Join us for our 2020-2021 Winter/Spring Virtual Eat, Drink, and Learn series!
Buy up to three events at $20.00 each.
Buy the fourth, fifth and/or sixth event at $15.00 each.
Buy the seventh, eighth, and/or ninth event at only $10 each!
*Purchases must be made at the same time to receive discount. Any combination of talks are allowed.*
Thursday, January 21st - It’s Been 17 Years; Let’s Toast Them with Kirs: Return of Brood X Cicadas in 2021: The Fascination, Fear, and Fun with Mike Raupp, (aka ‘The Bug Guy’), Professor Emeritus of Entomology, University of Maryland.
For seventeen years they have been feeding on plant roots underground. In the spring of 2021 from Georgia to New York and as far west as Illinois trillions of Brood X periodical cicadas will emerge from the earth. In some locations densities will reach 1.5 million per acre. We will explore the natural history, evolution, ecology, and behavior of one of the most captivating creatures on planet earth. Birth, death, romance, a big boy band, and danger are all on the agenda. We will also learn what damage they do to plants, what real and imagined threat they pose to people, and strategies to enjoy, learn, or simply cope with their visit.
Thursday, February 4th - Parrots of the Sea with a Long Island Tea: Puffin Canaries: Restored Just in Time for Climate Change with Derrick Z. Jackson, national award-winning journalist (Pulitzer Prize finalist), author, and photographer.
In 1973, Steve Kress, a young Aububon summer camp bird instructor, got it in his head to restore the Atlantic puffin to a tiny island in the Gulf of Maine where they were eliminated by hunters in the 1880s. His quest on Eastern Egg Rock became the world's first successful island restoration of a seabird. His techniques have since been used to preserve 64 seabird species in 16 countries. But the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than almost anywhere on the planet, suddenly making puffins a top sentinel of climate change, with the fish they bring -- or don't bring -- from the deep. Derrick Z. Jackson, Kress's co-author and photographer on the 2015 book "Project Puffin," and the 2020 book "The Puffin Plan," will sum up the victories of the present and challenges of the future.
Thursday, February 18th - Bivalves, Bays, & Cabernets: The Oysters Are Our World: How We Almost Lost the Chesapeake Bay Oyster and How We Are Bringing It Back with Rona Kobell, science editor & journalist, Maryland Sea Grant; adjunct professor, U. of MD’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
This talk will focus on what happened to the wild oyster industry, and how recent changes in laws and technology have helped an aquaculture industry grow.
Wednesday, March 3rd - Reclaiming Dredge; G & T’s with a Wedge: Poplar Island: An International Model of Innovative Reuse with Ryland Taylor and Tim Carney, Environmental Specialists, Maryland Environmental Service (MES).
Poplar Island is an environmental restoration project located in the Chesapeake Bay in Talbot County, Maryland. The beneficial use project, started in the 1990’s, relies on dredged material collected from the approach channels to the Baltimore Harbor to restore lost remote island habitat within the Chesapeake Bay. The project partnership between Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Port Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Maryland Environmental Service has been in place for over 20 years and has seen the restoration of almost 400 acres of wetland habitat. Upland habitat and additional wetland habitat are planned and the island is slated to be completed in the 2040’s. Over 400 different species of wildlife have been documented and over 30 different birds have been confirmed as nesting onsite. Learn about Poplar Island’s unique story and continuing habitat successes at this talk given by Ryland Taylor and Tim Carney from Maryland Environmental Service.
Thursday, March 18th - Urban Birds and Bourbon Stirred: Creative Communities Making Baltimore Birdy with Susie Creamer, Director, Patterson Park Audubon Center.
Discover the clever stories that reveal how Baltimore is becoming more “birdy!” From patio gardens and Audubon’s Habitat Canoe to pocket parks and public spaces, communities are growing our city for the birds. While people have long been the source of environmental problems, they are also full of creative solutions. Susie Creamer, director of Patterson Park Audubon Center, will discuss the surprising diversity of avian species and ground-level answers to keeping the birds in “Bird Town.”
Thursday, April 1st - April Foolers & Pineapple Coolers: You Coulda’ Fooled Me . . . In Nature, Trickery & Deceit are the Name of the Game with Clare Walker and Brian Rollfinke, Environmental Educators, Irvine Nature Center.
Witty and cunning humans look forward to April Fool’s Day as a chance to get a good-hearted laugh at others’ expense. In the natural world, however, foolery is an everyday occurrence, and survival often depends upon it. Join two of Irvine’s naturalists for an overview of the wide range of deceptive techniques—from appearance to behavior—that evolution has selected to give species an advantage when it comes to competition for mates, food resources, or predator avoidance. Discover surprising adaptations of some of our familiar local plants and animals, from caterpillars that cry wolf to snakes that play dead. You will be amused to see the lengths to which some critters go in order to dupe their adversaries in the name of self-preservation. Come prepared to laugh and be astounded by the complexity of traits and behaviors behind some of nature’s most clever pranks. The evening will end with a raffle for a new car . . . April Fool’s!
Thursday, April 15th - A Timely Spring Fling with Migrants That Sing: What Does “Songbird” Mean? with Kathleen Woods, Wildlife Rehabilitator; Founder & Executive Director, Phoenix Wildlife Center.
The dictionary says "a bird that utters a succession of musical tones". For me, a songbird evokes the joy of Spring, the welcoming warm seasons, the bedazzled jewels of the bird world arriving from the tropics to grace us all summer, the promise of song once again. Join us as we hear from our wildlife rehabilitator as she teaches us about our "common" songbirds and the not so common, less seen songbirds that she has had the opportunity to rehabilitate. This will be a fun, informative lecture that she promised to present after her last appearance at Irvine.
Thursday, April 29th - Native Bees & Fruit Brandies: Native Bees in Maryland - Some Good Stories with Sam Droege, Biologist, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.
There are 450 or so known (and counting) bee species in Maryland. Like birds and flowers, they range in how they look, when they are out, what they do, and whether they are common or rare. But even more so! Let us tell you some new stories, show you some new pictures, and share what new things we are learning about bees in the state of Maryland.
Thursday, May 20th - Gardening for Critters & Drinks with Bitters: The Humane Gardener: Nurturing Habitat for Wildlife with Nancy Lawson, author, The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife; habitat consultant and national speaker on garden ecology.
Why do we call some insects “beneficial” while others are “pests”? Why do we welcome some larger animals to our garden while calling others “nuisances”? Why are some plants considered “desirable” while others are “weeds”? In this myth-busting talk, learn how common growing methods divide the natural world into false dichotomies and perpetuate misperceptions about the wild species living among us. Discover practical ways to put humane gardening philosophies into action by protecting wildlife nurseries, eliminating unintended hazards, identifying and nurturing plants that provide food and shelter, controlling invasives with minimal disturbance to wildlife, and humanely resolving conflicts with mammals and other commonly misunderstood creatures.
