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Tuesday 21 December 2021

Meet some local wildlife ambassadors at Potomac Overlook

If you haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting this park & nature center, I highly recommend it. It was the first nature center I visited with live animals, so I was really excited to find it as I started a journey into studying local wildlife in my community of Northern Virginia. Also this nature center is open every day, even weekends, so its a great resource. 

Their website describes the park as such:

Explore the natural world on 67 acres of wild and cultivated land at Potomac Overlook Regional Park in Arlington, Virginia. Hike miles of trails while following interpretive displays to learn about Northern Virginia’s flora and fauna. Our educational organic vegetable garden hosts school trips and summer nature camps, while other demonstration gardens showcase native plants and insects and live animal displays. Visit the James I. Mayer Center for Environmental Education to learn about the connections between humans and the natural world. Potomac Overlook Regional Park also hosts an outdoor summer concert series and a popular summer camp for kids.

This fall, I had the pleasure of volunteering at the Nature Center located at Potomac Overlook. I signed up to do animal care for amphibians and reptiles. 


When you first walk in, this is what you will see (below). To the left, the large cage is actually home to an adorable screech owl named Smoke. Many people, especially children, will gleefully exclaim upon seeing this owl, "Awww its a baby owl!" Actually, Smoke is a fully grown Eastern Screech Owl. This species of owl only grows 6 - 10 inches tall when full grown. In the outdoor raptor exhibit, recently remodeled, there are two other owl species in residence - a Great Horned Owl and a Barred Owl, as well as a Red Shouldered Hawk. 


Here is a photo of Screech, who was at the Meadowlark Lights Show for an educational program:

Photo credit: Roving Naturalist, Matt Felperin

Some fun facts about Eastern Screech Owls, Megascops asio:
  • Eastern Screech-Owl pairs usually are monogamous and remain together for life.
  • These owls readily accept nest boxes; consider putting one up to attract a breeding pair.
  • The oldest recorded Eastern Screech-Owl in the wild was at least 14 years, 6 months old. 
My favorite area of the Nature Center is the snake area, where AJ and his team care for six native species of snakes, including a Copperhead named Abe, an Eastern Kingsnake named Louie, two Black Rat snakes named Houdini and Tony, two Corn Snakes named Sugar and Spice, a Mole Kingsnake named Noodle (!) and a Pine Snake named Al. 


Visitors are welcome to spend time in this lovely room, if there is no programming going on. It is very relaxing to sit in front of the large window and read animal stories to children - they have a great collection of picture books. If your child really loves animals, consider doing their birthday party at the Nature Center, and they will get to meet some of the Center's animal residents up close!


Here is one of the turtles that I fed while I was a volunteer. This turtle is named Sunny, and she is a Box Turtle. She was previously kept as a pet. The staff believe she may be 15-20 years old. 


This beautiful snake, Al the Pine Snake, really fascinated me because of how rare this species is in Virginia. Scientists are currently looking for evidence that this snake still lives in our state, but they are hard to find because they are fossorial, meaning they spend most of their time underground. (See my other post about this species).


Here is a short video of Al which shows just how big this snake is. He is beautiful!


I really enjoyed volunteering here, getting to know the awesome staff and speaking with the visitors who came in. I will continue to volunteer occasionally with the Center, helping out with interpretation events because I love talking to people about animals.

They also have a small gift shop area with some delightful gifts for the animal lover in your life. 

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