National Bat Week

 by Regina Flora

SWP’s Education Outreach Committee celebrated National Bat Week by exhibiting on bats at the Bonez and Booz festival hosted by VMNH on October 28th. Nine chapter members presented bat facts, discussed differences between bats and birds, and exhibited bat specimens and a bat house. A local bat enthusiast, Amanda Rhyne, provided answers to questions and a display board of information. 

Photo by Regina Flora: Valinda, Whitney and Kamera with Batman

Children in their fun festival costumes participated by drawing bats with walnut husk stain. A bat cutout was distributed for continued learning at home. About 500 children and parents received information at the table. 

We have 17 species of bats in Virginia. All of our bats feed on thousands of insects each night. Some are tree bats and overwinter in tree cavities, wood piles, leaves and loose rocks. Other types form large colonies for hibernation inside caves and old mines. 

Although not blind, bats rely on echolocation since they are nocturnal. They emit  sound waves which bounce off objects and return as an echo. This echolocation allows them to navigate, find prey, and communicate. 

To encourage bat populations in your backyard, grow native plants, provide a water source, avoid pesticides, and allow leaves and old snags to stay in place for shelter. You can also provide shelter by placing a bat house. 

Photo by Regina Flora: Kamara at our display table

2024 Virginia Master Naturalist State Conference

 

Four chapter members attended the 2023 Virginia Master Naturalist State Conference from Sept 29th to Oct 1^st.  This year, the conference was held in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the town of Abingdon and was attended by 180 naturalists from across the state.

Photo by Regina Flora: Entrance to conference venue

Conference attendees: Regina, Kathy, Stephanie and Ed

Ed and Kathy arrived on Thursday to visit some of Virginia’s State Parks in the area.  Ed visited Natural Tunnel State Park in Scott County.  At more than 850 feet long and 10 stories high, Natural Tunnel began to form more than one million years ago as water slowly dissolved limestone and dolomite bedrock to naturally carve this enormous cave.   Kathy visited the new Clinch River State Park in Wise County. The park currently contains the pre-existing Sugar Hill Loop hiking trail.  DCR is acquiring more property in the area to build a 100 mile long Blueway along the Clinch River.  We have a Blueway here on Philpott Lake.

Photo by Ed Coleman: Natural Tunnel State Park

Pre-conference field trips were on Friday.  Ed hiked about six miles round trip with a group of 20 Master Naturalists through a high-elevation forest to the Channels.  Formed 400 million years ago from an ancient sea floor, the geological formations of the Channels are comprised of a network of deep sandstone crevices.  The channels may have been created by permafrost and ice wedging during the last ice age, which split large seams in the soft rock.  

Photo by Ed Coleman: The Channels

Kathy visited the DCR Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Center where she learned much about mussels.  This facility is doing captive breeding of endangered species of mussels from the area, including the rarest mussel in the world: the Appalachian monkeyface mussel.  The tour began with a video of a momma mussel, waving a body part to attract a fish.  When the fish came close, she grabbed it by the nose.  For 10 minutes, she spit microscopic larvae at the fish before releasing it.  The immature mussels, called glochidia, attach to the fish gills and feed off the fish until they are mature enough to drop off and fend for themselves.  The facility includes spaces for male and female mussels to live and breed, microscopes to find the glochidia, and space to raise the specific species of host fish for each of the different species of mussels.  Eyedroppers are used to collect the glochidia and spray them on an unwitting fish in a private tank. We even got to see all the fish food and mussel food they had on hand. This was all more interesting than I had imagined it would be.  There is an interesting article about breeding the monkeyface mussel here. 

Friday, Regina did some bird watching and visited Shot Tower State Park and New River Trail State Park, bringing her total for Trail Quest to 19 of Virginia’s State Parks.  Then she set up the chapter display for the Friday evening Share Fair.  Our display table focused on the education outreach project about Spotted Lanternfly.

Regina at our Outreach table

Saturday morning was spent inside the Higher Education Center in Abingdon. The keynote speaker, Jeremy Stout, gave a fascinating presentation on the prehistory and ecology of the southern Appalachian Mountains.  

All 4 of SWP members attended “Living with Black Bears in Virginia”.  This talk described a new joint project with the Department of Wildlife Resources to educate the public about interactions with bears. This project has recently been approved for our chapter as our outreach focus for 2024.  The timing of this educational session was helpful for Ed, who had a recent face-to-face encounter with a black bear. After the session ended, he sat down with Carl Tugend, Black Bear Project Leader DWR, for a personal assessment of his particular bear situation.  

Photo by Regina Flora

Saturday afternoon, Ed and Kathy traveled by bus to the Blue Ridge Discovery Center where Ali Reilly, Program Coordinator, took us on a tour of the historic Blue Ridge Discovery Center building, which was originally sided with American Chestnut bark.  We explored the 6,000 square-foot native plant rain garden in front of the building, then headed to the wetland restoration project on the Blue Ridge Discovery campus. The wetland had previously been filled in and turned into a trailer park.  The diversity of species we found in and around this restored area was amazing.   Regina went on this same field trip at a different time.

Photo by Regina Flora: Wetland Restoration site

On Sunday morning, Regina attended the Presidents breakfast, where attendees participated in group sessions to discuss any chapter issues and problem-solving suggestions.  Then, she attended a field trip on Edible plants at Hungry Mother State Park, adding a 20^th park to her tally.

Photo by Regina Flora: Hungry Mother Lake at Hungry Mother State Park

Ed drove to Saltville to view shorebirds with Katie Cordle.  Situated on a 86-acre park in the center of town, the Saltville Well Fields are a series of brackish wetlands caused by salt leakage from old brine wells.  The site, which is the only inland saline marsh in Virginia, is located geographically along a spring and fall migration route for shorebirds and waterfowl.  

Photo by Ed Coleman: Saltville Well Fields

Kathy attended a session by a wildlife rehabilitator and an update by Kate LeCroy on her research on our native blue mason bees.  Master Naturalists across the state participated in her PhD research.  She has determined that bee hotels attract mostly the non-native mason bees and bee predators.  Bee hotels are also spreading the chalk brood fungus that is killing our native mason bees. The non-native bees appear to be less affected by this fungus. 

We all headed home on Sunday afternoon, appreciative of the many educational experiences enjoyed during the conference and looking forward to the 2024 conference.   The 2024 Virginia Master Naturalist conference will be a virtual event held September 27-29.  We are discussing the possibility of scheduling some field trips and get-togethers with the three other chapters in the southern piedmont.

Recognizing Fairy Stone State Park’s Bluebird Trail

 

by Christine Boran

(Date:  October 12, 2023)

 

It occurred to me as a Virginia Master Naturalist and also as a County Coordinator for the Virginia Bluebird Society (VBS) that the largest reward I get is being involved in the protocols of trail planning and installations, training the monitors “in the field”, and being there for them for the multiple nesting seasons for questions and any issues that can arise during the nesting season.  In Patrick County, I would like to highlight success for the bluebirds and recognize the outstanding and enthusiastic trail managers VMN volunteers who make it possible for the trail to succeed by careful monitoring and record keeping on the weekly nest box checks. This year, I am wishing and recognizing a happy 10^th anniversary of the bluebird trail at Fairy Stone State Park. Let’s get to know more about this trail and the Southwestern Piedmont Chapter VMNs who manage it.  With my sincere thanks, I want to say to them, “It takes a bluebird village” -- you make it happen year after year. 

Fairy Stone State Park, Stuart, VA

Fairy Stone State Park’s trail was planned in Fall 2013 with my meeting with the State Park Manager at the park located in Stuart, VA, in Patrick County. I am thrilled this park is located 8 miles from my home. After the State Park Manager was excited to support the project and signed the proposed VBS Grant forms, he asked his assistant manager to drive around the park in his truck with me to look at locations to install the nestboxes. These included discussions of mowing requirements, areas left natural with tall grasses, and locations conducive to be witnessed and enjoyed by park visitors and staff but not too close to disturb the nesting birds. After locations were agreed upon with the park, I submitted the signed VBS grant form for planning a bluebird trail on public grounds and ordered the VBS protocol equipment from nestbox builder Paul Davis, who resides in Nelson County. I knew Paul from serving together on the VBS Board as Directors, and I was well-aware of his amazing workshop skills and the love he had in building the nestboxes. On March 28, 2014, Paul and I met in Bedford County, at the National D-Day Memorial, a halfway point between Patrick and Nelson Counties, so that Paul could transfer the nestboxes and equipment to me. With the help of a state park volunteer, I was able to install the trail at the agreed locations in April 2014.

As a member of the Southwestern Piedmont Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists, I met fellow chapter members and husband-and-wife team Brian and Jessica Phillips who wanted to volunteer as the new trail’s monitors/managers. Brian and Jessica shadowed me for training on my 50-box Woolwine House Bluebird Trail in Patrick County that same year, and then I took them on a tour of the newly installed trail at Fairy Stone State Park. I want to recognize Brian and Jessica in their diligence in not only monitoring this trail but also that Jessica Emails reports after each monitoring day of the nesting activity to the state park staff. These two photos show Brian and Jessica in training in 2014 and this year 2023 at the state park’s office next to the office’s hand-painted barn quilt, a Patrick County tradition. I asked Jessica to share thoughts with me on their monitoring this trail and what really was significant for them. This is what she said: “We enjoy the opportunity to get to check the nestboxes at Fairy Stone State Park each week. It is like Christmas morning when you get ready to open a present and not sure what is inside, and all the excitement and anticipation builds just like approaching a nestbox and getting ready to open it. It is cool to hear the young tweeting as approached the nestboxes and when open the nestboxes and the young think you are the parent bird bringing food and their mouths are open. Brian has had a few encounters with the mother birds brushing the side of his face when he opens the nestboxes. Overall, this has been a very cool experience and can't wait for the years to come to see what else is in store for us.”

Brian & Jessica at Fairy Stone State Park, July 2023

Brian and Jessica monitoring nest boxes, April 2014

Christine installing nest boxes, April 2014

Christine with map of  nest box locations in Fairy Stone State Park

Looking for a great project? Try CoCoRaHS!

 I went out to check my rain gauge this morning to see what Tropical Storm Ophelia brought us last night.  This is a fun task I do every morning.  I reported the 0.24 inches online and noticed the great graphic of the path of the storm. 

CoCoRaHS Rainfall map from Ophelia - 9/23/2023 8am

You too can contribute a dot to a map like this.  All it takes is a rain gauge (currently on sale here) and to sign up to be a CoCoRaHS volunteer. 

Photo by Kathy Fell - CoCoRaHS rain gauge with over an inch of rain

CoCoRaHS training videos are all online count for Continuing Education.  Log your hours using "Observe and Report Information about Nature - Weather Monitoring and Reporting". 

City Nature Challenge 2023

 

City Nature Challenge 2023

 by Noel Boaz

The City Nature Challenge is a global bioblitz that happens simultaneously for four days at the end of April each year. It began six years ago as a friendly competition between two museums in California, in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively, and was aimed at documenting how much of the natural world still survives amid urban environments (quite a bit). The event has now become an international happening based on the use of the mobile phone app, iNaturalist. Virginia has been a leader in the City Nature Challenge with 7 cities/regions (including D.C.) taking part this year.  This exceeds the number of participating cities in any of our neighboring states and equals California and New York. Martinsville/Southwest Piedmont Virginia has taken part in the City Nature Challenge for the past four years.  This year our now four-county region, including Franklin County and centered on Martinsville, recorded 694 observations, 334 species of wildlife, and 30 observers. 

That is a great showing! Congratulations to our three champion identifiers -  Gael Chaney with 72 observations and 58 species, Kathy Fell with 81 observations and 57 species, and Regina Flora with an incredible 277 observations and 183 species identified. This year we more than tripled our number of observers, increased our observations by 4 1/2 times, and recorded 3 times the number of species over 2022. Our numbers are recorded on https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/current-results (under Martinsville for 2202 and under Southwestern Piedmont Virginia for 2023) for those who want to compare our results with cities around the world. Within Virginia we climbed to fifth place, ahead of the Eastern Shore and Blacksburg, but trailed DC, Charlottesville, Richmond, and Clinch Valley. As the map of observations shows, our densest area of activity was in Martinsville, but there are large swathes of all four counties, particularly in Pittsylvania, where we need more eyes on the ground.

 

To see what we found during the City Nature Challenge this year check out our project page on iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2023-southwest-piedmont-virginia). The most commonly identified plant species was the beautiful Lyreleaf Sage (Salvia lyrata), which was used medicinally by Native Americans and at one time was (erroneously) thought to be effective in treating cancer.

Lyreleaf Sage (Salvia lyrata)

Among a number of interesting insects that our identifiers found was an unusual one, the Jumping Bristletail (genus Pedetontus). This insect, I was fascinated to learn, belongs to a small order known as the Microcoryphia. A bit like “living fossils,” these insects represent an ancient lineage linking the Apterygota (primarily wingless insects) and the Pterygota (primarily winged insects) which are now thought to have diverged 435 million years ago in the Silurian Period.  Entomologists opine that bristletails resemble the first insects. There were several interesting spider species identified. A particularly striking mollusk reported was the Leopard Slug.

Jumping Bristletail (genus Pedetontus)

Our most commonly sighted birds (5 each) were the Blue Jay and the Northern Cardinal, the latter appropriately our state bird. Varied herptile sightings included the Common Five-Lined Skink, Eastern Newt, Chorus Frog, and Eastern Fence Lizard. Rounding out our species list were our most commonly seen mammals - the Common Raccoon, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Ground Hog, and Virginia White-Tailed Deer. As varied and diverse as this list seems, there was much that was not seen and identified. Next year, with more participants and more acreage covered, we hope to do even better in doucmenting the diverse flora and fauna of our region.

Next year’s City Nature Challenge will take place at the end of April, and our chapter is already signed up. There is a lot of nature out there and we would like to record and identify more of it, with your help. If you would like to join in as an organizer for one of the counties or cities in the Southwestern Piedmont, the requirements (duties as shared with the other organizers) are below:
1. Making monthly online meetings
2. Creating and maintaining your city’s CNC project
3. Promoting the CNC in your area including how to best participate and communicating the results of the CNC
4. Completing milestones in a timely manner (based on a timeline given to organizers)
5. Agreeing to guidelines around logo use, talking to media, fundraising, partnerships, etc.

We’ll have our first meeting for new CNC organizers Thursday, September 21, 2023 at 7:00 PM (https://calacademy-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/2bIx_zqfIpOas6P9VPwjPWjW0EBz9RXdc8CZKELuTmIjyaWigHTO6IXwd6YngDp79pZmlEerH8empioJNoPgXkrQWPJI9S4atLyf7zxjPGHkcF75btapLlF5nwnUGQMM_Z9wuFpokDrs4hJjfAT7Q49K0XBcQGGQ_1O5AwdUF2Iifg3F9bEDuih_QCk5laYLLechMrr4DqBdQ). All are welcome.  Planning meetings with all organizers (new and returning) will start in October, 2023. If you miss the meeting or just want more information feel free to contact me at ntboaz@earthlink.net to get involved.

Curious Fall Finds

 I can always tell it is closing in on fall when I head outside and walk right into a 3 ft diameter spider web. Not much makes me squeamish, but a face full of spider web comes close.  Fall is the time to be on the lookout for the orb weavers! 

Photo by Kathy Fell: Orb weaver

Also, their colorful cousins, the Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia).

Photo by Kathy Fell: Yellow Garden Spider

I also spotted a rather large beetle that I think might be a Horned Passalus Beetle that likes to eat decaying wood. 

Photo by Kathy Fell: Horned Passalus Beetle?

Being more of a plant person, this weekend, I also noted the start of the changing of the sourwood and dogwood leaves and the start of bloom for the fall wildflowers! 

Photo by Kathy Fell: Frost aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum) 

I need to learn how to tell the goldenrod species apart.  I think this is solidago canadensis, which is putting on a vibrant show at my place. 

Photo by Kathy Fell: Goldenrod

And finally, Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, which is gaining a foothold in places. This one has several common names including rabbit tobacco, sweet everlasting or field balsam. 

Photo by Kathy Fell: Sweet everlasting

All three of these fall bloomers are important native species that either popped up from the seed bank in the soil or were left as a gift by one of my bird neighbors (who also like to leave me lots of poison ivy seedlings).  

So... what curious things have you found this fall?

2023 Basic Training - Water Quality Monitoring Class

 Saturday, August 26 turned out to be a beautiful day for the first field trip for the 2023 Basic Training Class.  I was delighted to see about 20 people managed to find their way to the new testing site along the creek.  Heavy rains had totally washed out access to the old testing location.  

I gave a quick run through the Citizen Water Quality Monitoring (CWQM) protocol. Trainees took air and water temps, measured pH and took a water sample for E.coli testing.   Note the colorful results from the water sample. After discussion with Krista Hodges at DRBA, we settled on only 2 navy or purple colonies of E. coli. 

Photo by Kathy Fell - Creek E.coli test results

Wayne Kirkpatrick then gave his excellent talk on Macroinvertebrates.  Four teams took nets to the creek and collected samples. 

Photo by Kathy Fell: Wayne gives a lesson in how to collect macroinvertebrates

Photo by Kathy Fell: Agitating the creek bottom

200 bugs are required for an accurate assessment, but we only found and identified the species for about 50.  

Photo by Kathy Fell: Sorting through the sample

Photo by Kathy Fell: So many tiny bugs..... 

I think everyone enjoyed the morning.  I surely did!