by Jeff Feldman I’ve always liked Groundhog Day. I mean the 1993 Harold Ramis film starring Bill Murray, not the “holiday” celebrating a large rodent’s supposed ability to predict the weather. This latter tradition, held every February 2nd , has never been more than a mere curiosity to me. Until recently anyway. Groundhog Day the film tracks the predicament of […]
Photo of Eastern phoebe by Patrice Bouchard on Unsplash The weather was calm, chilly, and cloudy for the 70th edition of the Inwood Christmas Bird Count. Twenty participants took to field, farm, and forest to take a snapshot of the winter bird population within the 7.5 mile radius that inscribes the Inwood CBC circle. We totaled 59.75 party/hours while covering [...]
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Thirty-three intrepid birders made their way into the field on Dec. 17th to participate in the Charles Town Christmas Bird Count. Their efforts were fairly fruitful as they tallied a total of 6,670 birds comprising 74 species. The total time and mileage spent in the field were 73.75 party hours and 429.5 miles traveled, 403.5 miles by car and […]
See the article in the Martinsburg Journal Celebrate our 40th Birthday and Save the Dates! Come celebrate PVAS -- all we have accomplished and all we continue to do as we strive toward our mission to "preserve, restore and enjoy the natural world through education and action." There are lots of birthday events coming up and there's something for everyone! BioBlitzes! Join scientists [...]
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On October 27, six homeschool students, ages 8 - 12 joined education lead Laurel Schwartz and Amy Moore Thomas at at Cool Spring Preserve to capture the changes we see in nature with the coming of autumn. Students were prepared with the technical basics of using a DSLR camera, and explored the artistic elements of composition, contrast, and color. After [...]
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On September 29th, PVAS offered our fall Nature Photography program at Cool Spring Preserve. Homeschool students aged 8-12 joined Americorps Educator Gus Rasich and Lead Naturalist/Teacher Amy Moore to learn how to capture the flora and fauna of the preserve and gain hands-on experience. Students were prepared with the technical basics of using a DSLR camera, and explored the artistic [...]
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On April 30, homeschool students, ages 8- 12, joined PVAS staff for our third “Capturing Spring” nature photography program at Cool Spring Preserve. This program was led by Amy Moore and Emily Sperling. Each student was provided their own Nikon DSLR camera and were challenged to capture signs of spring. Students snapped shots of blooming flowers, bees and butterflies visiting [...]
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On March 19th and 29th, homeschool students joined PVAS staff for our "Capturing Spring" nature photography program. This program was led by Amy Moore, Abby Freidline and Emily Sperling. Each student was provided their own Nikon DSLR camera and were challenged to students practiced photography techniques such as automatically and manually focusing on a subject. Students also practiced using both [...]
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At PVAS's March 10th Monthly Program, Ariel Firebaugh shared a wealth of information and interesting facts during her presentation on ‘Fireflies'. Fireflies bring magic to our summer evenings, entertaining and bringing joy to all ages. We were eager to have Ariel enlighten and educate us about these amazing creatures. Ariel discussed the following topics (and more!) to the PVAS community [...]
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On January 13th, we joined Dr. Leskey's for their PVASMonthly Program presentation on ‘The Invasive Spotted Lanternfly: Ecological and Agricultural Impacts and Potential Solutions.' The spotted lanternfly is native to China, India and Vietnam. This invasive species was first detected in Berks County, PA in 2014. Since that time it has spread to additional states including WV, VA, DE, MD, [...]
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