by Marlene Berlin The people you meet on Rock Creek Park trails are generally friendly. The same can’t always be said about the wildlife. I took a hike in Rock Creek Park on a sunny but cool day in late April. As I headed back toward home, I saw this common short-eared owl. It was […]
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Backyard Nature: Turkeys on the trail
Before the Soapstone trail’s March closure for the sewer rehabilitation project, it was a popular place to take a stroll. And apparently, it still is. Minsuh Son, who can see the trail from her backyard, spotted two wild turkeys on the main trail last Friday. This fellow’s female companion was just out of frame. Son […]
Backyard Nature: The Broad Branch frogs are putting on a show
by Marlene Berlin I must admit I have been worried about the frogs. I’m used to hearing the hum of the American toad permeate the neighborhood beginning in early March. This spring, I heard nothing. Not until last week along the Linnean trail. Many years ago, when I first noticed the high-pitched hum, I was […]
Spotted in Rock Creek Park: Bald eagles
by Marlene Berlin On Sunday, a friend and I were walking up Broad Branch Road, close to the Soapstone trailhead, when we saw a large bird flying across the sky and swooping down onto a tree. My first thought? That it could be an owl, but my friend exclaimed that it was a bald eagle. […]
Backyard Nature: Our early bloomers have ancient and foreign roots
by Marjorie Rachlin The warm February weather has brought us surprising flowers – yellow jasmine bushes everywhere, lovely little white snowdrops in the garden, bright yellow aconite at our feet and the many colors of hellebores. Some of these plants have been around since the Greeks. All of them have come to the U.S. by […]
Backyard Nature: Two neighbors out for a stroll on Albemarle Street
Two of Barbara Lardy’s neighbors enjoy walking her block of Albemarle Street. “Lovely couple,” she says. Lardy, who is the president of Van Ness Main Street’s board as well as a neighbor, says she first encountered the wild turkeys a couple of weeks ago. “I was returning from a walk (around 11 a.m.) and found […]
Backyard Nature: This cold weather really is for the birds
by Marjorie Rachlin Have you noticed the mallard ducks swimming lazily in Rock Creek when it’s cold and there is snow on the ground? “Why aren’t they freezing?” a friend asked. I went to the web to find out. It turns out that birds have several different kinds of feathers that keep them warm. When […]
Rock Creek Park deer management under way through March
The National Park Service begins a new Rock Creek Park “deer management” season at sundown, and its efforts to curb the park’s whitetail deer population will continue through March 2022. The hunters are U.S. Department of Agriculture biologists, which the Park Service says are also highly trained firearms experts. They are equipped with infrared heat […]
Backyard Nature: A golden prize for bumblebees and butterflies
by Marlene Berlin Bees, flies, and an occasional butterfly come to partake of my goldenrod in the backyard. I planted it at the suggestion of the late Marge Rachlin, my friend, my neighbor, and my garden consultant. I turned to her for advice when my backyard, shaded since we moved here in 1989, had lots […]
In memory: Marjorie Rachlin, a lover of and force of nature
by Marlene Berlin Marjorie Rachlin died on Sunday, August 22nd. She was 99 years old. Forest Hills Connection readers may know her best from her “Backyard Nature” articles. To her friends and neighbors, she was known throughout the years as a labor educator, community activist, and avid gardener and birder. She was also one of […]