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Cover image of A Year across Maryland
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A Year across Maryland

A Week-by-Week Guide to Discovering Nature in the Chesapeake Region

Bryan MacKay

Publication Date
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A week-by-week look at the abundant wildlife and plants in and around Maryland—where and when to find them.

When can you find ripe blueberries along the Appalachian Trail in Maryland? Where can you see the air filled with monarch butterflies as they migrate south each autumn? If you want to enjoy nature this weekend, where is the best place to visit? Bryan MacKay can tell you.

Written as an almanac, A Year across Maryland invites you to explore the natural world throughout the year, from watching bald eagles nesting in January to harvesting mistletoe in December. Entries identify the best time...

A week-by-week look at the abundant wildlife and plants in and around Maryland—where and when to find them.

When can you find ripe blueberries along the Appalachian Trail in Maryland? Where can you see the air filled with monarch butterflies as they migrate south each autumn? If you want to enjoy nature this weekend, where is the best place to visit? Bryan MacKay can tell you.

Written as an almanac, A Year across Maryland invites you to explore the natural world throughout the year, from watching bald eagles nesting in January to harvesting mistletoe in December. Entries identify the best time and place to experience such wonders as wildflowers blooming, birds in migration, amphibians singing, and morel mushrooms ready to be picked, sliced, sautéed, and devoured. Color photographs of more than seventy species enrich and illustrate the text. Every week of the year has a recommended "Trip of the Week." Personal essays that draw from MacKay's field notes provide an intimate glimpse into a biologist encounters with plants and animals over the years.

Whether you want to see snow geese and trumpeter swans pausing in their northward migration each March, or the mating "jubilee" of polychaete worms during the new moon in May, A Year across Maryland offers valuable advice for the spontaneous adventurer and the serious planner alike.

Reviews

Reviews

Whether you want to see Snow Geese and Trumpeter Swans pausing in their northward migration each March, or the mating 'jubilee' of polychaete worms during the new moon in May, A Year across Maryland offers valuable advice for the spontaneous adventurer and the serious planner alike.

From Nassawango to Middle Youghiogheny, from Sugarloaf to Soldiers Delight, here is more Maryland than you could embrace in a summer. Mr. MacKay knows the state.

This is a delightful book packed with information on a diversity of organisms with explicit instructions on how to enjoy marvelous creatures virtually every day of the year. MacKay's passion for natural history is palpable.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
5.5
x
8.5
Pages
312
ISBN
9781421409399
Illustration Description
78 color photos
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
January
Week 1: Winter Songbirds, Evergreen Plants
Trip of the Week: Deep Creek Lake area
Week 2: Unusual Birds, Reindeer Moss, Gray Squirrels
Trip of the Week: The National

Acknowledgments
Introduction
January
Week 1: Winter Songbirds, Evergreen Plants
Trip of the Week: Deep Creek Lake area
Week 2: Unusual Birds, Reindeer Moss, Gray Squirrels
Trip of the Week: The National Aquarium
Week 3: Cranefly Orchids, Roadside Hawks, Coldest Week
Trip of the Week: Smithsonian Natural History Museum
Week 4: Bald Eagles, Liverworts, "January Thaw"?
Trip of the Week: Polar Bear Plunge, Sandy Point State Park
Notes from the Field: English Ivy and American Robins
February
Week 1: Prickly Pear Cactus, Miocene Fossils
Trip of the Week: Flag Ponds Nature Park
Week 2: Red-winged Blackbirds, Long-tailed Salamanders
Trip of the Week: Caves of the Shenandoah Valley
Week 3: Great Blue Herons, Yellow Perch
Trip of the Week: Cross-country skiing, New Germany State Park
Week 4: Skunk Cabbages, Maple Sap
Trip of the Week: Oregon Ridge Nature Center and Park
Notes from the Field: A Gathering of Geese
March
Week 1: Bluebirds, Waterfowl
Trip of the Week: Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area
Week 2: Wood Frogs, Mourning Cloak Butterflies
Trip of the Week: Woodcock walks
Week 3: Red Maples, Weeds, Osprey
Trip of the Week: Fort Smallwood hawk watch
Week 4: Hepatica, Spring Peepers
Trip of the Week: National Cherry Blossom Festival
Notes from the Field: Timberdoodles!
April
Week 1: Wildflowers, Bloodroot
Trip of the Week: Wildflowers at your local park
Week 2: American Toads, Migrant Birds, Spring Beauties
Trip of the Week: Great Falls of the Potomac and the C&O Canal towpath
Week 3: Rockfish (Striped Bass), Lesser Celandine, American Robins, Virginia Bluebells
Trip of the Week: Susquehanna State Park
Week 4: Canopy Closure, Lyre-leaved Rock Cress, Morel Mushrooms, Redbuds and Dogwoods
Trip of the Week: The National Arboretum
Notes from the Field: The Wildflowers of April
May
Week 1: Azaleas, Yellow Lady's Slipper Orchids, Prothonotary Warblers, Large-flowered Trillium
Trip of the Week: Thompson Wildlife Management Area
Week 2: Black Locusts, Fantail Darters, May Worm Jubilee,Warbler Migration
Trip of the Week: Birding for neotropical migrants
Week 3: Blackpoll Warblers, Multiflora Rose, Carpenter Frogs
Trip of the Week: The Pine Barrens
Week 4: Diamondback Terrapins, Mountain Laurel, Shorebirds and Horseshoe Crabs
Trip of the Week: Delaware Bay shorebirds and horseshoe crabs
Notes from the Field: Phalaropes, Polyandry, and Profligacy
June
Week 1: Strawberries, Sweetbay Magnolias, Day Lilies, Fawns
Trip of the Week: Shenandoah National Park
Week 2: Gypsy Moths, Mulberries, Periodical Cicadas
Trip of the Week: Trap Pond State Park and Trussum Pond
Week 3: Mockingbirds, Sea Nettles, Self-heal, Rhododendrons
Trip of the Week: Swallow Falls State Park and Cranesville Bog
Week 4: Enchanter's Nightshade, Blueberries, Fireflies,Brown Pelicans
Trip of the Week: Chesapeake Bay islands
Notes from the Field: A Journey down a Swampy River
July
Week 1: Least Terns, Annual Cicadas, Queen Anne's Lace
Trip of the Week: Gettysburg National Military Park
Week 2: Early Birds of Autumn, Lyme Disease, Wildflowers
Trip of the Week: Hemlock Gorge
Week 3: Cicada Killer Wasps, Black-eyed Susans, Hottest Days
Trip of the Week: Harpers Ferry for history and tubing
Week 4: Manatees, Showy Flowers
Trip of the Week: Ohiopyle State Park
Notes from the Field: Cownose Rays and the ChesapeakeEcosystem
August
Week 1: Asiatic Dayflower, Canada Geese, ShorebirdMigration, Red Spruce
Trip of the Week: Dolly Sods Wilderness
Week 2: Goldfinches, Bluefish, Herons, American Lotus
Trip of the Week: Gunpowder Falls State Park
Week 3: Flowering Grasses, May Apple and Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Stinging Nettles
Trip of the Week: Potomac River float trip; Dam Number Four Cave, C&O Canal
Week 4: Japanese Knotweed, Ragweed, Ghost Crabs
Trip of the Week: Assateague Island National Seashore
Notes from the Field: The Turtles of Midsummer
September
Week 1: Pawpaws, Nighthawks and Bats
Trip of the Week: Rock Creek Park
Week 2: Grasses, Neotropical Songbirds
Trip of the Week: Cape May
Week 3: Broad-winged Hawk, Monarch Butterfly Migration,Tickseed Sunflower
Trip of the Week: Jug Bay area, Patuxent River
Week 4: Chimney Swifts, Chestnut Oak Acorns
Trip of the Week: South Fork of Shenandoah River for canoeing and canoe camping
Notes from the Field: A Cold Green Fire
October
Week 1: Fringed Gentian, Sharp-shinned Hawk Migration
Trip of the Week: Hawk Mountain
Week 2: Stink Bugs, Canada Geese, Pokeweed Fruits
Trip of the Week: Great Allegheny Passage by train and bicycle
Week 3: Wild Fruits, Prime Fall Color (Western Maryland),Cottony Seeds
Trip of the Week: Old Rag Hike, Shenandoah National Park
Week 4: Brook Trout, Prime Fall Color (Central Maryland)
Trip of the Week: Appalachian Trail hike
Notes from the Field: Autumn River
November
Week 1: Witch Hazel, Water Clarity, Bald Cypress
Trip of the Week: Pocomoke River for canoeing and camping
Week 2: Whitetail Deer, Prime Fall Color (Eastern Shore),Norway Maples
Trip of the Week: The Waterfowl Festival
Week 3: Ducks, Blue Crabs
Trip of the Week: Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge
Week 4: Osage Oranges, Whitetail Deer
Trip of the Week: Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge
Notes from the Field: Life and Death at the Marsh
December
Week 1: Tundra Swans, Beefsteak Plant
Trip of the Week: Bald eagles at Conowingo Dam
Week 2: Asiatic Bittersweet, Christmas Fern
Trip of the Week: Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
Week 3: Mistletoe, Club Mosses
Trip of the Week: United States Botanic Garden
Week 4: Winter Solstice, Saw-whet Owls
Trip of the Week: Christmas Bird Count
Notes from the Field: Vultures
Appendix of Common and Scientific Names
Selected Bibliography
Index

Author Bio
Bryan MacKay
Featured Contributor

Bryan MacKay

Bryan MacKay is a senior lecturer emeritus in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is the author of Hiking, Cycling, and Canoeing in Maryland: A Family Guide and Baltimore Trails: A Guide for Hikers and Mountain Bikers, both published by Johns Hopkins.