These scavenger hunts, or nature based activity prompts, provide a wide range of opportunity to delve into observing the natural world and engaging with the earth in many different ways including nature journaling, found object sculpture, water body investigation, nose-to-the ground forest floor investigations, phenology studies, color collecting, using all the senses, and more. The prompts encourage place-based explorations, appreciation of seasonal changes, and even stewardship practices in your backyard or out on the trails. They are presented here as PDF documents to be easily printed and attached to a clip board or pasted in a journal. There are also video links included that Landere created for a 2nd grade class but that can be viewed by anyone! Enjoy!
The Open Air Arts Initiative (OAAI), a collaboration of Blue Hill Heritage Trust (BHHT), Cynthia Winings Gallery, and The SEED Barn collaborated with with artist Miriam Talalay is to produce a Scientific Illustration series of video classes. There are four video recordings to view and learn from! Her first video is filmed on the BHHT “Talalay Nature Sanctuary” trail in Surry, a property that Miriam’s Grandparents Paul and Pamela Talalay donated to the Trust in 2007. BHHT is grateful to the Talalay family for all they do to help protect and inspire love for the natural world on the Blue Hill Peninsula.
Example: Chipmunk midden! Regular feasting occurs around this mossy stump. Do you see the network of holes tucked between the roots along this section of the trail? What do you think this family of chipmunks chatter about during their shared meals?
This interactive map focuses on the way non-human species MOVE through the landscape. At the various stops, we explore ways to recognize then translate movement through creative acts. Bring along art supplies for visual art interpretation. Feel free to dance along the trail as you explore and SING OUT to mimic bird song along the way. Posted signs along the trail offer guidance for analog engagement. Click HERE to view map
Each March, when the snow in the small, grassy openings in the woods has thawed, we can hear two strange sounds around dusk.They are the sounds of the male woodcock trying to prove to the female that he’d be a good choice as the father of her chicks. He struts around on the ground making a funny meep, meep sound then rockets into the air, flying in big circles while his wing feathers make a high pitched chip, chip, chip sound.He comes back to the ground and begins strutting and meeping again. It is wondrous to watch and to hear as a sign that spring if coming and our woods are about to burst with life again after a quiet winter.
A fun way to connect with the Land and with the changing seasons is to observe phenology:the study of seasonal plant and animal life cycles.
Buds, at this time of year offer a great starting point to watch a plant’s rhythms unfold. There are so many complex and beautiful differences among plant species. Long and sticky, stout and furry, scarlet red, small and bumpy. Go for a scavenger hunt for buds this season and along the way learn how to identify plants without their leaves or flowers, connect with plant life cycles, and revel in the mystery of every delicate beginning of life.
To listen to a wonderful Maine phenology podcast check out the Nature of Phenology with Hazel Stark and Joe Horn supported by WERU!
May 4, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Sherm Perkins Park, Blue Hill Heritage Trust, 35 ME-175, Penobscot, ME 04476, USA
All ages are welcome to join us for a series of volunteer days throughout the spring - fall seasons. Every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month from 1-4pm. Join us on May 4th for another Volunteer Day! Help clean up, trim and start to revitalize our Sherm-Perkins Penobscot property in preparation for its future purpose as a pollinator space!
We will be working from 1-4pm. Volunteers should bring work shoes, water and work gloves. Anyone interested in attending should RSVP emailing Andrew at stewardship@bluehillheritagetrust.org
Kids are invited to Wild Sun Catchers on the library lawn onWednesday, May 17 at 3:30 pm. Join Landere Naisbitt from Blue Hill Heritage Trust and Claire Malina from the Blue Hill Library for a workshop on ferns. We will be joined by special guest Nell Houde from Wild Seed Project. Nell will teach participants about ferns and fern spore cultivation. We will play a fern life cycle game, search for ferns and plant fern spores using two northeastern ferns: the Christmas Fern and Northern Lady Fern.
To register, use the library's interactive calendar or by calling 374-5515. Registration opens one month prior to the event. For more information, contact Claire at claire.malina@bhpl.net.
Wild Sun Catchers is a monthly program for kids and families that celebrates the wild plants of the Blue Hill Peninsula, and teaches a stewardship ethic for the land and its many inhabitants. We focus on a different plant and the relationships it has with other species each month.
This program is FREE and is co-sponsored by the Blue Hill Library and Blue Hill Heritage Trust.
May 18, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Snow's Cove Sanctuary, 106 ME-15, Sedgwick, ME 04676, USA
All ages are welcome to join us for a series of volunteer days throughout the spring - fall seasons. Every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month from 1-4pm.
We are continuing our May BHHT Preserve Spring Cleanup, Thursday, May 18th, from 1-4pm at Snows Cove Preserve. We will be working on cleaning up old dump piles off the sides of the trails. Some of the old dump piles contain sharp objects (metal, glass, etc.).
BHHT will provide trash bags. Volunteers should bring work gloves (cut resistant gloves are best, but not required), safety glasses, closed-toed shoes or boots, and water.
Anyone interested or having questions can contact our Land Steward, Andrew, at stewardship@bluehillheritagetrust.org
Friends from the Field: Maine is weird - Why We Have So Many Birds
Friends from the Field: Maine is weird - Why We Have So Many Birds
May 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Join Blue Hill Heritage Trust and Island Heritage Trust for another Friends from the Field Webinar!
Bob Duchesne is a birding guide and author, and spearheaded creation of the Maine Birding Trail. Bob writes weekly birding columns in the Bangor Daily News and produces YouTube videos about birding in Maine and beyond.
Maine's peculiar history explains why the state has so many birds. Some surprising reasons date back 300 million years. Others are brand new. Here are the Top Ten Reasons Maine is weird.
Volunteer Work Day: Planting Party at Surry Forest
Volunteer Work Day: Planting Party at Surry Forest
May 20, 2023 @ 8:30 am - 11:30 am
Know Your Land Consulting, in partnership with BHHT, is creating an Edible Landscape Project at Surry Forest. We are in our third spring of this project and we are excited to get more pollinator plants in the ground! We are inviting community members to join us for a fun morning in the forest. Come learn about the project and get your hands dirty! We are busy sourcing more plants and we have another Planting Party scheduled for Saturday, May 20th from 8:30am -11:30pm with breakfast treats included. We will ask that participants please bring gloves, a shovel if you have one you like, and water with you. We will have some tools on hand, but do not have enough for everyone. We will provide fruit, granola bars, coffee, tea and other fun breakfast treats! Please let Landere know if you would like to join us so we can add you to the list. landere@bluehillheritagetrust.org
May 23, 2023 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm Blue Hill Co-op, 70 South St, Blue Hill, ME 04614, USA
Join BHHT, Blue Hill Co-op, and the Native Gardens of Blue Hill for a Work Party to start the restoration project on the construction slope behind the co-op.
We will be working on erosion control and soil amendments. Bring gloves, a hat, a shovel if you have one, and lunch. Cookies and water will be provided by the Co-op.
If you are a working owner this work day will be applied to your hours, and if you would like to become a new working owner you can talk to Coop Ownership Coordinator, Jennifer, about this! Please email Jennifer ownership@bluehill.coop to sign up.
Make a Birdhouse and Learn about the Blue Bird Trail!
Make a Birdhouse and Learn about the Blue Bird Trail!
May 26, 2023 @ 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Want to make a bird house and learn about Hancock County’s Bluebird Trail?
Join us for a fun event at the Blue Hill Heritage Trust Office. Charlie from Holbrook Island Sanctuary will help your kids build a birdhouse to bring home and teach you how you can help create habitat for our avian friends. A Downeast Audubon member will share stories about the Hancock Blue Bird Trail!
This event is FREE and open to the public but space is limited.
Alewive Migration in the Bagaduce Watershed (Migration in the Bagaduce Watershed Program
Alewive Migration in the Bagaduce Watershed (Migration in the Bagaduce Watershed Program
May 27, 2023 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Pierce Pond, Penobscot, ME 04476, USA
Migration in the Bagaduce Watershed Program Series Join BHHT, and Bailey Bowden, in Penobscot at Pierce's Pond to see a stream teeming with alewives and to learn about the amazing journey of these small herring from the Atlantic Ocean to our lakes and ponds. Learn about fish restoration projects on the peninsula as well and how you can help! This event is free and open to the public. *REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED at: https://forms.gle/JvkNziQgpaF21oM88 This events will be outside. Please dress for the weather with appropriate footwear.
