Renew your membership or become a Lloyd Center member! 

Dear Friend of the Lloyd Center,

Koko, the Eastern Screech Owl, is one of the Lloyd Center’s animal ambassadors that was recently featured in an educational video on social media. Amid the current health crisis, we’ve had to discontinue our Coastal Field Studies programs, field trips, and environmental science programming in the schools. These activities are vital to our annual budget. Beyond program income, support from individuals like you is the biggest portion of our operating budget.

April is the time when we ask for your annual membership. This is an unprecedented time and we need the support of our members and soon-to-be members alike, to help keep the Center operating. We will be most grateful for your renewed or new membership. Click here to give today.

On behalf of our research and education teams who are retooling their work, and our outreach department ready to serve you in the months ahead, thank you, in advance, for your support, at as high a membership level as possible.

Sincerely,   

Rachel L. Stronach
Executive Director

Lloyd Center for the Environment is encouraging everyone to get outside!

by Lloyd Center Educator/Naturalist Adeline Bellesheim

The most essential lesson we want to share with our friends and family is the importance of practicing social distancing, while also keeping your sanity! The staff at the Lloyd Center is encouraging everyone to get outside and enjoy one of the most magnificent times of year. Spring has arrived, and is already in full swing! The osprey have returned from their journeys to South America. The brown-headed Cowbirds are singing. Snakes, turtles, and other reptiles are basking in the warm sunlight. The flowers are blooming and tree buds are popping, and we want everyone to enjoy it!

As Educators, we understand how strange it is that children are not in school right now. Without Feathery Focus Field Trips and Coastal Field Studies, the Lloyd Center doesn’t feel quite like spring! 

We know that our students are probably more stir-crazy than ever, and we would like to help families by providing family-friendly activities and educational information for science lessons at home. It is important during these uncertain times that we still maintain a healthy relationship with the great outdoors. 

At this time, our trails remain open. Please help prevent COVID-19 and practice social distancing.

Supermoon shines again on March Owl Prowl

by Lloyd Center Research Associate Jamie Bogart

On the evening of March 9, a crowd of 23 gathered at the Lloyd Center in hopes of seeing an owl which we’d attempt to lure by use of callback tapes. This particular owl prowl was focused on Barred Owls, given that a pair had nested on the property in recent years. The opportunity to hear and see a large owl at a friendlier hour (Barred Owls may call during daylight hours) and during warmer temperatures than our February mid-winter event is surely a draw.  Add in the opportunity to coincide with celestial events such as the spring equinox and a full moon, and the event has gained popularity. Like last year, this full moon owl prowl occurred on a “Supermoon” when the moon is either full or new, is at “Perigee” or at its closest point to earth, and may appear larger and brighter than normal.

Given that a wild owl is obviously no guarantee, and some daylight exists to start this walk, the event started with a showing of “Koko”, our Eastern Screech Owl. Koko continues to be an animal ambassador which cannot survive in the wild due to a handicap. While not as majestic as the much larger Barred Owl, this is our most abundant owl that may never be seen due to its small size, secretive nature, and highly nocturnal habit. The group saw the facial disk, large eyes, and neck mobility for head turning, all of which equip owls for nocturnal behavior. The group also learned that fibrous feathers allow silent flight which aids in hunting, and that screech owls have color phases, the grey phase more common in the northeast, reddish-brown phases in the south.

Snow again absent for annual mid-winter nature walk

by Lloyd Center Research Associate Jamie Bogart

The mid-winter wildlife walk held on February 22 would be expected to feature a white landscape complete with snow covered branches and tracks from animals on the move in search of food, during what is winter’s peak period. This spectacle, mammal tracks in snow, was to be the focus of this walk. But for the second consecutive year, the Lloyd Center grounds were totally void of snow cover, instead ablaze with the greens of live vegetation, and browns of dead fallen leaves and branches from past growth.

Hardly a winter scene, it leaves one wondering if, like the January waterfowl survey, impacts of climate change are outpacing our and nature’s ability to adapt.  However, lack of snow cover and a mostly warm trend has meant higher availability and accessibility of forest food sources, and highly active and visible wildlife.  The low shrub layer contains browse, seeds, fruits and insects, while acorns, hickory nuts, and other forage items are exposed at ground level.