Brookside Gardens – December 2019

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I walked around Brookside Gardens on Christmas Eve. It was sunny, but still only in the 40s with a little breeze; I was wearing my coat and gloves…put my hood up for part of the time. I noticed a tree has been cut down recently near the junction of the boardwalk to the Nature Center with the path from the Conservatory parking lot toward the Japanese Tea House (Brookside map here). The shelf fungus growing on the stump still held the saw dust!

I noticed some birds too. The only two I managed to photograph were a White-throated Sparrow that was searching a mat covering electrical cords for the seasonal lights (the bird found at least one snack) and

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A Northern Cardinal near the fragrance garden. I saw a lot of Cardinals…or maybe it was the same one following me around! Their color certainly makes them stand out.

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The gardens are full of dried flowers and seeds. The sumac is the most colorful. I find the shapes of the dried ferns very appealing. They have a feathery look to them. Some of the grasses do too.

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The Conservatories were my last stop – for poinsettias and the model train.

There were quite a few families enjoying the garden while I was there. The excitement and joy of the children in the model train exhibit is like experiencing a seasonal group hug!

Through my Office Window – December 2019

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We are seeing more birds come to our deck for the bird bath now that the weather is cold enough that other water sources are frozen most mornings. Having a heated bird bath is a big draw.. The jays are too big for the feeder….but they come for the water and feel secure enough to sit a bit. Otherwise they are further away in the trees.

The titmouse is at the feeder and the water…but nervous enough in both locations to require a quick response to capture an image.

The Carolina Wren likes the deck railing as a stage for song…but it also likes the seeds in the feeder.

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The Cardinals frequent the new feeder. Our previous one was a little smaller and they tended to only get seed that fell to the ground from it.

The finches and juncos can sometimes share the feeder….sometimes it is a contentious situation.

The doves are too big for any feeder that is squirrel-proof, but they like the survey the yard from our deck railing, get a drink of water, and clean up any scattered feed.

The starlings could probably get seed from our feeder but, so far, they haven’t found it. They tend to stay in the treetops in the forest.

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The nuthatch seems to not be around as much right now. Maybe it’s found another nearby feeder.

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My favorite birds right down are the woodpeckers. The downy is around and occasionally comes to the feeder.

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The red-bellied is s frequently visitor…both male and female enjoy the bounty of the feeder. They are big enough that when they come, they are the only bird at the feeder.

Ten Little Celebrations – December 2019

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Happy Holidays!

My December had a lot of little celebrations already. I picked my top 10.

Coming home – I traveled over Thanksgiving and didn’t get home until the first of December. As usual after being away, I celebrated being home again.

Weather Conference for 6th graders – The weather was great…the students were focused…the speakers geared for the audience. It’s another annual volunteer gig that is now part of my celebration of December.

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Maryland Water Monitoring Conference – This was my third year to go to the MWMC and I learn something new every time. It’s a pretty intense day of learning.

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Howard County Conservancy Natural Holiday Sale – I love stocking the cookie table and keeping the urn full of Russian Tea. The event is always a celebration of the season.

Touch tank at Robinson Nature Center – I have a new volunteer gig! I chose something different than my other volunteering and easy to do during the winter since it is indoors. I really like the sea stars…watching the children observe the ‘feet’ through the glass and what happens when I ‘tickle’ to help the sea star let go so I can pick it up.

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Flying Wild and building a nest – I took a train-the-trainer type class for activities intended for grades 3-8…and one of hands on activities was building a nest. I celebrated that the one my team made managed to meet all the criteria: holding ‘marble’ eggs even when the nest moved and holding (weights) of fledglings!

Fog in the forest, birds at the feeder – It was a beautiful time looking out from the window of my office…the quiet of the forest holding the fog in the soft morning light, the birds coming to the feeder for breakfast. A moment to celebrate.

Maryland State House Christmas Trees – I enjoyed seeing all the creativity of the garden clubs…getting idea for upcoming years (maybe). It was just one of the things that put me more in the mood for all the other celebrations of the month.

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The Rise of Skywalker – It was a good ‘book end’ with the other end being the original Star Wars movie back 1977. I liked that so many story lines were resolved. Now I’m ready for a marathon watching of the other movies!

Bird feeder camera – We’re still perfecting how to mount the camera to optimize the view or our bird feeder. I’m celebrating getting the squirrel climbing the ladder as one of our early successes.

5 Free eBooks – December 2019

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I usually pick 3 books to feature in the monthly ‘free eBooks’ post; this month I am featuring 5. The titles all begin  “An Artist in…” and there were published between 1910 and 1915 although not by the same publisher. I think of them as a window into 5 places just before World War I: Spain, Egypt, Italy, Corfu and the Riviera. I am reminded that artists tend to correct ‘imperfections’ as they paint…even if they are trying for realism! Enjoy the scenes from over 100 years ago!

Michael, Arthur C. An Artist in Spain. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1914. Available from Internet Archive here.

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Tyndale, Walter. An Artist in Egypt. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1912. Available from Internet Archive here.

Tyndale, Walter. An Artist in Italy. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1913. Available from Internet Archive here.

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Atkinson, Sophie. An Artist in Corfu. London: Herbert & Daniel. 1913. Available from Internet Archive here.

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Tyndale, Walter. An Artist in the Riviera. New York: Hearst’s International Library Co. 1915. Available from Internet Archive here.

Touch Tank at Robinson Nature Center

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I have started a new volunteer experience – at Robinson Nature Center’s Touch Tank. Like any new activity – the first few times are all about learning role; in this case, the biggest challenges involve opening the top of the tank (I’m not graceful at doing it…but I can do it) and knowing enough about all the organisms in it to share with people (children and accompanying adults). The sea stars are interesting even looking at them through the wall of the tank….hanging onto the glass with their suction-cup ‘feet.’

I encourage the children to watch what happens when I ‘tickle’ the sea star to loosen its hold on the glass so that I can pick it up and let the children (adults too) touch the creature. There are also milk conchs that sometimes seem like a rock at first glance. The shell is cream-colored and smooth on the side toward the sand with highlights of green and orange…and the organism is a deep red. It has eyes on stalks and, if held vertically for a few seconds, kicks!

Note in the second picture above – what looks like a top hat behind the milk conch. That is a sea urchin in hiding. They like to cover themselves with shells and other things that camouflage what they are; the hats were 3-D printed for the urchins to use for their ‘dress up.’

After two sessions volunteering at the tank, I’m well along the learning curve. One lesson learned – wash the saltwater off thoroughly (up to the elbows) when I get home and moisturize. I’m focused on my fingernails too since they seemed to be very dry and broke easily even after just one shift.

Camera on the Birdfeeder

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The new ‘toy’ we are playing with over this holiday week is a camera on our birdfeeder!

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So far, we’ve been experimenting with temporary mounting on ladders to decide where to position it more permanently and adjusting parameters. The camera is not very big physically (the white blob on the right side near the top of the ladder is the camera).

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This was my first image I clipped from one of the videos – a female red-bellied woodpecker.

I’ll get better with my editing over time. It’s very different than my usual pictures through my office window.

Ever see a squirrel climb a ladder? This one climbed right up to the camera after it was unsuccessful in dumping the seed from the bird feeder!

Next steps are to mount the camera from the eve of our covered deck and put out the small solar panel to help keep it charged. I’ll share some the technical details of our set up…once we get it working a bit better. My husband and I are enjoying the project!

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 21, 2019

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Waterbirds and Camouflage and Forests and Birds in Pairs – Starting out this week’s list with some bird pictures….catching up the backlog

Liver cancer deaths climb by around 50% in the last decade -- ScienceDaily – Survival rates are low too. Obesity and smoking are two preventable causes.

How Climate Change Will Affect Maryland's Birds | Audubon – I looked at the page for Maryland because that is where I live. The red-headed woodpecker is on the ‘high vulnerability’ list. The data is available for other states as well (scroll down on the ‘home’ page and select by state or zip code). The red-headed woodpecker appears on the high vulnerability list for Texas and Missouri too (those are two other states I checked).

First Global Map of Saturn's Moon Titan Reveals Secrets of Earth's 'Deranged' Twin | Smart News | Smithsonian – There are plains, sand dunes, mountains, labyrinthine valleys…and lakes of methane.

'Self-cleaning' concrete could keep buildings looking new -- ScienceDaily – Maybe a new building material…but can it be made in a ‘green’ way?

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Turkeys – I’m just catching up on some reading…this would have been more appropriate for the Thanksgiving week gleanings…but better late that never. Turkeys are interesting birds!

Air Pollution Tied to Brain Cancer: Study | The Scientist Magazine® - Combustion-related nanoparticles can reach our brain! The concentrations of these particles in highly polluted areas are also causing other health related problems as well. For example, the air pollution in Kabul, Afghanistan may be causing more deaths than war in that area

Owling: A Field Guide to Finding Winter Owls – Seen any owls? They are often easier to hear than see.

Slideshow: Images from The World Beneath | The Scientist Magazine® - A few pictures from a new book about sea creatures and coral reefs. Lots of vibrant color and camouflage.

Eating in sync with biological clock could replace problematic diabetes treatment: An early-morning, carb-filled meal improves glycemic control among diabetics -- ScienceDaily – We are shifting our meals…largest one at midday…smallest one at night. If we eat a high carb meal it will be at breakfast. I had gingerbread cake this morning!

Oatmeal with a Difference

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When I was growing up, we doctored our oatmeal with brown sugar and butter…maybe we added some raisins. In recent years, I’ve substituted maple syrup for the brown sugar and, if I wanted raisins, I added them to cook with the oatmeal rather than after the fact. Sometimes I added cinnamon.

Recently, I’ve enjoyed oatmeal with very different additions: cooked with a mashed banana and cranberries….drizzled with honey after it is in the bowl.

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It’s a very different flavor. I should have put chopped walnuts or pecans on top to give it some crunch and protein. I’ll try to remember for next time.

Christmas Trees at the Maryland State House

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Another holiday themed outing – driving over to Annapolis to see the trees decorated by garden clubs for each of the counties in Maryland. It’s evidently the traditional display in the central hall of the Maryland State House this time of year. We did it yesterday – a cold but sunny day…and before the wind picked up in the afternoon. I took pictures of just about every tree.

My favorite was the one done for Worcester County – lots of natural material. I particularly liked the pinecones that were cut and painted to look like flowers (they reminded me of zinnias).

I also liked the Charles’ county birds made out of felt (with the bald eagle at the very top of the tree),

Dorchester’s painted shells and pearls (the overall color of the ornaments all over the tree was a light blue),

And the dried roses on Anne Arundel County’s tree…very golden color.

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The decorations for the other trees and wreathes were very creative too.

The garden clubs all did an excellent job! I took a lot of pictures and might use some of the ideas for my decorating next year.

Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival

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It was a cold evening last week that we drove through the Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival. I appreciated the warmth of the car. It’s a 3.5-mile drive through Seneca Creek State Park near Gaithersburg, Maryland and the display continues from 6-9 PM each evening (except Christmas) through December 31st.

The length of the winding road provides plenty of room for light scenes on grassy areas and in the lake. We were behind a slow car which suited us just fine. I had my window rolled down at least half the time getting pictures and other people must have too; children’s excited chatter about the lights coming from the cars around us was part of the holiday cheer of the place. My husband had Christmas Carols playing out the car sound system, so we added some sound to experience as well.

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My favorite picture of the evening was a simple one….of three bright trees in the darkness.

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There was a teddy bear land area that was a lot of fun.

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And then we came to the end with a bear-in-the-box (rather than a Jack-in-the box! Time to head home in a holiday mood.

Cat Playground

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Our den has some comfortable chairs but I’m beginning to realize is it turning into a playground for our cat. The most recent cat toy is a donut shape with entrances on two sides. The cat enjoys napping or simply hiding in there. Sometimes he takes one of the small toy mice inside to play.

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Outside the donut are cushions, corrugated cardboard platforms (excellent for clawing), a battery powered feathery ‘bird’ and some wands with feathers on the end – which the cat drags to a person to make the fluff come alive (sometimes going up the stairs with the toy during the night).

But for this month, the donut is the new toy.

Flying Wild

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Last Friday – I was in Annapolis for a Flying Wild class offered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. It was a day to learn some activities that celebrate birds designed for age groups I normally encounter as a volunteer and Maryland Master Naturalist. The forecast for the morning drive was a little threatening (freezing rain) but it didn’t materialize. It was my first time at the Tawes State Office Building where the class was held do I took a few minutes for pictures of lobby area of the building (it was rainy and cold so no outdoor pictures): Maryland symbols, a frayed Baltimore Checkerspot (which is very rare these days), a garden drawing on one of the windows looking out onto a real courtyard garden and a sculpture of a tree planting.

We did a sampling of the activities available from Flying Wild. One of my favorites was nest building. In teams of 3, we used wire to make a frame for a nest and then used materials that we had scored for strength, flexibility, and space filler. We could use as much material as we wanted except for clay; we were only allowed a golf ball amount of that. After we constructed our nest, there were tests: 3 marbles were used as ‘eggs’ (did they fit in the nest and not roll out when the nest was shaken); then some weights were put into the nest to simulate the growing chicks. It was a lot of fun and our nest ‘passed.’ We all gained a healthy respect for birds building nests with just their beaks and feet!

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Of course, I come home with lots of stuff – handouts and the book…a poster and a ‘prize’ for being on the winning team for the nestling feeding relay. There were Black Eye Susan Seeds to plant next spring too!

I’m already thinking about doing some of the Fly Wild activities with summer campers!

Tracks in the Snow

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Last week we got a little bit of snow. It was an easy snow to deal with: less than an inch, pavement warm enough to melt it. There was no delayed opening for schools or cancelled events. It was pretty on the surface of our deck and the grass in the yard. The juncos were out at our feeder and in the snow. I took some pictures of their tracks on the deck floor. Some areas had been so heavily used that the tracks were overlapping – showing the density of bird traffic for the whole morning. The tracks look a lot like the theropod (dinosaur) tracks I used as a Zentangle pattern with the summer campers! The campers were quick to tell me that birds are our ‘living dinosaurs.’

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Of course, I made my own print in the snow when I went out to take the photographs.

By the end of the day, all the snow and footprints had melted away. Maybe the next time it snows there will be enough to make snow ice cream.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 14, 2019

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The Two Genomes in Every Eukaryotic Cell | The Scientist Magazine® and Infographic: How the Mitochondrial and Nuclear Genomes Interact | The Scientist Magazine® - A lot has been discovered about mitochondrial DNA (and genetics) since I was in college in the 1970s!

Yellowstone's Wolves: Infusing Wildness into The Landscape – The story of wolves in Yellowstone over the past 25 years – the positive impact on the ecosystem as a whole

Sunlight-Tracking Polymer, Inspired by Sunflowers, Could Maximize Solar Power | Smart News | Smithsonian – Another way that solar panels can gain efficiency.

Springfield Plateau: Yellowjacket Nest – A yellowjacket tale from Springfield MO. I was surprised that ice was the treatment for a sting. I’ve always used baking soda with ice as the backup plan if there isn’t any baking soda available.

Why biodegradables won’t solve the plastic crisis - BBC Future – There are only pieces of a solution at this point….nothing comprehensive. It seems like the best strategy for at home is to reduce all single use plastic as much as possible. There are some easy things like reusable shopping and produce bags, but it becomes hard quickly. So many groceries and toiletries only come in plastic containers.

Remote Sensing Data Advances Soil Health Science – Cover crops and no-till practices were an advantage in record-breaking rainfalls of spring 2019.

How the House Finch Conquered Your Feeder…and A Continent – A little history of House Finches – originally from the southwest and Mexico…now in found widely across North America.

How the Aztecs could improve modern urban farming: Chinampas: An old technique might provide new solutions to sustainable urban agriculture -- ScienceDaily – The article made the multiple harvests per season seem feasible in tropical wetlands…not so much in the temperate zone where the artificial islands would go through a real winter although maybe it would just mean the use of cover crops during that time period.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: December – Bird photography to enjoy!

Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics - Yale E360 – An up and coming technology for remote sensing of birds, insects, frogs and other animals.

Blog: Insect Collection Photographs – Part II

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I remember my own experience making an insect collection during the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of high school. I used thin black pins from the local university book store and found some light green Styrofoam that I cut to fit in a rectangular box. One of my friends and I made insect nets: Netting sewn into a sock-light shape with the open end gathered onto clothesline wire that was looped and duct taped to a dowel or old broom handle. They worked reasonably well! Butterflies and moths were my favorites – but I also was very pleased with dragonflies I captured as well. I included at least 2 cicada killers but not captured with the net; I put a jar over the hole I saw them disappear into! It was a memorable experience  from the late 1960s.

I never did see a cecropia moth back then…but my son-in-law has several specimens. The one with the bushier antennae below is the male. The female is the larger of the two.

There are adult and pupae in my son-on-law’s boxes.

He even managed to preserve a caterpillar with emerging parasitoid larvae! I never developed the expertise to find and preserve anything like that.

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Insect Collection Photographs – Part I

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My son-in-law has an insect collection that he’s mounted in wooden boxes – carefully labeled – to use for reference and outreach. He took the top covers off to make them easier to photograph.

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The dragonflies look very much as they do when alive.

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He pointed out the Dobson flies – what hellgrammites (benthic macroinvertebrates) grow up to be. It’s always very exciting to find the larvae in our stream surveys…we don’t see the adults as often. Both specimens appear to be females since the males have longer mandibles.

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Not an invertebrate I want to see in a house when it’s alive!

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Some of the insects are pinned to display their wing patterns with one side folded…the other unfurled.

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I’ll share more for other boxes tomorrow….butterflies and moths.

Decorating for Christmas

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Our decorating has lagged this year because of my travel at Thanksgiving and then the flurry of volunteer gigs right after I returned. My husband put the wreath on the door before I got home from Springfield, Missouri but it wasn’t until this last weekend that we put the tree up.

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We are keeping it simple this year – just lights and Zentangle coasters on our white tree. I’m still creating more coasters so there will be others added to the tree as the month progresses. I started with about 40 this past weekend.

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I put the cards from past years on the door scrunchies as I usually do….and more cards will be under the plastic on our breakfast table.

Festive…without a lot of effort.

Natural Holiday Sale

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Last weekend Howard County Conservancy hosted their annual Natural Holiday Sale. I volunteered – as I have for the past few years – to keep the refreshment table full of goodies. So many people brought in loads of cookies…it was easy to keep the variety of delicious cookies (dried fruit for garnish). Making the Russian tea from the powdered mix and taking it out to the urn took more coordination!

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There were garden clubs and other vendors filling the room…and live music – piano in the morning, harp in the afternoon.

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The usual collection of natural materials took some space – lots to choose from to make ‘critters.’ I took my pictures just before the event opened to the public with the glue guns and materials were still relatively pristine!

There are so many ways to combine the materials….lots of creative minds at work on that side of the room!

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There is quite a food tradition in the kitchen for volunteers and vendors: scones and coffee for the morning

Then BLT salad and soups/chilis for lunch. My favorite is the chicken chili with tomatillo salsa.

Overall – a great way to finish off the volunteering with HCC this year!

Maryland Water Monitoring Council Annual Conference

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The 25th MWMC Annual Conference was held last week. It was my third time to attend and it was, once again, a great opportunity to catch up on water-related research and Maryland specific plans, activities, and accomplishments. The two themes in the sessions I chose to attend were watershed health and remote sensing. I am hoping the agenda with links for the presentation material will come out soon since my note taking is not all that legible.

I also enjoyed the vendor tables. One of the companies that did the stream restoration at Howard Country Conservancy’s Davis Branch had a table – and a post card picturing the project (before last summer’s drought)!

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One vendor had a great ‘Got Bugs? Banner and another had macroinvertebrate stickers.

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There were other giveaways too – lip balm, pens, a frog shopping bag, and a folding card Field Guide to Aquatic Macroinvertebrates.

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The conference was the largest every – with over 600 attendees.

Last 2019 Student Event at Mt Pleasant

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Last week the annual Howard County Conservancy ‘Weather to the Extreme’ conference was held for 6th grade students from half the middle schools in our county. I volunteered as a session moderator. As usual – I was too busy to take pictures after the students arrive…but there was a little time just after I arrived. As I got out of my car, I heard a noise in the trees just above me and the squirrel continued to work on the black walnut long enough for me to take pictures. It’s amazing that the squirrels can get through the tough shell of these nuts.

There was a tiny amount of snow overnight…still evident in a few areas…no enough to cause any traffic challenges.

The witch hazel is still blooming, and the seed pods will be forming soon. There are buds on the witch hazel that blooms in February now. I’ll try to check them every time I go to Mt Pleasant over the winter.

Very few of the cone flower seed heads look intact. The birds enjoy the seeds….and probably knock some to the ground that will grow next spring.

There are always things to see around Mt Pleasant….even on a cold and damp day!