Wild WashCo

04/27/2026

Blue-gray gnatcatcher 💙

One of the first birds back in spring, and somehow always moving like it’s late for something

You’ll usually hear them before you ever see them, just a thin, scratchy “spee-spee” flying all around the canopy while picking insects off leaves.

They build super cute nests right where branches split, using spider webs and lichens to the point it basically becomes one with the tree.

And for something only weighing 5-8 grams (a nickel), they travel all the way to Central America and back every year… living almost entirely off tiny insects the whole time.

04/22/2026

The calcareous soil and woodlands of Washington County are the perfect host to so many rare spring ephemerals.

Dwarf Larkspur is a challenging one to find, but so worth it when you finally stumble upon it.

It has purple flowers with long spurs that hold nectar out of reach for most insects, relying mainly on bumblebees to pollinate.

It appears early, tied to limestone woods, and disappears quickly once the canopy fills in.

Most patches are small and often pushed onto steeper ground due to heavy deer browse.

04/05/2026

This warm weather has brought what might be the coolest spring ephemeral into the spotlight.

Eastern Shooting Star (Primula Meadia).

Its flowers hang downward with the petals pulled all the way back, like it is mid-flight.

The pollen is locked up tight, so it relies on bumble bees or even carpenter bees to buzz it loose. Non-native bees like honey bees will still visit, but they can’t really access the pollen without the ability of buzz pollination.

The color is from rich magenta at the deeper end of the range, to pale pink, and even to almost white in some cases, and a single growth area will often show every one of these colors.

It appears for a very limited time in the spring and that appearance is usually associated with the wooded limestone outcroppings in Washington County. Most patches are relatively small and appear in the exact same location each year.

03/30/2026

There may not be a more beautiful flower than the Trout Lily.

The leaves and the flower together… pictures can hardly do them justice. They get their name from brook trout, and when you look at the leaves you see it instantly!

So here’s the challenge 👇

Go out this week and find at least one spring ephemeral.

Trout lily, Spring Beauties, Dutchman’s Breeches, Blood Root… something that’s only blooming right now.

This is the short window where many of our spring ephemerals wake up before the trees leaf out… and once they’re gone, they’re gone.

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Pic 1
Trout Lilies mixed in with Dutchman’s Breeches & Spring Beauties. This is peak early spring. You’ve got the bold yellow flowers paired with those patterned leaves, and then all around them are the soft pink-striped spring beauties.
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Pic 2
Moss Phlox growing right out of rock. Barely any soil, just holding on and thriving anyway. This is what a lot of our native plants are built for—tough spots, thin soil, extreme conditions. It’s not always about perfect gardens… sometimes it’s this.
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Pic 3
Zebra Swallowtail. One of the coolest butterflies we have around here. If you’re seeing these, there’s a good chance pawpaw trees are nearby since it’s their larval host.
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Pic 4
Spring Beauties up close. Those pink lines in the petals aren’t at random, every flower has its own pattern. They help pollinators land and find the center fast. The exact pattern comes down to genetics + small environmental differences while the flower is forming.
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Pic 5
A Spring Azure sitting right on a Spring Beauty. They’re so easy to miss, but this is everything working together. Early flowers, early insects, all timed to perfection❤️

P.S We did not have our normal camera so pictures are not as high definition as normal:(

03/27/2026

03/25/2026

Turkey Vultures may have a face only a mother could love…

But this time of year, you’ll be seeing that cute face all over Washington County.

As temperatures begin to rise, so do thermals. You’ll start seeing them more often, soaring overhead with little to no effort, covering large areas of our landscape without a single flap of the wing.

They are highly specialized scavengers.

Turkey Vultures feed on carrion, often consuming animals that have been dead long enough to become hazardous. While this would usually pose a serious risk to most species, their digestive system is adapted to handle it, breaking down harmful bacteria before it can affect them.

It isn't random either. It’s a role they’ve evolved to fill within our ecosystem.

Even their physical traits reflect this. The bare head reduces the likelihood of bacteria while feeding, particularly when they are in direct contact with carrion.

They are also one of the few birds that rely heavily on smell. They detect gases released during decomposition and soar low overhead until they're able to locate the source.

Turkey Vultures play a huge role in the process that removes what would otherwise remain, heavily limiting the spread of disease and allowing nutrients to be returned to the system.

They may not be the most loved, but they absolutely should be.

03/23/2026

The next spring ephemeral we'd like to spotlight is Bloodroot!🩸

It is a member of the Poppy Family and is very easy to identify when you've had the chance to find a few of them. Each bloodroot produces one bright white flower and one leaf that grows separately from each other. In addition, the flower generally blooms before the leaf completely uncurls.

It is usually found growing in small clusters in rich leaf litter under the canopy, particularly near limestone outcrops. They open in full sun, then close back up once clouds roll in or evening sets in. The petals don’t hang around long either, so it’s very easy to miss them if you’re not out at the right time.

When the Bloodroot is blooming, it attracts some of the first early pollinators of the season, such as Mining Bees and Hoverflies, and gives them one of their first food sources.

Underground, the roots of Bloodroot contain a deep, 'bloody' red sap. This sap has been used by indigenous peoples as a natural dye and in various practices.

And like so many of our spring ephemerals, Bloodroot has a similar little trick for spreading. Ants also carry the seeds off because of the fatty coating on them, and drop them off in new spots after they’re done with them.

It can take several years, often 4–6, to reach flowering size and it doesn’t handle disturbance well. Therefore, preserving the places where Bloodroot continues to grow and thrive is extremely important.

P.S
Please feel free to zoom in on all our photos. There are so many cool things hiding in them!

03/22/2026

Do you have a small piece of land we could use?

We’re looking for a spot somewhere in Washington County to set up our small native plant stand this year. This is going to be our first season getting Laurel Field Co going on the nursery side, so we’re hoping to start simple.

We don’t need anything fancy. Just a small area, around a quarter acre or less, with some kind of parking and easy access. Grass, gravel, roadside, all of that works great with us.

We’ll keep everything clean, and daytime only. We want to help get native plants into people’s hands and start building something in Washington County.

If you have a space, a business frontage, or know someone who might be open to it, please send us a message or email us at [email protected]

PFA. Round-Lobed Hepatica

03/21/2026

Beautiful spring ephemerals are beginning to bloom throughout much of the county.

The C&O Canal is one of the best places to catch the show as it unfolds across many of its hillsides and bottoms. With roughly 80 miles of the canal running through Washington County, there’s no shortage of places to see it.

Today we want to put the spotlight on Round-lobed Hepatica.

This small but striking wildflower comes in a range of colors from deep blue and purple to soft white, and it thrives in our rocky, moist, calcareous forests.

You’ll often find them tucked into moss, leaf litter, and along rocky outcrops that define so much of our county.

Hepatica seeds don’t travel very far either. They’re actually carried off by ants! The seeds have a small fatty coating on them that ants treat like food. They carry the seeds back to their nests, eat that coating, and then discard the rest of the seed.

As a result, populations can become genetically distinct, even over short distances. That’s likely why you’ll see patches with completely different colors just a few steps apart.

03/21/2026

We don’t believe there’s a better bird to bring in spring than the Eastern Bluebird.

Did you know that they're actually thrushes? The same family as robins!

Did you also know that bluebird boxes played a vital role in their comeback in the mid-1900s?

They were under fierce competition from invasive species such as house sparrows and starlings that share the same nesting habitat.

Bluebirds readily adopted these boxes, which increased their nesting success and juvenile survival.

Much like the Tree Swallows we posted yesterday, Bluebirds prefer a variety of open habitats like meadows, pastures, orchards, and even some suburban areas with scattered trees. They are masters at swooping down and snatching insects in the blink of an eye.

It's so easy to see why these beautiful birds are beloved by so many. Let's continue to protect their habitat and help them thrive in Washington County!