Basic Training Application online now!

If you are interested in the next BRFAL Chapter Master Naturalist Basic Training, click here for an application and more information!

If you have any questions, please email us at BRFAL.VMN@gmail.com or call 540-365-4613

OUR NEXT BASIC TRAINING BEGINS SEPT 3, 2013 in Rocky Mount! Classes held 1:30pm-4:00pm each Tuesday with Saturday morning field-trips (more here),

We hope to see you there!

eMammal Camera Deployment Training for BRFALers

On snowy Sunday, March 24^th about a dozen BRFAL Chapter members along with eight others met in Roanoke to receive our eMammal camera deployment training.  

Just what is eMammal Camera Deployment training and why would a passel of otherwise intelligent people risk life and limb to attend this training? 

BRFAL Chapter Members training for eMammal Project in the snow in Roanoke

Smith Mountain Lake State Park Tree Id Project Update

Kathy Scott shares an update with us from the Smith Mountain Lake State Park Tree Id Project:

BRFAL Chapter Members ready to install tree ID signs at Smith Mountain Lake State Park

Honey, It's Electric: Bees Sense Charge On Flowers

Flowers are nature's ad men. They'll do anything to attract the attention of the pollinators that help them reproduce. That means spending precious energy on bright pigments, enticing fragrances and dazzling patterns.

Now, scientists have found another element that contributes to flowers' brand: their distinct electric field.

Read all about it here on the NPR website, and LISTEN to this here.

The next Basic Training for this chapter of Virginia Master Naturalist will be in the Fall! If you are interested, please drop us a line: contact@brfal.org We will have registration open as soon as the dates are set!  Or you can call 540-365-4613.

Science isn't just for scientists

Unleash your inner scientist!

Author, Naturalist Fred First to Speak Feb 5, 2013

Finding a place in the world

Our neighbor and fellow Naturalist Fred First will speak on Tuesday Feb 5, 2013 at 7PM at the Ferrum College Gerber Hall. This is part of the series on "Sustainability: More for Less, for All" program.

Here is the article from the Franklin News Post (online edition):

Visit a Birding Hotspot in Roanoke

The Roanoke Regional Water Pollution Control Plant is one of the hidden birding gems in the Roanoke Region.

Photos courtesy of  Western Virginia Water Authority

It is one of the best birding locations around and is one of the primary stopover locations for migrating birds.

Species including killdeer, great crested flycatchers, and yellow-headed blackbirds can be spotted regularly from this location. In all more than 242 species have been spotted from the plant, including 62 percent of the birds native to Virginia. 

There are two viewing platforms on site. Birders can also walk along paths within plant along the Roanoke River.

But you do need a permit to visit and check out the wildlife. Single-day and permanent passes are available. Just fill out the online application and return it to the WPC Plant Administration Office on Brownlee Avenue.  

Over 242 species of birds have been documented at the WPC Plant including 62% of the birds native to Virginia.

Learn more here!


What to Expect While Birding at the WPC Plant 

1. The WPC Plant features many different habitats that attract woodland, aquatic and grassland birds. The biosolid lagoons attract birds who prefer coastal mud flats or tidal pools. Birders can walk on gravel roads within the plant along the Roanoke River, next to the biosolids lagoons and adjacent to the wooded areas. As this is an industrial area, bird watchers are urged to use caution while at the plant.
2. Birders may also wish to walk along the Roanoke River Greenway (www.greenways.org) which runs through the rear of the WPC Plant property.
3. Two platforms have been constructed at the WPC Plant where visitors are invited to sit and watch the birds. One of the platforms is ADA accessible.
4. Over 242 species of birds have been documented at the WPC Plant including 62% of the birds native to Virginia.
5. In 2006, Michael W. Donahue wrote an article Bird Records from the Southwestern Virginia Roanoke Sewage Treatment Plant for the Virginia Natural History Society. This paper includes information about the facility and an annotated checklist of the birds seen up to that point.

VIRGINIA MASTER NATURALISTS ARE FOR THE BIRDS! LEARN MORE HERE.

Fraser Fir Native to Virginia Blue Ridge

You may or may not know this, I lived in Washington State (western wa) and thought all the fir trees were from there. When we moved to these Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia I learned better!

Wiki shares:

Fraser Fir (Abies fraseri) is a species of fir native to the mountains of the eastern United States. It is closely related to Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea), of which it has occasionally been treated as a subspecies (as A. balsamea subsp. fraseri (Pursh) E.Murray) or a variety (as A. balsamea var. fraseri (Pursh) Spach.

Fall in Virginia, ain't she purdy!

Regal Moth or Hickory Horned Devil?

WHATEVER NAME YOU WANT TO CALL IT, IT IS AMAZING!

Read the following article by Charlotte Hubbard, a Virginia Master Naturalist with the Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes Chapter about this amazing visitor.

A spectacular caterpillar!

Check out the large black false eyes

Visitor on my deck…
The photos are of a fearsome looking visitor I found on my deck as I went out to (yet again) sweep away the gum berries that have been raining down for days now.  I will not complain about them again since the gum tree hosts the Regal Moth, Citheronia regalis (Fabricius), and therefore its spectacular caterpillar referred to as the Hickory Horned Devil.

Scary looking enough at rest, when my cat startled the hickory horned devil the caterpillar tucked its head to display its large black false eyes!

According to Donald W. Hall, of the University of Florida “the hickory horned devil is among the largest of our native saturniid caterpillars. It is 12.5 to 14 cm in length - about the size of a large hot dog. The caterpillars vary slightly in color, but are commonly blue-green. The second and third thoracic segments each bear two long and two shorter orange, black-tipped scoli (tubercles in the form of spinose projections of the body wall). The abdominal segments each have four short, black scoli, and segments 2 through 8 have a pale, oblique lateral stripe. Although the larva has a fierce appearance, it is harmless.

The (adult) regal moth has a wingspan of 9.5 to 15.5 cm. Females are larger than males. The forewings are gray to gray-green with orange veins and a row of seven to nine yellow spots near the distal margin. There also are single yellow discal and basal spots. The hind wing is mostly orange with a basal yellow spot and yellow patches (or spots) on the costal and anal margins. The hind wing may also have one to two rows of gray-green spots. The body is orange with narrow yellow banding.” Info from here.

Learn more about the Virginia Master Naturalist Program here, there is probably a chapter near you!

Peterson Field Guide photos coming to NYC auction

PHOTOS ON AUCTION!

BRFAL Chapter Trainees use Peterson Field Guides

Our backpacks usually contain one or more field guides

Excerpt:
By ULA ILNYTZKY

NEW YORK (AP) - Artist and naturalist Roger Tory Peterson's illustrated Field Guide series helped popularize bird watching the world over and set the standard for the modern nature guide. Next month, bird lovers will have the chance to buy the original paintings, drawings and photographs that were used to illustrate his system of bird identification.

Peterson's estate is offering hundreds of items on Sept. 8 through Guernsey's Auctioneers. The sale will also include Peterson's preliminary studies including a section on Penguins, a family of birds he especially loved.

Peterson, who died in 1996 at the age of 87, spent a lifetime watching, painting and photographing birds in the wild, drawing comparisons to the 19th century ornithologist John James Audubon.

An accomplished painter and photographer who attended the Art Students League in New York, Peterson's first book, "A Field Guide to the Birds," was published in 1934 and has never been out of print. Fifty-two other volumes followed. Read the entire article here.

MOST VIRGINIA MASTER NATURALISTS OWN A PETERSON FIELD GUIDE OR TWO! 

Celebrate National Moth Week

The first National Moth Week will be July 23 - 29, 2012. Why not? Moths have taken a back seat to butterflies for too long!

Excerpt from here: Why moths? With more than 10,000 species in North America alone, moths offer endless options for study, education, photography, and fun. Moths can be found everywhere from inner cities and suburban backyards, to the most wild and remote places. The diversity of moths is simply astounding. Their colors and patterns range from bright and dazzling, to so cryptic that they define camouflage. Moth shapes and sizes span the gamut, with some as small as a pinhead and others as large as a hand. Most moths are nocturnal and need to be sought at night to be seen, but others fly like butterflies during the day. Finding moths can be as simple as leaving a porch light on and checking it after dark. Serious moth aficionados use special lights and baits to attract them. Popular interest in moths is rapidly growing, as noted by recent publications and web-based resources. The new Peterson Field Guide to the Mothsby David Beadle and Seabrooke Leckie, moth caterpillar guides by David Wagner, and a vast number of moth-oriented Internet resources such as the “Moth Photographers Group” and “BugGuide” are just some examples of moth’s growing popularity. Moths are also featured widely in literature and art providing a different angle for enjoyment and study. “Moth Nights” are often held by nature groups, and provide an opportunity for either an introduction to the creatures, or a venue for more serious pursuits. More here.
Learn more about the Virginia Master Naturalist Program here.

Tree-identification signs installed at Grassy Hill Natural Area Preserve

Official Press Release from DCR June 28, 2012

Tree-identification signs installed at Grassy Hill Natural Area Preserve

RICHMOND -- Identifying tree species just got easier for visitors to Grassy Hill Natural Area Preserve in Franklin County.

Tree-identification signs recently were installed along the preserve’s 1.6-mile Slope Trail. The signs give scientific and common names for 25 species, as well as basic information and uses for each.

“The signs introduce visitors to the diversity of tree species found in the western Piedmont and increase the educational value of this natural area preserve for residents of Franklin County and the nearby Roanoke Valley,” said Ryan Klopf, DCR’s mountain region steward.

Trees that have been identified with signs include white oak, eastern red cedar, Virginia pine, pitch pine, redbud, witch hazel, cucumber magnolia, tulip poplar, pignut hickory, black gum, serviceberry, red maple, sourwood and dogwood.

“Our thought with this project was to raise people’s awareness about trees in general,” said Denny McCarthy, a senior forester with DOF who helped identify trees and install the signs.

Grassy Hill is on the west side of the town of Rocky Mount. Evidence suggests the site once was more open and dominated by grasses than it is today — hence the name. Scars on older trees indicate a landscape once maintained by fire. Today, prescribed burning is one technique used by natural resource professionals to enhance conditions for the preserve’s plants.

Visitors can experience Grassy Hill along five miles of hiking trails. The preserve is well-suited for environmental education and passive recreation such as hiking, nature photography and bird watching. Uses that are prohibited include camping, mountain biking, horseback riding, off-road vehicles and the collection of wild plants and animals.

The trailhead is about 500 feet northeast of the Franklin County Family YMCA at 235 Technology Drive, Rocky Mount. Visitors may park in the YMCA lot. Parking also is permitted at the Gereau Center for Applied Technology and Career Exploration. More here.

DCR manages 60 properties in Virginia’s Natural Area Preserve System. The system was established in 1989 and today consists of 50,580 acres. Natural area preserves contain some of the best examples of natural communities and rare plant and animal habitats in Virginia and the world.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE VIRGINIA MASTER NATURALIST PROGRAM CLICK HERE

Tasting the rainbow

The ants whose multi-coloured abdomens show exactly what they've been eating

The saying 'you are what you eat' is true for these insects as stunning pictures show their abdomens changing colour as they sip on sugar drops.

Father of three Mohamed Babu set up the photographs after his wife, Shameem, showed him some ants had turned white after drinking spilt milk.

He gave the creatures the brightly coloured sugar drops and watched as their transparent stomachs matched the food they were eating.

Read more here with amazing photos! (Sorry I couldn't share the photos in the blog as they are copyrighted images)

INTERESTED IN THE VIRGINIA MASTER NATURALIST PROGRAM? YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT IT HERE.

BRFAL Graduating Class of 2012

Meet the 2012 Graduates of the Virginia Master Naturalists of the Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes Chapter Basic Training

BRFAL 2012 graduating class: L-R Susan Cranson, Anne Tucker, Warren & Becky Clark, Shannon Brooks, Diane & Richard Donnelly.  Not pictured: Jim & Jerryanne Bier.

More and more, Virginia farmers are feeding world

Part of the Virginia Master Naturalist training here at the Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes Chapter deals with agriculture. After all agriculture is part of the Virginia landscape, we have mountains, piedmont, coastal plain...

This was an interesting article in the Virginia PilotOnline.com: "More and more, Virginia farmers are feeding world"

Bowman Dairy Farm in Franklin County VA

Feed at the Dairy

Excerpt: 
A plow etches the dark soil of the Tidewater – an age-old act that ripples around the world.

Four hundred years after tobacco sprouted at Jamestown and bailed out the foundering colony, agriculture remains the backbone of Virginia. Few industries can touch its economic impact – a $55 billion engine stoking 350,000 jobs – or its far-flung reach.

Soybeans to Morocco and China.

Wheat to Egypt and Brazil.

Corn to Ireland and Venezuela.

Cotton to Turkey and Vietnam.

Last year, nearly $2.4 billion worth of homegrown products was exported around the globe – a record for Virginia agribusiness and proof that, despite urban sprawl and warp-speed lives, farming is far from dead...read the rest of this article with photos here.

RECORD AMOUNT

Last year, nearly $2.4 billion worth of homegrown products was exported.

LOCAL FARMLAND

Norfolk and Portsmouth don’t have enough farmland to register on the national agricultural census, but these localities do. Below, acreage:

Virginia Beach: 26,671

Chesapeake: 51,124

Northampton County (Eastern Shore): 63,760

Suffolk: 71,393

Source: U.S. agricultural census, 2007

Learn more about the Virginia Master Naturalist Program here.

*Disclaimer -- no political commentary is intended by sharing this article about Virginia Farms.

Inspiring Images 3

ARE THINGS ROUGH RIGHT NOW? HANG ON! THIS TOO SHALL PASS...

Source: inothernews.tumblr.com via Claiborne on Pinterest

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE VIRGINIA MASTER NATURALIST PROGRAM? Click here

Jigsaw puzzle of stone

Geologic puzzle poses challenge for hikers at Rockbridge Co. park

NATURAL BRIDGE -- The legs and lungs strain to climb out of the Devils Marbleyard.

This isn't a place for small children or animals: ankles can easily twist here. Or worse.

Like mountain goats, the reckless leap from boulder to boulder while the more timid creep upward on all fours, balancing on one knife-edged boulder before shifting delicately to another.

From the ridgeline above, the angular chunks of Antietam quartzite spill as if from a bucket of children's building blocks, the result of some ancient event that may have occurred with the speed of a bomb blast or as slowly as a river cutting a canyon...

Article by Sam Dean in the Roanoke Times - read the rest of the article here.

Virginia Master Naturalists Love to Get Outside, they love Geology and Natural History! 

ACT FAST Time is Running Out!

HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED BECOMING A CITIZEN SCIENTIST?
Well have we got a deal for you!

Click on this image for larger view of Blue Ridge Foothills!

If you would like to learn more about forests, mountains and geology..the next BRFAL Chapter Basic Training for Aspiring Virginia Master Naturalists is coming up in March 2012 at The Franklin Center in Downtown Rocky Mount VA. 


You can get the Draft Schedule of Classes and View the Itinerary here, and get the Information Letter and Application here.  If you have any questions about this upcoming basic training please send an email to:  contact@brfal.org  


Space is limited! Deadline to submit your application is February 15th!


*Photo by Virginia Master Naturalist Shellie L.