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

"Ephemeroptera"

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Mayfly on the porch

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One of the best ways to see some new insects is to leave the back porch light on a bit during these dog days of Summer. Here is a visitor to our porch last night in Baywood/Grayson County, VA. I believe that this is an adult mayfly, possibly a burrowing mayfly of the genus Hexagenia.
If anyone knows better please inform me. This group lives for long periods as a larva in the sediments of streams and lakes and thus the immature form is rarely seen. In contrast the adults do not feed and die after about one day, hopefully after reproducing- thus the name of the order Ephemeroptera (ephemeral life). A pretty strange life reminiscent of periodical cicadas.

-Bill