by Stephanie Gardner   Once a bright and sure sign of autumn, monarch butterflies are now in worrisome decline. Scientists have tracked their decreasing numbers for several years. A recent study showed the lowest ever population of migrating eastern monarchs.   A number of factors have contributed to the decline of the monarch butterfly. Here…

The story that grabbed my heart this year is of a critter that never entered our doors. JANUARY 2013 Last winter I got a call from a woman named Becky in far southwest Virginia who wanted to know what she could do to keep her female hummingbird warm during the anticipated cold snap that was…

by Rob Alexander  June 7, 2013  … as posted to the Headwaters facebook page This spring, due to my teaching schedule, I missed the botany lecture for my Virginia Master Naturalist class. In order to make up this lecture and complete the course with my classmates, I elected to explore a bit of phenology and…

by Kate Guenther    … as written for the Spring 2013 Newsletter Driving home on a May evening from work in 2012, I saw a roadkill opossum. As usual, I stopped to check if it was a mom with babies. Luckily, there was an exit lane between me and the interstate traffic as I walked, but…