Like much of North America, Georgia was historically covered in prairies- swathes of native grasslands and flower meadows blanketed rolling hills. The past few hundred years of rapid urbanization and fire suppression have significantly altered the once dominant prairie landscape to a now critically endangered ecosystem. Prairies are a cornerstone to the native species of […]
Thanks to a generous grant from Northwood Garden Club, eight new raised garden beds have been installed in Blue Heron’s Community Garden. These raised beds make gardening more accessible for both our youngest and oldest gardeners. Children can more easily see, reach, and interact with the plants, while gardeners with mobility challenges can tend their […]
If you’ve been outdoors during a Georgia summer, you’ve probably heard this before: Watch out for snakes! While it’s a warning worth heeding, these reptiles are much less scary than they’ve often been portrayed. Snakes fill an important ecological niche and have just as much of a place in our natural world as the more […]
Summer’s arrival can only mean one thing: a chorus of animal songs long after the sun has set. Peepers, toads, and tree frogs alike can be heard late into the evening and into the early morning. It’s their breeding season, so many have moved from the tree line into fields, marshes, and other areas close […]
A group of Spelman University students led by their professors visited Blue Heron Nature Preserve to collect tree samples. Dr. Jessica Dunn is an assistant professor in the Environmental Sciences department, and she and her students will use the data they collected to begin a dendrochronology lab at Spelman. A dendrochronology lab is essentially an […]
Fireflies, or lightning bugs, begin to be active in the late weeks of May and early weeks of June. Fireflies are found throughout North America, but they are especially common in the Southeast. These beetles produce light in specialized organs in their abdomens. An enzyme called luciferase acts on luciferin, a light-emitting compound, creating their […]
On June 19, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation was officially enforced in Texas, the last state where slavery remained legal. This came two and a half years after the proclamation had outlawed slavery in the Confederate states. Though Juneteenth has been celebrated for decades, it was only recognized as a federal holiday in 2021. Racial justice […]
Visualization from Cornell University of birds migration from the months of March-June As spring warms into summer, many bird species are entering the final stretch of their spring migration. Starting in February, species like the yellow throated warbler and gnatcatchers take short trips over Georgia to reach southeastern and coastal lines. That pace dramatically accelerates […]
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution