Antietam Watershed Association

09/20/2026

Fall is a great time to plant beautiful native plants like these

09/16/2026

In September up to a third of a red fox's diet may be grapes. Frost Grapes and Fox Grapes are ripe now at Happel's Meadow Wetland, Antietam Meadow, and along the trails at
Renfrew Museum & Park.

08/21/2026

08/21/2026

07/20/2026

It's mid-summer and beaver kits in the Antietam Creek watershed are weaned and learning from their parents how to forage & how to build and repair dams. They'll overwinter in the family den & leave next summer but may help raise the next litter first.
Photo of beaver mom & kit in Canada by Fralambert Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0

06/19/2026

FREE NATURE WALK, Happel’s Meadow Wetland, Saturday, June 27, 10-11 am, led by Becky Loncosky, retired biologist from Catoctin Mountain Park. For more information: https://www.facebook.com/happelsmeadowwetlandsadvisorycommittee
The park entrance is on the south side of Rt. 16 six miles east of Waynesboro at the top of the mountain, near Monterey Pass Battlefield Park. The John Birely Memorial Trail is half a mile long and mostly flat but has uneven surfaces and some areas can be muddy. Sturdy footwear is recommended. Walkers will not enter watery areas.

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.