Antietam Watershed Association

05/21/2026

It's May and Eastern Screech Owls are nesting. These robin-sized owls whinny like horses and come in two color phases--rufous are more common in the south and gray in the north, with both in our area of PA/MD/WV. The larger female incubates 2-6 white eggs in a tree hole or old woodpecker nest for about a month, while the smaller male provides most of the food for her and the nestlings. The chicks fledge after another month, after eating not just snakes, birds, & mammals but a lot of large insects. The pair may have a 2nd brood nearby, especially if the first nest fails.

05/13/2026

This hummingbird nest is one inch tall and one & a half inches wide. Hummingbirds usually weave together the plant materials of their nests with spider webs so the teeny nest can stretch as the 1 to 3 nestlings grow, but this one was was constructed of dryer lint. The sides are camouflaged with lichens and moss. This nest was in a camellia tree, and we think the female abandoned it before laying eggs because she had 2nd thoughts about nesting right next to the window of a heavily used living room.

04/22/2026

04/08/2026

Spring is here and it's a good time to plant for nature in your yard. For ideas, explore two of our older albums: TOP 20 TREES FOR CATERPILLARS AND BABY SONGBIRDS https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1423168661146449&type=3 and TOP 20 PENNSYLVANIA WILD FLOWERS FOR POLLINATORS https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1424750677654914&type=3

Honeybees and all our wild pollinators are in deep trouble because of habitat loss, imported pests, and pesticide poisoning. So our food supply is also threatened. You can help pollinators survive by making pollinator-friendly patches of garden. This list by Dr. E. Jay Holcomb and Constance Schmotzer comes from their great Penn State Extension Bees, Bugs, Blooms Pollinator Trial of several hundred flowers. The number following each plant name is the number of pollinators that visited that plant in their trial garden.

03/31/2026

Join us to hear about this important topic at Church of the Apostles in Waynesboro at 7 pm on April 16.

03/30/2026

03/30/2026

We're so excited for our upcoming plant sale! Come shop for low-cost trees and shrubs that are native to our local watershed! Our list of available species will be published soon.

Visit our website for more info: https://www.acwamaryland.org/events/tree-amp-shrub-sale-plus-fall-membership-campaign-7cxx8-syf29

04/21/2025

Spring is a great time see wildflowers or plant some to help nature along. For ideas, look at some of our older Facebook picture albums like BRING NATURE HOME...LANDSCAPE WITH NATIVES https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1469482709848377&type=3 TOP 20 PENNSYLVANIA WILD FLOWERS FOR POLLINATORS https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1424750677654914&type=3 TOP 20 TREES FOR CATERPILLARS & BABY SONGBIRDS https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1423168661146449&type=3 For more info on Pennsylvania's 400 wild bees, visit our album Pennsylvania's Wild Bees https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1275974065865910&type=3

04/07/2025

We are looking for volunteers to help with our next event April 19 starting at 8:30 a.m. to do a stream cleanup at Run Run. The group will meet at the Monterey Pass Museum overflow parking lot on Charmian Road in Blue Ridge Summit..

We will be collecting trash out of both the creek and along the banks. Both in-water and bank-side clean-up will be needed.

Hope to see you there!

03/02/2025

Meet us for our annual spring trash pick-up along Rattlesnake Run at 1 pm on March 23.