Natural Happenings: Looking Up

Did you know the Air and Space Museum has a new 16-inch, 3,000-pound Boller and Chivens telescope on loan from Harvard College Observatory? It will be open to the public on Tuesday night from 5:30 to 7:30. Afterward, stay for the lecture about the Hubble Space Telescope by astronaut John Grunsfeld in the Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater. Free tickets are required for the lecture, but not the telescope.

Still looking up, but a little closer to the ground, there are lots of opportunities to go birding on our calendar every week. For the coming week:

•  The Nature Lover's Meetup has scheduled a Birding and Beer outing to Riverbend Park and Old Brogue pub on Saturday afternoon/evening.
  
• The Audubon Naturalist Society has several free birding trips on Saturday: an all-day trip to Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, a half day trip to Charles County, and a short morning birding class at their sanctuary in Chevy Chase. On Sunday, there's a paid field trip to Eastern Neck.
  
• The Prince George's County Audubon Society goes to Lake Artemesia first and third Thursdays at 3:00 PM and first and third Saturdays at 7:30 AM in Bowie (see below).
• The Northern Virginia Audubon Society goes to Huntley Meadows Mondays at 7:00 AM, Dyke Marsh Sundays at 8:00 AM, and Great Falls Sundays at 8:00 AM.
  

If none of these strike your fancy, there are plenty more hikes and events on the calendar. And opportunities to volunteer. For example, how often do you get a chance to participate in creating a new park? See the entry under Northwood Chesapeake Bay Trail on Sunday for a chance to help create a buffer zone for Sligo Creek and Northwest Branch.

See you out there!

Like the photo in this post? It's by Flickr user CarbonNYC..