For four days each February, birdwatchers of every skill level can participate in a global event for the love and wellbeing of birds.
Join us October 14th through November 18th (one day per week) for Session II
With all of the wonderful apps available, it is still a good idea to have a shelf of guides to call on. We love paging through them while planning our next exploration, exploring their beautiful illustrations, and carrying our favorites with us for quick reference.
BRDC recently hosted a Primitive Technology course as part of Galax Middle School Enrichment Week. The students were engaged with a variety of hands-on activities that connected them to skills used by early American Indians and materials found in their backyards.
"Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs."
This is more of a subjective piece…how could it not be…but before we get ahead of ourselves, the inspiration behind it is the Mount Rogers Naturalist Rally where and when we, as humans focused on the natural history of our Blue Ridge, celebrate our love for our fellow creatures great and small. We come together not as exploiters, but explorers…a somewhat atypical behavior of Homo sapiens.
The golden-winged warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) is a challenged species on at least two levels. Its preferred habitat of wet, brushy, early successional open areas with available perching trees is disappearing, which has contributed to the decline of this species, placing it in the ‘species of concern’ category by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Most of us recognize the high shrills of our spring peeper as a significant harbinger of spring. These are our first frog breeders, sometimes beginning as early as late February, but most commonly mid-March. For this important event in the ongoing life of peepers, the tiny frogs migrate to vernal pools, and pond and stream edges in meadows and woodlands, where the competition for mates commences.
Avian spring migrants come in two categories: Northbound birds and elevation transients or lateral migrators. The second group mostly consists of our high elevation breeders, such as dark-eyed juncos, that drop off the mountain tops for a few winter months in search of easier food, water and in some cases, shelter. Most of us, however, think of the distance travelers, when we talk about spring migration.
Every year around Labor Day weekend Common Nighthawks migrate through our region in mass. In the evenings keep your eyes peeled to the sky for a bird that at first glance might look like a large bat. They are often seen snapping up aerial insects that rise at dusk. Pay very close attention and you can hear their wide gaping mouths snap shut on the unsuspecting prey! If you can train a pair of binoculars on them you'll notice a distinct white bar on their pointed wings. They have an erratic fight pattern that links insect to insect across the sky and you'll often see a "river" of nighthawks that can number in the hundreds, streaming in a general direction (typically south). Their ultimate winter destination? South America!
So due yourself a favor and witness one of the great bird migrations of the world by spending a few minutes each evening looking up at the sky over the next two weeks.
In recent news you may have seen that the largest aquatic insect in the world was recently discovered in China: Scientific American. At first glance this is a rather frightening foreign creature, but did you know that it's equally intimidating cousin lives right here in the Blue Ridge Mountains?
Hyalophora Cecropia isn't a moth that I expected to see at my moth light here in the mountains. I had a brief glimpse of one in Lake Waccamaw State Park in North Carolina fourteen years ago today (5/20/14). The only time I had one to examine up close and personal, I was a kid on the family farm in Delaware, 60+ years ago. Cecropias are the largest of our North American silkmoths and they are spectacular in their own right. Enjoy the pics!
Last Wednesday (5?14/14) my wife and I found a number of active dragonflies at Bass Lake on the outskirts of Blowing Rock, Watauga County, NC. We saw eastern pondhawks, common whitetails, Carolina saddlebags, and Calico pennants. The pennants sat still long enough for me to get a decent photo. Enjoy!
The plume moths, Pterophoridae, include many species that can't be identified either in the field or from photos. Fortunately there are a few exceptions in our area. This moth is maybe an inch from wingtip to wingtip. Its name, Platyptilia carduidactylus, is longer than its wingspan. Its English name, Artichoke Plume Moth, indicates one of tis host plants, but the caterpillars also utilize thistles, much more common than the garden vegetable in my neck of the woods.
In the Central Virginia Blue Ridge exists a phenomenal ecosystem, one that was probably shaped by raging braided mountain streams during the last iceage. It contains many disjunct species. In fact, over 90 species that are well outside their typical range have been documented here. It’s an odd mix of coastal plain, Appalachian and northern plants and animals. While several rare and endangered species exist here, today we focused on a well known Blue Ridge phenomenon: Salamanders.
Late October produced several interesting critters that were obviously looking for juicy meals. The first photo is a wheel bug,
Arilus cristatus
.
The second one was a small spider, much enlarged in the photo. It looked and acted like a crab spider and, when I intercepted it, was closing in on a moth half again its size.
