Forest Hills Connection || News and Life in Our DC Neighborhood
Covering Forest Hills, Van Ness, North Cleveland Park and Wakefield
Readers of Forest Hills Connection know Marjorie Rachlin as our ace nature writer. She also enjoys hanging out at the Chevy Chase Library. On Saturdays you will often see her volunteering for the Friends the Chevy Chase Library at their used bookstore upstairs. Barbara Parker profiled Marge for the Friends newsletter, and gave us permission […]
If you’ve been reading Forest Hills Connection for a while, you will not be surprised that we are excited about the return of the UDC Master Naturalist program. As Marlene Berlin wrote ahead of UDC’s first Master Naturalist training in 2018, “One of the great joys in five years of publishing Forest Hills Connection has […]
by Marjorie Rachlin Bad news. Forest Hills is about to lose some of its big oaks, the pride and glory of our neighborhood. Look around your block (wherever you live), and you might spot a big oak where all the leaves at one side, or at the top, are already brown and dry. That’s a […]
by Marjorie Rachlin At night, high above us, a stream of birds is flying. Migrating birds are on the move. Some of them are migrating short distances – 200 to 300 miles – but many are long-distance migrants going to the tropics. Go out after dark, and you may hear their flight chirps. Migration is […]
It is too late now to hear the songs of most birds. Even the wood thrush has stopped its singing. I miss it. Next year. But the cacophony of nature continues in late August as insects take a starring role. Please take out your ear buds for a few minutes and listen to the sounds […]
by Marjorie Rachlin Wildflower or weed? It can be in the eye of the beholder. Take a look at some of the interesting summer wildflowers you can see on roadsides and meadows nearby. Rock Creek Park and the Broad Branch stream restoration are good places to start. Swamp milkweed In early August this lovely native […]
by Marjorie Rachlin Do you ever wonder what those birds in your backyard are doing? Do your children ask, “What’s that bird?” There’s an easy way to find out. Just install a few simple attractions like a bird bath, a hummingbird feeder or a wren house. I have all these “amenities” in my Forest Hills […]
by Marjorie Rachlin Sneezing? Itchy throat? Runny nose? The oak trees of Forest Hills and greater DC are shedding their pollen. Their yellow dust is everywhere, and allergies are kicking up. Oak trees belong to a group of trees that have male flowers and female flowers on the same tree. The female flowers are so […]
by Marlene Berlin It took a few years of planning and several months of work to return a long-buried stream to the surface. On an April 7th tour of the daylighted portion of Broad Branch Stream, we learned more about the restoration project and the work in the almost five years since then to support […]
by Marjorie Rachlin Orchids, orchids, everywhere. You will be amazed at the orchid display in the courtyard of the American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery (between 8th and 9th Sts NW, at F and G). They are there through April 28th, planted in hip-high planters so you can get close to the blooms. […]
