Colors and Patterns in Nature
Week of September 25, 2023 – September 30, 2023 by Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator As summer turns to fall, a rich palette of colors in nature is changing. This is most apparent in open spaces where goldenrods, asters, and other fall blooms paint the fields with a patchwork of colors such as yellow, purple, and white. In the big field adjacent to the Harrison Trail, native plants are emerging in [...]
The Intricacies Of A Web
Week of September 17, 2023 – September 23, 2023 by Sunny Guyette, Environmental Educator Every year my family makes a trip up to Maine to visit my grandparents. My grandparents house sits beside a small lake called Estes Lake. Stretching out from the shore is a half metal half plastic dock that has four evenly spaced out pillars on both sides of the dock. Orb weavers construct their webs in [...]
Sounds of Late Summer
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, insects fill the air with the sounds of late summer. It can be easy to [...]
Blending In or Standing Out
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 was a little bit wider, looking almost like a seed pod- a structure that goldenrods [...]
A Plethora of Pollinators
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 around in meadows of goldenrod and other late summer wildflowers, I often find myself pausing [...]
Nature’s Simple Wonders
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 slugs feasting on already deceased Black and Yellow Flat Millipedes. The Robber Fly and the [...]
Life in a Forest Seep
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 mud in the forest may seem unremarkable, it is worth a closer look: you may [...]
Summer Spiders
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 long, spindly legs. They often capture and consume insects that we consider to be pests. [...]
The Hunt for Crayzilla
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 6-year-old campers this week, Crayzilla is at least 3 feet long; the 12-year-olds would tell [...]