big group and scoop your hands in and with your fingers apart and close them as soon as you touch the water, and it will trap the waterstriders in between your fingers. The crayfish range from about the size of your middle finger to the size of your thumb fingenail to your first thumb joint. One girl had a baby crayfish stuck Croc (a shoe). On a plant stem we saw a dragonfly case, that was like a cicada shell, and it was when a dragonfly got its wings (when a dragonfly larvae comes out of the water and gets onto a branch like a cicada and sheds out of its skin to get its wings.)

On the way back my teacher saw a huge fishing spider with an egg sac. She said she almost had a heart attach. There was a lot of ticks.

The second fun day at the Conservancy!

2007-07-24T15:16:00.000-04:00

By Enya

This morning I went with my group to see if we could find the fox. That we saw yesterday. The den was active. We knew that it was active because we saw scat all around it. When we looked inside we saw the mother and it's babies. Then one of the camper's looked on the other side and saw a raccoon. Yep one of our lucky day's!

Praying Mantis molt

2007-07-23T12:36:00.000-04:00

by Bryce and Shane

We saw the shell of the praying mantis that was our teacher's pet. It was in the terrarium in the bank barn. The shell is the exoskeleton of the praying mantis that is like a dead layer of skin falling off. It shedded off in one piece. Only insects can do that or things with scales like snakes.

P.S. Unfortunately the molt blew away in the wind so we couldn't take a picture.

Aquatic Adventures Week (July 23 - 27)

2007-07-23T10:36:00.000-04:00

During the Aquatic Adventures Week of camp the campers will play in the many streams on and around the property, explore how many critters live in or depend on the streams for survival and learn what they can do to help the Chesapeake Bay. Environmental Concern from St. Michaels is coming on Wednesday to teach them about wetlands with a program called Shrek's Swamp.

One of the staff brought in a bowl full of these tiny black wiggly things, thinking they are tadpoles. We are going to let them age a little and find out exactly what they are. One of the fathers (a stream ecologist) thinks they may be leeches!