Forest Hills Connection || News and Life in Our DC Neighborhood
Covering Forest Hills, Van Ness, North Cleveland Park and Wakefield
by Marlene Berlin If there’s an upside to the cold wintry blast this week, it’s that the ponds in Broad Branch and Linnean Streams begin to ice over, and the patterns they create can be exquisite. The varied ice formations show how the water moves through these streams. Overnight freezes should enhance this ice show […]
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 David Jonathan Cohen In the last five years, I photographed birds in parks and wilderness on three continents. Here are five things I learned. Use the light. Where are the sun, the clouds, the shadows, my lens, and the bird? In a photo of a downy woodpecker, I see a sequel to days of […]
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 Marlene Berlin It is time to visit Broad Branch Stream to see the tadpoles. When they are young, it is difficult to identify their species. Two species I have heard, the spring peepers and American toad (which made a debut performance during the Forest Hills Connection Broad Branch Stream tour in April), look similar […]
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 Kate Yonkers Last summer and early fall gave us a taste of the heavy, enduring rain which will become more commonplace as the climate warms. We have lost many large trees in the neighborhood, over 30 alone in 2018 according to the DC Urban Forestry division. Oversaturation and high winds are surely to blame, […]
by Marlene Berlin Every day brings changes as spring bursts forth. Leaves, flowers and blossoms are popping out. There is lots to see and hear in and around Rock Creek Park. Soapstone Creek is enveloped in the pale green of the winged euonymous, more commonly known as burning bush. Bill Yeaman of the National Park […]
