Who knew? (Hint: It was Charlotte)

It was a cold, windy, cloudy early April day in the near campus wilderness of Ferrum College. Who in the world would be out there on an early Saturday morning? BRFAL’s 2016 Master Naturalist Class, that’s who!

 Kathy holds two students’ attention as she challenges them to find out more about the amazing diversity of the plants all around us. 

But students, trip leaders and hosts were not the only ones in the woods! Clyde recorded over 40 species of birds during the morning as he tried to tune our ears to identify their songs. 

We netted sparrows and chickadees for an up-close encounter. 

Frogs, toads, skinks and salamanders showed themselves thanks to fall traps and some coaxing from Nell and Todd. Adams Lake offered us a great blue heron and mallards plus a variety of wriggling chubs. But most interesting to me were the furry critters: white footed mice that left our attention with freshly tagged ears and a flying squirrel that put on an aerial display for us as he was released.

Alone in the woods? Not hardly!

 Come join the BRFAL gang and all the creatures out there. Our next public event will be our BRFAL Nature Expo at Booker T. Washington National Monument from 2-4 pm on Saturday, May 7, 2016. It's free, it's educational, it's fun.  And by the way, did I mention it's free?

Pictures & text by BRFAL member Charlotte Hubbard.