by Carl Gold During a late fall or winter hike have you ever heard a rattling sound without being able to tell the source? Maybe for a minute your primordial brain thought it was a rattlesnake until your rational brain reminded you that there are no rattlesnakes in the Baltimore Metropolitan area (there are timber rattlesnakes in Maryland but they are found mostly in Maryland’s four western counties – Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett). If you were lucky enough to be caught in the rain when the rattling increased maybe you thought of a long-lost […]
Continue readingLoving Nature
Come on, Get Sappy: Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and Why Everyone Should Bird
I didn’t used to think birdy thoughts on a regular basis. Like most people, I didn’t own a pair of good binoculars or know much about birds. After retiring, however, I signed up for a birding class, got a pair of excellent, yet affordable Vortex Diamondback 10 x 42 binoculars, and gained awareness, Matrix-style, of a new reality. Through numerous outings with instructor Marty Brazeau to local natural areas such as Loch Raven, Cromwell Valley, Oregon Ridge, Marshy Point, and with the help of free birding apps like the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Merlin Bird […]
Continue readingSpending the day in Eastern Baltimore County is an exercise in undiscovered pleasures
By Carl GoldIn Marshy Point State Park I start the day very early at Hammerman Beach. Years ago, an agreement was reached to allow long distance swimmers to train outside the ropes before the beaches open for public use. My cure for Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD) begins, however, before I set foot in the water. I glance down and see fern moss near the base of the osprey nest in the parking lot. Emerald cushions with spores ready to explode with new single cell life cover the ground, inches away from asphalt. To the left […]
Continue readingTowson’s Streams are Lovelier Than Ever in a Pandemic
I have enjoyed getting to know some of our streams, otherwise known as stormwater management channels, this Fall while working with our Green Towson Alliance stream cleanups. We first did the Herring Run branch from Towson High School, under the Aigburth Avenue bridge, northward to Radebaugh Park all the way up to near Burke Avenue. We GTAers also did a portion of the Herring Run branch behind the St. Andrews Lutheran Church on Taylor Avenue. I have explored a portion of the branch near my home that I had largely been unaware existed. Various sections […]
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