Avian Adventures, Blue Ridge Birders, Community Programs, Event, SWVA
Annabelle Muriano
Help Scientists by Collecting Data with the ...

For four days each February, birdwatchers of every skill level can participate in a global event for the love and wellbeing of birds.

Help Scientists by Collecting Data with the Great Backyard Bird Count
School Programs
Lisa Benish
Science In Nature Program: Session II

Join us October 14th through November 18th (one day per week) for Session II

Science In Nature Program: Session II
Naturalist Gift Guide
BRDC, Admin
A Naturalist's Book List

With all of the wonderful apps available, it is still a good idea to have a shelf of guides to call on.  We love paging through them while planning our next exploration, exploring their beautiful illustrations, and carrying our favorites with us for quick reference.

A Naturalist's Book List
Galax Enrichment Program
BRDC, Admin
Galax Enrichment Week - Primitive Technology

BRDC recently hosted a Primitive Technology course as part of Galax Middle School Enrichment Week. The students were engaged with a variety of hands-on activities that connected them to skills used by early American Indians and materials found in their backyards.

Galax Enrichment Week - Primitive Technology
Book Club
Anonymous
(July 2014) 4. The Sixth Extinction: An ...

"Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs."

(July 2014) 4. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Elizabeth Kolbert

monarchs

Flight Behavior

Flight Behavior

For March, the BRDC Book Club read Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver.

"A brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia; a breathtaking parable of catastrophe and denial that explores how the complexities we inevitably encounter in life lead us to believe in our particular chosen truths. Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions—religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians—trapping her in the center of the conflict and ultimately opening up her world. Flight Behavior is arguably Kingsolver's must thrilling and accessible novel to date, and like so many other of her acclaimed works, represents contemporary American fiction at its finest."

Signs of Fall Abound

Signs of Fall Abound

Our weather is showing some cool night time temperatures, but frost is still 2-3 weeks away and there is lots of insect activity and still some late bird migration underway.  Fall fruits are much in evidence, offering immediate snacks and some long term food supply.  One of my favorites is the blue fruit of arrow wood viburnum.  They are small enough for many species to eat and we have so many plants that they last into the fall.  In contract, the winterberry hollies in our marshes are very bright red and seem to be a fruit that is not eaten so early as the viburnums.  Isn't it interesting that such different colors are both so attractive to birds?