Owl Prowl at Caledon was a Hoot

The Central Rappahannock Master Naturalists were able to participate in a special program for owls at Caledon State Park.  One of the park rangers, Mike Callahan, led a very fascinating program on local owls.  He taught us owl calls, their biology, food sources, habitat and other facts.  After the informative classroom session, we headed outside onto a wagon.

The night was clear, with thousands of twinkling stars.  Various constellations were easily identified and pointed out.  This definitely was not summer time, well bundled up with hand warmers, hot cocoa and blankets we left the warmth of the park visitor center into very chilly woods.

Our first stop was for the Barred Owl, Mike making his first call "Who cooks for you?  Who cools for you - all?" with the "all" dropping almost to a squawk.  After a few minutes, there was a response, a fly by, observation by the owl through flying from one tree to the next.  Then after a flight right over our heads he settled down on a tree not far from the wagon and responded to Mike's call.  The owl was quite vocal and with a quick light from a flashlight we were able to view him in all his glory.  

Our second stop, Mike called for Eastern Screech Owls. Their call is more of a whinny, not a screech.  Mike needed some moisture and tipped his head back to make a whistle/whinny sound.  A small owl, with color variants of gray or red do not usually reveal themselves due to predatory nature of larger owls.  While we did not see them, we definitely heard them.  Before long we were surrounded by three owls calling back and forth to Mike.   

Our final stop was out by the Potomac River.  Mike called for the Great Horned Owl, "Hoo- h'hooooo-hoo-hoo".  He called for well over five minutes.  About to give up, we heard a faint answer in the distance.  Mike continued to call, the Great Horned Owl continued to answer.  Although I am pretty sure if we could interpret owl he responded with, "hey great to hear from you, but it is cold, late and I am not flying all the way over there."  With that we headed back.

We were all pretty chilled by the time we arrived back to the visitors center.  Another cup of hot cocoa, new found knowledge and some owl calling skills we ended for the evening.  One of the most interesting things I have participated in, seeing these magnificent birds. 

On a final note, I have been practicing the owl calls at home.......much to the chagrin of my dog and husband. 

January Chapter Meeting: Continuing Education and Volunteer Opportunities

Announcements:

  Next Board meeting 2/7 @ Wegman’s 7pm (open to all members)

  Next Chapter meeting 2/19 @ church 7pm

Master Naturalist Volunteer Opportunities:

• Dahlgren has asked that an Earth Day education outreach take place on April 22 at the elementary school on base. It will be from 1-3pm. Volunteers needed.  
• Spotsylvania Courthouse Trash Pick Up February 9th - Meet at Gazebo 9AM.
•  Earth Day at Old Mill Park on April 27, rain or shine - volunteers needed
•  Earth Day at AP Hill on April 18  volunteers needed 
•  Widewater St Park looking for volunteers  for monthly cleanups- 1^st Sat in February next opportunity
• Mott's Nature Center Volunteer Orientation - March 9th - 9-11am.  Register with Alexa at Fredericksburg Parks and Rec.  
• April 13 Osprey Festival @ Caledon. Opportunities to volunteer to give talking points/lead bird walk, native plant information, backyard habitat. Chapter can have a booth there. Caledon is coordinating event with Joyce from Colonial Beach.

Continuing Education:

• Owl Prowl @ Caledon 1/26 @ 7:00 pm. There is space for 21 people on the wagon.** Bring a blanket and some hot cocoa to share. Arrive a little bit early. THIS EVENT IS FULL
• Bluebird program @ Stratford 1/26 10-noon. Doors will be open at 9am. There will be a bag lunch about 12:30. Some walking is anticipated, so bring your walking stick. This is a FREE program.
• Dinosaur Beach walk @ Stratford in February. Date & time and to be determined. More details will be given at a later date.
• Vernal Pool field training to happen in February. Harry would like to lengthen time of monitoring. Breeding time for Spotted Salamander is Feb/March. Usually, the time to go investigate is at night, when peepers are peeping. Harry will send out a “Hey, it’s tonight! Let’s go look!” email, so have your gear at the ready. A lead monitor is desired for the Lee Drive vernal pools
• Montpelier has revamped programs. There will be programs twice/month. The first walk will focus on the Working Woods. The second walk will have a specialized focus. Walks will take place in April, June, August, and October. Native plants will be the specialized focus on April 24. A mushroom walk will be in June. The Chief Horticulturist at Montpelier will have training for those interested in leading the Working Woods walks.
• FOR Wild & Scenic Film Festival March 23 @ UMW. More information on FOR website https://www.riverfriends.org/events/

Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) – Nothing Sweet About It

This past Saturday a few of the Master Naturalists assisted Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) to remove Japanese Honeysuckle along Mabe’s Trail.  We assisted last year, and everywhere we had grubbed out the honeysuckle, spring ephemerals flourished.  Things like Dutchman’s Breeches, Virginia Blue Bells, May Apple, Trout Lily and the odd Spring Beauty.  

VMN Volunteers

The picture below is just a small pile of the bags pulled.  FOR received volunteers not just from VMN, but elsewhere as well.  It may have been a chilly day, but knowing the beauty hidden under the honeysuckle made it all worth it.  The honeysuckle can be found all along the trail and with so many other plants to protects, manually grubbing is the best.  

Bagged Honeysuckle

Happily Hand Grubbing

This time of year, it is just about the only thing green and a good time to grub it out.  Make sure you put it in trash bags for disposal.  You cannot recycle this plant as it will spread due to seeds being viable for an extended period of time.

Some Japanese Honeysuckle facts:

Japanese Honeysuckle along Mabe's Tr.

1. Native to eastern Asia
2. Introduced to North America in 1862, used for erosion control
3. You can still purchase it in many plant centers as an ornamental.  Any hybrids are equally as invasive.  DO NOT PLANT.
4. Considered a noxious weed in Virginia, and one of the highest ranked invasive
5. Grows rapidly and smothers everything else

Great resources at Virginia Native Plant Society Website. 

Virginia Master Naturalist 2018 Training

The Central Rappahannock Chapter will be holding a training course from August-December 2018.

The purpose of the training is to prepare participants for volunteering as Master Naturalists in our community.  Though it is an excellent training opportunity, our purpose is for establishing a base of natural resource volunteers.

Classes will begin on August 6th at 6:00 PM at Jepson Science Center, Room 109 on the University of Mary Washington campus.

The application is available at this link.   Additional information is available here.

The cost for the training is $150. To enroll, submit your application.  Fees are due with the application.

Make checks payable to VMN-CRC. 

Enrollment is limited to 20 on a first come basis. 

Applications should be submitted to:

Virginia Master Naturalist CRC

P. O. Box 5996

Fredericksburg, VA 22403

If you have questions, please contact Jim Scibek  at masternaturalistcrc@gmail.com  or Karen Snape, 540-621-9689 or email karen.snape@dof.virginia.gov.

The Virginia Master Naturalist Conference - Volunteering

The Virginia Master Naturalist Annual Conference is being hosted by our very own Central Rappahannock Chapter this year at the Fredericksburg Expo Center, September 7-9, 2018.  The state sent our chapter a preview of the program as we need to volunteer for various sessions.  Unfortunately we have been sworn to secrecy and cannot yet disclose the really cool opportunities such as:  all of the local areas,  that are so fascinating, from a naturalist's point of view, and the education opportunities.......and so much more.  Sigh, I really do hate having to redact things......but this will be a great conference.  But the conference will not happen without lots of volunteers.  

The enjoyment I have received from becoming a Master Naturalist is immense.  Not only from an educational perspective but meeting fascinating people who continue to amaze me through the volunteer work they accomplish.  We all have to meet our 40 volunteer hours as part of the Master Naturalist Program, what easier way then to dedicate some time for the conference.  I figured it is the least I can do to repay the enjoyment I have received through the organization.  Sign ups have started and mine was submitted this morning.

Join me and many of the other Central Rappahannock Master Naturalists to make this a Annual Conference to remember!!!

Mott's Nature Center

Volunteering is one of the single most important aspects of the Virginia Master Naturalist organization.  Our chapter does quite a bit of volunteering at Mott's Reservoir and the Nature Center located there.

I try to volunteer at the Nature Center once a month.  In May I had over 53 visitors and was just amazed at the number of children that came in and then begged to stay longer.  We had quite a few participate in the scavenger hunt, where they had to find facts within the center.  Pocket, the center's resident corn snake, put on quite a show by eating a mouse.  The most interesting thing was about three families whose children came back after hiking and wanted to learn more about what they observed on their hike.  Definitely future naturalists in the making!!

This past weekend was quiet at the nature center.  After a week of rain the sun finally came out on Sunday but people were still drying out.  Three young women came into the center inquiring about the orienteering course.  While I provided a compass, map and instructions I could not answer any of their questions using the compass with the map.  I hate not being of assistance, needless to say I will be watching some videos on orienteering. 

While human activity was low, nature was quite busy.  A pair of mallard ducks decided to sun themselves on a log that jutted out into the reservoir near the center.  I watched them jump into the water, wade, swim, splash, bottoms up - you name it.  They were quite an entertaining pair.  But then I also had three various visitors come directly into the center to sun themselves on the nice wood floor in the sun.  

First was an American Toad, who was a bit of an escape artist and difficult to catch.  Luckily there was no one around as I am fairly certain my actions would have been fabulous video fodder.  Eventually he was caught and taken downstairs to freedom.

My next two visitors where lightning fast.  The first was a broadhead skink.  A very good size one, that allowed some photos.  Obviously not his first visit as he knew where the front door was.  The second was a five lined skink.  He zipped into the center in a flash, then zoomed around the edge and hid behind a chair.  He was a bit of a challenge to "herd" back out but once he found the door made a fast exit.

My final visitor was a large black snake who had just eaten dinner.  He was down in the parking area and some human visitors spotted him and asked me to come out and identify what type of snake he was.  With a full belly, he was not moving fast so the visitors had a great time identifying him.  I showed them how his pupil was round and the head was rounded and not diamond shaped, an easy way to tell if a snake was not poisonous.  After posing for pictures and a video he slowly slithered off.

So I closed up the center and smiled on my way out as the visitors were discussing the snake, what he might have eaten and simply excited they had seen one.  Another wonderful day at Mott's Nature Center.

The Morning Cacophony

I love walking in my neighborhood early in the morning, right before dawn.  As spring is upon us, so is the cacophony of bird songs.  Our neighborhood is heavily wooded and the two mile jaunt is serenaded by hundreds of birds.  However, most of these birds are high in the tree canopy and can be heard but not seen.  This morning was was exceptionally noisy, but in a very pleasant way. 

So this brings the challenge, I cannot see them but hear them.  How on earth does one tell them apart?  Well to be honest, having gone on a few birding adventures with my fellow naturalists and having them point out different songs, the realization dawned on how importing songs and bird calls were.  Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a fantastic website with bird calls and personally it is the site I have used to learn songs.   The site offers up some valuable tips for beginners, my goal is one new song every week.  Once the song is learned, then a field test is in order, can I hear the bird along my walk?  Now as I walk, I am starting to recognize the songs.  Such as the tufted titmouse, cardinal, Carolina wren, crow, etc. so when now I can hear a bird and think – hmmm………I haven’t heard that song before, then try to visually see the bird to go home and learn the song. 

Through this process other sounds have been learned as well, such as the scolding grey squirrel and the chattering chipmunks.  It is amazing what you hear, when you take off the headphones and simply listen.  Nature has a lot to say.