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–Contributed by Luann Johnson, VMN-Middle Peninsula Chapter​

David Yeager is one of the newest trainees in the VMN-Middle Peninsula Chapter, having graduated earlier this year. Little did the chapter leaders know of his dedication and commitment to the spirit of Virginia Master Naturalists, most especially to all things to do with birds. With all the volunteer hours he has accumulated, he was already certified by the end of his training.

David came to the chapter’s rescue on July 9th, when the guest speaker for our monthly Continuing Education segment was unable to join us. David did a fabulous presentation on a recent adventure he had while birding.

On one of his frequent visits through Machicomoco State Park, Dave noticed a not-so-substantial Great Horned Owl nest in a crotch of a tree. Subsequent storms decimated the nest and one of the two nestlings was found on the ground. Working with Julie Wobig from Tidewater Animal Rescue, the owlet was delivered to The Mended Nest for rehab where it was nursed back to health over several days. Meanwhile, back at the park, enlisting the assistance of a local tree service/tree climbers, and under the advice of Julie, a replacement nest made of a laundry basket was engineered and hoisted to an appropriate site 40 feet off the ground near the location of the original nest. Both chicks were introduced to the new habitat, were cared for by the parents and soon fledged. Due to Dave’s knowledge of the park and the owl nest, he was instrumental in the owlets’ rescue and renesting. 

David has also championed prothonotary warblers by building nest boxes, installing them at Gloucester’s Beaverdam Park, and monitoring nests in other locations in our region. He has logged over 700 hours in Cornell/Audubon Bird Counts/Observations/Monitoring  so far this year.
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The Middle Peninsula Chapter, and our 5-county area, is very fortunate to have someone as dedicated as David Yeager among our volunteers.

The Great Horned Owl re-nesting at Machicomoco couldn’t have been successful without Lysa at The Mended Nest for the rehab, Julie Wobig from Tidewater Wildlife Rescue for the re-nesting guidance, Noah and Nolan from Smokey’s Tree Service, and Kendall and Gee for the hours they put in keeping an eye on the chick that somehow remained in the tree with no nest.

–Contributed by Courtney Hallacher, DWR Statewide Wildlife Education Coordinator

DWR is looking for additional VMN chapters to join the Living with Black Bears (LWBB) outreach and education project. As black bears have become more common across Virginia, DWR has teamed up with and trained VMN volunteers to provide important bear education within their communities in hopes of alleviating negative interactions and human-bear conflicts. Since the program’s inception in the summer of 2022, 12 chapters have joined the program: Riverine, Pocahontas, Fairfax, Roanoke, Central Blue Ridge, Rivanna, Headwaters, Alleghany Highlands, Southwestern Piedmont, Shenandoah, and Old Rag. Volunteers across these chapters combined have given 32 sit-down black bear presentations, staffed 37 black bear educational tables, and made 32,599 direct educational contacts, far more than DWR staff could do alone. We are incredibly grateful to our VMN black bear education teams! 

If your chapter is looking for an outreach project, especially if you are in the eastern part of our state, consider the LWBB! Contact DWR Statewide Wildlife Education Coordinator, Courtney Hallacher, at courtney.hallacher@dwr.virginia.gov for more information and to join!

The project is making a difference! For sit-down presentations, volunteers distribute pre- and post-surveys. The evaluation results show educational impacts such as:

• Attendees indicate that they have higher knowledge of black bears after the presentation: 62% say they know a “little bit” about black bears before the presentation, while after the presentation 95% said they rate their knowledge as “a fair amount” (44%) or “a lot.” (50%).  
• Before the presentation, 34% of people state that they take down their bird feeders when bears are active, after the presentation 75% of this same audience say they will now be taking down their bird feeders when bears are active. 
• We also see a change in dog leashing, 30% prior to and 43% after the presentation. Dog leashing is of particular importance for human safety in the outdoors since a lot of physical contact with black bears is due to bear-dog-human interactions.  
• From our survey it seems like people already secure their trash/camping food and are careful about preventing animals from accessing pet food so we see little difference between the before and after numbers, although the numbers do go up by an attendee or two. 

We also receive anecdotal reports of project impacts. For example, a few days after attending a volunteer’s LWBB presentation, an attendee saw on her neighborhood email list that a black bear tore down a neighbor’s bird feeder. The individual took what she learned from the presentation and wrote a response back to all her neighbors and included the video recording of the presentation. Her response included removing bird feeders, potentially permanently until winter, along with removing other attractants. She described how bears will come back to look for that easy meal again and again until they realize it is not coming back out and then they will move on. The neighbor read the email and actually removed the feeder. They also set up a trail cam pointed at the place the feeder was located and a couple days later that bear actually showed back up looking for the feeder but it wasn’t there!

In another example, a volunteer wrote, “Everyone we talk to seems extremely interested and eager to hear about black bears since there are so many sightings. People want to learn more so they can understand why they’re seeing them, what to do/not do, and they’re curious why there are so many more bears than in the past. We get a huge variety of questions and lots of them. This project is SO worthwhile!!”

VMN volunteers spend time learning in the field in order to observe nature firsthand and practice their naturalist skills. Photo courtesy of Connie Reitz.

Lower Potomac Gorge Ecosystem Monitoring – Volunteers are using a 1-meter square quadrat and placing it according to strict rules in a random fashion so the results can be generalized. By doing so, ARMN and the NPS will be observing the changes in vegetation that occur after invasive removal and learning about techniques that work or do not work in the process. Photo by Joy Tobin.

Virginia Master Naturalists in the Tidewater Chapter lead local community members on a nature and history walk at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Photo provided by Beth Deir.

Southern Piedmont Master Naturalists partnered with Occoneechee State Park for a ‘Pollinators in the Park’ event, offering a chance for visitors of all ages to learn about the importance of bees, butterflies, and other pollinator species.

Tim Koppenhaver at South River Preserve in the Shenandoah Valley. Image by Tim Koppenhaver.

Tim Koppenhaver in a cave at Mill Creek Springs Natural Area Preserve. Photo courtesy of Tim Koppenhaver.

Exploring the aquatic biodiversity at Big Cedar Creek in Pinnacles Natural Area Preserve. Photo by Tim Koppenhaver.