It all depends on how you look at it.

Is it when our first wildflower of the year, Skunk cabbage, blooms?

Is it when tree buds start to swell?

How about when the salamanders run?

Or when the wood frogs lay their eggs?

Maybe it’s when you hear the first Spring Peeper sing?

Perhaps it’s when the first bright yellow daffodil blooms?

When does spring start for you?

Why the Great Horned Owl of course! These magnificent birds are the earliest nesters in Ohio and right now, we are in the peak of courtship. Here is the link to various Great Horned Owl calls at Cornell’s All About Birds site. By the end of January and first part of February, females will be on the nest incubating eggs. It will take just over a month for the eggs to hatch and then its time to fill hungry bellies! The male has already been hunting and providing food for the nest bound female and he continues to do most of the hunting for the young. Anything he can catch is fair game! Rodents, birds, and rabbits are common prey items but even skunks are on the menu!

Great Horned Owls are very common in Ohio but do like to have forested areas nearby. These owls are typically nocturnal so why not step outside one night and take a listen?

Whooo knows what you might hear??

Please note that there was an error for the What’s that Wildflower Workshop. The correct date is April 26. Thanks!

Not outside, but here in the Nature Center. As many of you know at the end of last winter the old fuel oil furnace bit the dust. Limping along on used parts (as that unit was found to be obsolete) we made it through the rest of the cold weather. Fast forward to the end of October and try as we could, the old furnace was really dead. Until the new system could be installed, we had to use electric oil space heaters. They did okay, but still…..brrr!

Enter in our new heating and cooling system which just happens to be geothermal! It has been pretty exciting and I have some pictures to share with you from the process. These pics are courtesy of one of OHS’s Archaeologists who was on site to monitor the various earth moving activities.

At the same time the trench was being dug, a horizontal drilling machine was employed to get pipe from the wells to the Nature Center. This was a neat way to do it because there was no need to excavate another trench. If that had happened, it would have been a big disturbance right in front of the Nature Center.

Tom had previously dug a big hole next to the foundation of the Nature Center. This was so an entry point for the pipe could be drilled through the foundation and into the basement. In the picture above, you can see the entrance of the horizontal driller to the big hole!

Then, it was time for the pipe.

Can you believe it? We’ve discovered a brand new orchid species for Wahkeena! Confirmed as Spiranthes ovalis or Oval Ladies’ Tresses or Lesser Ladies’ Tresses. It is a fall bloomer and has some of the smallest flowers out of all the other Ladies’ Tresses. Because the one we found was past peak bloom, I do not have a good picture of it to show you! So click here for some photos from Andrew Gibson’s excellent blog, The Natural Treasures of Ohio. The photos of S. ovalis are about halfway down that particular post. While we’ve only found one plant so far, if you’ve read any of the other posts on orchids, you know that there are probably more. I’ve decided that orchids are equipped with cloaking devices and that’s why there are so hard to find!  🙂 It will be very exciting when next fall rolls around to see if this particular plant will bloom again. For those of you who are keeping track, this is orchid number 11 found at Wahkeena!

Hey Gang!

Check out next year’s Guided Programs by clicking the link in the green bar at the top of the page. We’ve got lots of guided walks, workshops, and much more! Please note that some of our programs do require advanced registration. This must be done by phone. We cannot take reservations via Facebook or email. All of the walks throughout the year however, do not need to be registered for – just show up! We look forward to seeing you all out for our programs next year!