Calendar: A Full Week of Evening Events

I don't know about you, but something about spring seems to get our personal calendars way more booked than usual. If you've got a spare evening this week, though, there's an event from our calendar for every weeknight! On Tuesday we'll talk more about a big event this weekend -- Saturday's Potomac Watershed cleanup, with hundreds of opportunities to volunteer (for now, see the Alice Ferguson Foundation cleanup page). 

A Black Hole Overflows (NASA, Chandra, 2/2/09)

The week starts off with the University of Maryland Observatory's open house on the 5th of every month -- that means this Monday. Mike Koss will do a presentation at 8:00 called "Supermassive Black Holes Feeding in a Galaxy Near You." The talk will be followed by a tour of the observatory, and some observing if weather permits. Logistical information is here.

Tuesday night (4/6) is the monthly meeting of the Mycological Association of Washington, at the Chevy Chase Library at 7 PM. I can't find a note of who the speaker is, but we always enjoy the part at the beginning where some of the experts in the group identify mushrooms that people have brought in. There's sure to be discussion of when people expect morels to start coming up -- and maybe even some early morel sightings.

Wednesday night (4/7) is a monthly lecture at the US Geological Survey. This month, two USGS researchers will talk about their tracking of animal migrations:  "World renowned USGS researchers, L. David Mech and Robert Gill will talk about the use of the latest state-of-the-art technology in tracking wildlife. Mech will share the secret paths of a pack of 20 or more arctic wolves during 24 hours of darkness, and Gill will take us from the arctic to the tropics with migrating shorebirds, specifically godwits and curlews, who make phenomenal nonstop migrations across oceans and continents. " More info here.

Thursday night (4/8) brings two opportunities to learn about wildflowers. Stephanie Mason at the Audubon Naturalist Society will teach an evening class called "Introduction to Wildflower Identification" at 7:30 at ANS's Woodend Sanctuary -- which will be followed by a Saturday field trip.  Call soon to sign up -- see the info here.

If you're further along in your native plant knowledge, you may want to head to the Virginia Native Plant Society meeting at Green Spring Garden Park on Thursday evening -- there will be a presentation on a compendium that it is being developed to describe more than 3,500 plant species that grow in Virginia, including 1,400 botanical illustrations. Address and a little more info here.

On Friday nights, the Analemma Society holds star-gazing events in Observatory Park in Great Falls, for about an hour after sunset. Directions are here.

On Saturday and Sunday nights, the Audubon Naturalist Society has two sessions of looking for spring peepers and other frogs and toads. The one on Saturday is aimed at kids; the one on Sunday is for adults. Advance registration is required; call soon to reserve a spot. More info here.

And of course, there's even more listed on our calendar. We'll see you out there!