Had a fabulous hike at Soldiers Delight on Sunday morning–cool, crisp, sunny day and the birdlife was as glamorous as one could hope for, outside of a cruise to the tropics. Talk about bright, bold plumage! Amidst the canopy of evergreens and the understory of dense greenbrier, we found a Red-Headed Woodpecker, a couple of… Read more »
Now that the calendar has turned from May to June, we have truly entered the breeding season for most Maryland birds–and most wildlife, in general. Depending on how far they traveled this spring and how long they’ve been back to set up territories, some species are building nests, others laying eggs, for some, young are… Read more »
In last week’s blog, I focused on the havoc that just a handful of invasive species have wreaked on the native biodiversity of the Mid-Atlantic states, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay region, over recent decades. Beyond those top headliners, there are dozens of other cases (among the better known are English Ivy, the Japanese Beetle,… Read more »
Most of us Nature Geeks, certainly anyone who grew up watching Marlin Perkins (Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom) or Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter) or, more recently, Jeff Corwin, know that the biotic and abiotic factors in any ecosystem are intricately interwoven to strike a fine balance. Species are so interdependent that any change in the numbers… Read more »
Last Saturday, an unusually brisk spring day, an old friend and I quenched our corona-quarantine craving for the outdoors by hiking several miles of the Gunpowder South Trail, between the Masemore Hemlock area and the Prettyboy Reservoir Dam, in Baltimore County. This was a hike that he and I had taken together at least twice… Read more »
As noted in our last blog, an enormous number of wild birds die each year from collisions with glass windows. Researchers currently estimate that between 300 million and a shocking one billion birds suffer this fate annually in North America alone! This means that between 5 and 10% of all North American birds die every… Read more »
Don’t know how many of you have perused cornell’s BirdCast website recently, but they had a very disturbing video on there last week. Seems that a confluence of several unfortunate EVents led to a tragedy that would make any nature lover cringe. Apparently on the night of April 24th a series of slow-moving storms southeast… Read more »
Heads up! Right now we are entering THE BEST week of the entire year to witness the glorious diversity of songbirds that move through the Mid-Atlantic! Spring migration in this part of the country tends to peak within a few days of May 10th, depending on weather patterns. This is no secret to most amateur… Read more »
Well, this one’s in the books. FINIS. it’s a wrap. As of this morning, the 2020 city nature challenge is official, and the results have been fascinating . . . clearly, the covid-19 pandemic changed the landscape somewhat (although not as much as anticipated)–particularly in hard-hit areas. new York saw a 27% decline in… Read more »
May Day! May Day! So, even though the past month has been cooler than usual, cloudier than usual, and really hasn’t felt any different than March, look around and you’ll notice how green and lush everything has suddenly become. We are clearly in the throes of Spring growth and, thankfully, the forecasters are saying that… Read more »
