Reptile Fest

 Working Reptilefest at the Virginia Museum of Natural History was an exciting experience for Southwestern Piedmont Master Naturalists!  Thirteen naturalists were on hand to work the outreach table and help curators with live animals and specimens of reptiles and amphibians from the museum collection.  3,058 visitors arrived from across Virginia, nine other states and Canada.  The outreach table provided information directly to 400 adult visitors on how to use the iNaturalist app to log species as part of the up-coming City Nature Challenge. 

Outreach Table

Photo by Regina Flora

Photo by Regina Flora

Photo by Regina Flora

Photo by Valinda Dyer

Photo by Regina Flora

City Nature Challenge 2023

 

Be A Weather Monitor!

 I start each day with a quick trip outside to my rain gauge to check for any precipitation. Then, I log my findings when I get back inside.  Most days, I log a zero, but there are days when we get significant rainfall, or even snow.  It takes me about 6 minutes a day.  This adds up over the year. 

Photo by Kathy Fell - A day with significant rainfall!

March is the recruiting month for CoCoRAHs, the national Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network. To participate, you need to purchase and install a rain gauge (which is currently on sale for $35!) and install it in a location in an open area.  Use the "Weather Monitoring and Reporting" activity" under "Observe and Report information about Nature".  The CoCoRaHS site has a number of training videos that count for either C.E. or service credit and we have several participating chaptermembers who would love to answer any questions.  Data reported to CoCoRaHS is used by a number of agencies.  Data collected from snow is used to predict spring flooding! 

Hope to see a gauge in your yard soon!

SLF Outreach

 Thanks to T'Keyah and Valinda for the SLF educational booth on Spotted Lanternfly at the Patrick County Master Gardener Symposium last weekend. 100 people were expected for the symposium. What a great way to get the word out that we need to be on the alert this spring, as these invasive insects are getting closer every year.

Photo by Kathy Fell

Bluebird Monitors Needed!

 

Dottie Haley is the Henry County coordinator for the Virginia Bluebird Society.  Please contact her if you are interested in helping with bluebird monitoring this year. 

 

I Can’t Imagine a World Without Birds

It is hard to believe that when I first showed an interest in monitoring Bluebird boxes, it was mainly to accumulate VMN volunteer service hours.  That was 13 years ago.  Although I am still monitoring, it is for very different reasons. 

My mentor was a man named Jimmy Doyle.  He began his quest to help the Bluebirds in the 70’s.  He was seeing the decline in the Bluebird population and wanted to do whatever he could to help.  He became the Henry County Coordinator for the Virginia Bluebird Society and devoted his life to the cause.   He spread the word about Bluebirds and taught others who wanted to help what to do.  Jimmy was getting older and was no longer physically able to do everything that needed to be done.  I met with him on a beautiful spring morning so that he could show me the trail that he was handing off to me.  His excitement and enthusiasm were contagious so after an hour spent with Jimmy, I was officially a fanatic. As a monitor, it is exciting to see the progress in the life cycle of the Bluebird each week and a good feeling to look back at the end of each nesting season and see how many Bluebirds (and other nest box dwellers) that you helped fledge.  Each one makes a difference. 

My fanaticism quickly spread to include all birds.  I became obsessed with learning as many species names as possible and still get super excited to see a species that I have never seen before.  They come in such a wide array of sizes, colors and patterns.  What’s not to love?  I have spent many snowy days staring out the window at my feeders admiring all of those who visit.  

A new nesting season is right around the corner.    There are established trails in Henry, Patrick, Pittsylvania and Franklin counties.  We are looking for volunteer monitors to check boxes one, two, three or four times monthly.  If you are interested in becoming a Bluebird box monitor, please contact me.  All travel and time spent monitoring boxes can be logged in Better Impact under Observe and Report Information about Nature – Bluebird Monitoring.

Photo by Dottie Haley - Baby Bluebirds

 

 

Bonez and Booz at VMNH

Virginia Museum of Natural History held their first Halloween event on Oct 29.  Several chapter members helped out with tables displaying pelts and skulls to touch and a leaf stencil art project. 

Janet and Regina with Mr. Skeleton

Great Witch Valinda

Virginia Trout Stream Sensitivity Study (VTSSS) Update - Eric Tichay

 

 

Service Project Update: Time for Fall projects!

 Time for Fall Projects 

by Kathy Fell

Now is a good time for sharp eyed naturalists to take a hike with your camera and do some observing.  I discovered the sourwood is starting to make a display.  There is an approved project called Budburst https://budburst.org/ that collects data about plat phenology.   This might be something to sign up for in the spring.  Data is used to track the impact of global warming on plants.  

 

Photo by Kathy Fell: Sourwood fall color

I did a little research and discovered the peak of the southern migration of the monarch butterfly will be later this month.  The site has a predication chart, based on your latitude: https://monarchwatch.org/tagmig/peak.html.  I am at about 38 degrees latitude.  Keep an eye out for the eastern migration from Maine to Mexico, starting next week.  A southern migration map can be found here: https://maps.journeynorth.org/map/?map=monarch-peak-migration&year=2021  Monarch monitoring is part of our approved project  “Report Insect, spider and tick sightings”. https://monarchjointventure.org/mlmp and

 

Photo by Kathy Fell: Monarch butterfly

 

Our Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will also be heading south soon. I went outside this morning to check the hummingbird feeder.  A “customer” was there, waiting for me.  As soon as I had hung up the fresh sugar water, she went for a drink.  I was maybe 6 ft away.  You will not see flocks of hummingbirds.  They are solitary creatures and travel alone.    Check out https://www.audubon.org/content/hummingbirds-home if you want to contribute as part of the “Bird Counts” project.

Photo by Kathy Fell: Female Ruby-throated hummingbird

Another good fall project is to collect acorns for the Department of Forestry. Acorns (and other nuts) are due by October 15th.  My Black Walnut trees have a bumper crop this year!  For more information, visit  https://dof.virginia.gov/forest-management-health/seedling-nurseries/acorn-collection/   

Photo by Kathy Fell: Black Walnut

Service Project Update: Wilson Park Cleanup

VMN SW Piedmont Chapter Cleans Up J. Frank Wilson Park as Part of the “Clean Virginia Waterways” and “International Coastal Cleanup”

Noel Boaz

Eleven volunteers (5 Virginia Master Naturalists and 6 community members) took part in a cleanup of J. Frank Wilson Park in Martinsville on Saturday, August 21, 2021, in cooperation with Clean Virginia Waterways (Longwood College), in turn a part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. Three gloved and masked teams armed with mechanical-arm “grabbers” and bags designated for trash and recyclables collected 8 bags weighing a total of 21 pounds over a period of 2 1/2 hours. One member of each team recorded the trash collected on a data sheet. Data sheets were then complied and reported to the national Ocean Conservancy database via Longwood University, as well as being reported to the online mobile app Clean Swell. 

Image of Appreciation Certificate to VMN SW Piedmont Chapter from Clean Virginia Waterways

After the cleanup, non-recyclable trash was deposited in city receptacles. Recyclable materials were washed and sorted. Plastic “numbers” which refer to the resins used in plastic manufacture, were used for sorting. Number 1 (PETE or Polyethylene Terephthalate) plastic (mainly “clear” beverage bottles) was also the number 1 item recovered in our cleanup. Teams “grabbed” 56 of these, which along with Number 2 (HDPE or High Density Polyethylene) plastic (mainly “opaque” containers), and aluminum cans, were put into Martinsville city recycling containers on Market Street. Glass beverage bottles were also a common item. There were 26 of these. They were sorted by color (clear, green, and brown) and taken to the recycling station on Old South Boston Road in Danville. 

40% of the litter that our teams picked up in J. Frank Wilson Park were beverage containers (140 plastic and metal pieces out of a total of 350 pieces). This figure agrees with the general 40-60% drink-container composition of litter nationwide in states without returnable deposit “bottle laws” (https://www.industryweek.com/the-economy/regulations/article/22008100/why-are-there-so-few-states-with-bottle-bill-laws). The 10 states that have instituted such laws have had marked success in increasing recycling rates of glass, aluminum, and Number 1 plastic and reducing their percentages in landfills. In one such state, California, the beverage container recycling rate is 85 percent statewide, and includes a nearly 100 percent recycling rate for aluminum beverage containers (https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/publiced/earthday/what/).

Number 4 (LDPE  or Low Density Polyethylene) plastic (mainly grocery bags) were put into the recycle bins at the Kroger store in Martinsville. They can also be recycled at Danville recycling centers. 

Recycling Number 3 plastic (V or PVC  or Vinyl) was a problem. This plastic contains phthalate and DEHA chemical carcinogens (when in high concentrations). The closest place that we could find to recycle the few pieces of No. 3 litter that we collected was an industrial vinyl company site north of Charlottesville. One item in this category, a vinyl balloon with a valve, was listed as one of our “most unusual” items. Because of the distance involved in recycling, the Number 3 plastic that we collected unfortunately went into the trash. 

Following the cleanup, our team heard a talk by local Kroger manager, Mohammad Zaghab, about the company’s ongoing efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate No. 4 plastic bags from their stores. The store has recycling bins for plastic grocery bags in the front of their stores and encourages everyone to make use of them.

After a hard afternoon of cleaning the park, and to underscore the ultimate benefits of Clean Virginia Waterways, volunteers snacked on barbequed fresh East Coast oysters (Crassostrea virginica), kindly supplied by the Kroger Company. Healthy freshwater runoff from the Smith, Dan, and Roanoke Rivers ensure the enduring environmental quality of the shell beds of these oysters in Albemarle Pamlico Sound, North Carolina (https://apnep.nc.gov/our-work/restore/oyster-protection-restoration#:~:text=The%20people%20of%20eastern%20North%20Carolina%20have%20a,bushels%20%285.6%20million%20lbs%29%20being%20harvested%20in%201889).

Service Project Update: Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail Adoption

 Project Update - Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail Adoption 

By Ed Coleman, 29-Jul-2021

As a trail coordinator, I posted a volunteer opportunity invite

for my fellow Master Naturalists to select a VBWT site

to observe nature on the Sweet Mountain Laurel Loop

but no one signed up, so what’s the scoop 

Seems I must go this one alone

I finally decided with a slight groan

Thirty seconds on the trail, I was immersed in nature’s total bliss

so I decided to write this poem to share what was missed 

There were fawns frolicking in an open field 

just across the Blue Ridge Parkway at Mabry Mill

High up on Buffalo Mountain, unsure what I would be confronting

but there in plain sight were two beautiful Indigo Buntings 

The first Monarchs of the season that I met 

were feeding on milkweed at Chateau Morrisette 

Appalachian or Eastern not sure which cotton tail

but trust me they were all along the VBWT trail

A water snake in the bog at DeHart Memorial park

and lots of Eastern Blue Birds but not a single Meadowlark

At Rocky Knob I recorded my very first sighting ever 

of the rare and brilliantly colored Red Headed Woodpecker 

On lower Rock Castle creek, I encountered four Eastern Newts

with that bright orange color, wow, they were so cute

Transversing the landscape on the upper Rock Castle Gorge 

I spotted a white tail doe head deep in a banquet of forage 

Swallowtails and wildflowers were abundant on Belcher Mountain road

but when I looked in the ditch, there was no sign of a toad

Bumble bees were attracted to Black Cohosh at Saddle Overlook

snapped so many photos that I lost track of how many I took

After two miles of hiking at Smart View I was in search of a bench 

but there in the meadow feeding were five American Goldfinch 

At my next stop I saw a Scarlet Tanager in a tall poplar tree

well, haven’t I shared enough to make someone want to join me 

Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) Photo by Ed Coleman

 

Monarch (Danaus plexippus) Photo by Ed Coleman

 

White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Photo by Ed Coleman

 

Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) Photo by Ed Coleman

 

Confusing Furrow Bee (Halictus confusus) Photo by Ed Coleman

 

Eastern Eyed Click Beetle (Alaus oculatus) Photo by Ed Coleman

Ed Coleman is a Virginia Master Naturalist with the Southwestern Piedmont Chapter, and obviously not a poet.  If you want to see more of his photos taken in July 2021 along the Sweet Mountain Laurel Trail Loop, visit iNaturalist.org, click Explore, and filter by Person “edcoleman3084” and Project “Virginia Wildlife Mapping”

Find the Sweet Mountain Laurel loop at https://dwr.virginia.gov/vbwt/mountain-trail/msl/  or perhaps a VBWT trail closer to home at https://dwr.virginia.gov/vbwt/