The Outdoors Maryland Project

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The Outdoors Maryland Project

OMD is a blog and a movement dedicated to spreading environmentalism and appreciation for nature in "America in Miniature." Visit outdoorsmaryland.net

11/10/2022

It’s , and we’re celebrating our favorite yellowish salamander genus. Although MD is only home to three species, there are 6 spread across MD, VA, and WV

MD Residents:
1 Northern Two-lined: One of the most abundant sallies in MD, it’s found around streams statewide

2 Southern Two-lined: nearly identical to the northern two-lined and found in MD only in Worcester County, although more research is need to understand the relationship between these two species

3 Long-tailed: Found on rocky slopes in the western part of the state

Non-MD Residents:
4 Three-lined: a former subspecies of long-tailed found in a variety of habitats. They can be locally abundant in Fairfax and Loudoun County, VA, but have never been observed across the Potomac in MD

5 Cave: Found underground in the karst topography of the Valley-and-Ridge region of VA and south

6 Blue Ridge Two-lined: Found in the highest elevations of the Blue Ridge from Southwest VA to Georgia

09/20/2022

While exploring some of the Piedmont this weekend, I found many species of more specialist oaks native to xeric pine-oak woodlands and forests. Test your Quercus skills and see how many you can identify

08/17/2022

One of the most common herpetology questions I hear is “Are newts and salamanders the same?” Newts belong to a family sub-group of salamanders called Pleurodelinae, and the red-spotted newt is one of the most recognizable herpetofauna of Maryland. Most people observe them as red, terrestrial juveniles that inhabit lush forest floors. These juveniles, called efts, start their life cycles as fully aquatic larvae and later transition into olive green-yellow aquatic adults that prefer still or slow-moving waters. The newts found in Maryland are the red-spotted subspecies (Notophtalmus viridescens viridescens) of the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), though other subspecies have red spots as well. Of the 22 salamander species in Maryland, the red-spotted is our only newt species

08/05/2022

Annapolis Rocks has always been a contemplative hiking spot for me. Although super popular and not particularly challenging, it’s one of the spots that confirmed my passion for the outdoors when I was younger. This week, not much was happening with the herps or birds aside from a black-and-white warbler, but some flowers were blooming like this downy agrimony (Agrimonia pubescens) and common jewelweed (Impatiens capensis). Difficult as it may be, sometimes naturalists need to step away from the science, reconnect with what inspires us to get outside in the first place, and just take in the forest.

07/13/2022

Although I can’t claim to be a lepidopterist, I have friends like that can. Here’s some recent moth madness from Southern Maryland:

1: Canadian Melanolophia (Melanolophia canadaria)
2: Lunate Zale (Zale lunata)
3: Little Beggar (Eubaphe meridiana)
4: Scarce Straw Pearl (Paracorsia repandalis)
5: Black-bordered Lemon (Marimatha nigrofimbria)
6: Variable Antepione (Antepione thisoaria)

06/22/2022

One of my favorite pastimes while surveying turtles since summer is learning how to identify the wonderful flora across Maryland. Botany is a field my naturalist muscles are pretty weak in, but in the past 7 weeks I’ve logged 90 species of flowering plants just while out surveying

1: Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria)
2: Fringed Loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata)
3: Helmet Skullcap (Scutellaria integrifolia)
4: Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
5: Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)
6: Common St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum)
7: Asiatic Dayflower (Commelina communis)

06/07/2022

Monday was a productive day for wildlife on the Patuxent Refuge, including a smooth earthsnake courtesy of that was a lifer for a few us us. in addition to the herps, orchard orioles, field sparrows, and scarlet tanagers were also active. We only found one box turtle in our surveys though, can you spot it in the last slide?

~~~

1: Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum)
2 & 3: Eastern Smooth Earthsnake (Virginia viriae viriae)
4: Eastern American Toad with dark coloration and accentuated cranial ridges (Anaxyrus americanus americanus)
5: Eastern Common Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina)

05/30/2022

Last night, while road-cruising for owls on the St. Mary’s Peninsula in Charles County, I found my first Eastern Spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii)! Spadefoots are a secretive toad that call only for a very short window, so they’re not easy to locate. Although not federally or state endangered in Maryland, they are of conservation concern in neighboring areas and other parts of its range. They’re listed as state endangered in Pennsylvania. They may look a little derpy but still an awesome find!

05/27/2022

Some of my favorite turtle pics from the first few weeks on the job!

05/14/2022

Happy to say I’m working for the US Geological Survey on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge this summer surveying box turtle populations! The goal of this project is to innovate traditional methods of estimating population size via mark-recapture. Going to be spending a lot of time outdoors in Maryland!

04/04/2022

Some recent early spring spottings:

1: Brook Trout
3: Northern Spring Salamander
4: Round-lobed Hepatica
5: Gray Treefrog

03/25/2022

Happy Maryland Day! On this day 388 years ago, the Maryland Colony was first settled on St. Clement’s Island in the Potomac River. Later, they moved downstream to the well-known settlement at St. Marys City. Interestingly, this was not the first English settlement in what is now Maryland. Virginians set up a trading post on Kent Island in 1631, but after a legal battle between the two colonies, the land went to Maryland

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