Summer Camp 2010

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!

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

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

Pileated Woodpecker Sighting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!