An archive of all of the Naturalist Blog articles written by the Baltimore Woods education team
Week of September 10, 2023 – September 16, 2023 by Bridget Jones, Environmental Educator As September begins, I’ve been noticing signs that fall is on the way: leaves are turning red and goldenrod is blooming in the fields. But alongside these early changes, there are reminders that summer is not over yet. All around us, [...]
Week of September 3, 2023 – September 9, 2023 by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator While I was walking to my car the other day, I found something that I still can’t believe I even noticed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a branch on a goldenrod that didn’t look quite right. It [...]
Week of August 27, 2023 – September 2, 2023 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator Late August is a special time of year in which goldenrods and some other aster flowers are just beginning to bloom. As this happens, a bustling community of insect pollinators awakens, marking the gradual transition from summer to fall. When walking [...]
Week of August 20, 2023 – August 26, 2023 by Sunny Guyette, Environmental Educator This summer I have witnessed amazing feastings happening at Baltimore Woods with the help of my sharp-eyed campers; a Bee Mimic Robber Fly eating a Ladybug, a Cicada Killer Wasp paralyzing a Cicada to prepare it for feeding it’s larvae, and [...]
Week of August 13, 2023 – August 19, 2023 by Bridget Jones, Environmental Educator Have you ever come across a patch of mud in an otherwise dry forest? Perhaps you felt the ground start to squish beneath your feet while hiking, or noticed a color difference where leaves were suddenly saturated with water. While finding [...]
Week of August 6, 2023 – August 12, 2023 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator On any summer day, you may come across a great variety of spiders. They crawl, pounce, spin silk, and sit in wait for their prey. Some have fuzzy bodies with a stout appearance, while others hang suspended from their webs on [...]
Week of July 30, 2023 – August 5, 2023 by Tom Meier, Camp Director & Program Manager Legend tells of a giant crayfish lurking in the waters of Baltimore Woods. Accounts differ on just how large this freshwater crustacean is, where it came from, and what species it might actually be. If you ask our [...]
Week of July 23, 2023 – July 29, 2023 by Bridget Jones, Environmental Educator As I’ve been walking in the woods this summer, a particular kind of creature has been catching my eye. These creatures are small, grow from soil or decaying wood, and come in a fascinating array of shapes and colors: bumpy bright [...]
Week of July 16, 2023 – July 22, 2023 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator One of my favorite nature happenings of summer can only be observed under cover of darkness, and is best seen very late in the middle of the night. On a warm and dark summer night, if you hang a white bedsheet [...]
Week of July 9, 2023 – July 15, 2023 by Sunny Guyette, Environmental Educator We have been getting quite a bit of rain recently and a recurring question I’ve had is ‘why are there so many worms on the surface when or after it rains?’. Ever since I was young I would see about fifty [...]
