Lauria McShane
@lauriamcshane.bsky.social
Virginia Grassland Bird Initiative, Seven Bends Nursery, Conservationist, Nature Photographer, Horseback Rider, Beekeeper, and lover of all things living 🌱💚
April 8, 2025 at 10:20 PM
It’s Kestrel box checking season and we already have nesting attempts. Today we caught this lovely banded lady in a box we put up just a few short weeks ago! 🥚🐣
#birds
#birds
March 22, 2025 at 12:10 AM
It’s Kestrel box checking season and we already have nesting attempts. Today we caught this lovely banded lady in a box we put up just a few short weeks ago! 🥚🐣
#birds
#birds
Golden catkins and a chorus of bird songs are catching the breeze today at Ivy Creek. The long awaited signs of spring are sneaking up but not fast enough!
#birds
#birds
March 2, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Golden catkins and a chorus of bird songs are catching the breeze today at Ivy Creek. The long awaited signs of spring are sneaking up but not fast enough!
#birds
#birds
This past weekend we trained some of our local Master Naturalists how to monitor boxes to expand our coverage of almost 600 kestrel boxes. Go team! 👏
#birds
#birds
February 4, 2025 at 5:48 PM
This past weekend we trained some of our local Master Naturalists how to monitor boxes to expand our coverage of almost 600 kestrel boxes. Go team! 👏
#birds
#birds
Collecting Mountain Laurel (kalmia latifolia) seeds during our trail ride to help preserve the genetics of our local ecotypes! #nativeplants #sevenbendsnursery
January 29, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Collecting Mountain Laurel (kalmia latifolia) seeds during our trail ride to help preserve the genetics of our local ecotypes! #nativeplants #sevenbendsnursery
Dreaming of pinks and purples as temperatures rise above freezing 🌸🪻 #nativeplants #Virginia
January 27, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Dreaming of pinks and purples as temperatures rise above freezing 🌸🪻 #nativeplants #Virginia
What a beautiful view we had installing this kestrel box yesterday! Just past the mountain line lies Shenandoah National Park🏔️💚 #birds #beautifulVirginia
January 25, 2025 at 6:58 PM
What a beautiful view we had installing this kestrel box yesterday! Just past the mountain line lies Shenandoah National Park🏔️💚 #birds #beautifulVirginia
In honor of Virginia’s wildflower of the year, Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), here is a picture of a beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) resting on the leaves of a Mayapple in the old growth forest of Sweet Briar college 🦋🍏 #nativeplants
January 8, 2025 at 1:59 AM
In honor of Virginia’s wildflower of the year, Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), here is a picture of a beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) resting on the leaves of a Mayapple in the old growth forest of Sweet Briar college 🦋🍏 #nativeplants
Backyard friends!
January 6, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Backyard friends!
The winter winds may have been whipping through the fields but another Kestrel Box has been installed! This time at a historic battlefield in Virginia. #birds #nativebirds #conservation
December 31, 2024 at 5:13 PM
The winter winds may have been whipping through the fields but another Kestrel Box has been installed! This time at a historic battlefield in Virginia. #birds #nativebirds #conservation
There is something magical about seed heads in the light of a winter’s afternoon 🌾 if you look closely you can spot someone’s chrysalis!
December 30, 2024 at 2:41 AM
There is something magical about seed heads in the light of a winter’s afternoon 🌾 if you look closely you can spot someone’s chrysalis!
Ducks and swans from this year’s visits to the marsh! 🦆🦢
December 30, 2024 at 2:19 AM
Ducks and swans from this year’s visits to the marsh! 🦆🦢
Most of the time working with grasslands birds is actually spent with cows and hay more than with birds themselves! One of my first days on the job was spent meeting my local farmers to learn about their rotational grazing practices that promote grassland bird populations 🐦⬛🐄🖤 #grasslandbirds
December 23, 2024 at 9:53 PM
Most of the time working with grasslands birds is actually spent with cows and hay more than with birds themselves! One of my first days on the job was spent meeting my local farmers to learn about their rotational grazing practices that promote grassland bird populations 🐦⬛🐄🖤 #grasslandbirds
Learning how to band under my supervisors this spring!
We band kestrels for many reasons but one of the most exciting reasons is so we can piece together their travels.
Earlier this year we had a kestrel all the way from Pennsylvania nest in a kestrel box in northern VA #bird #birdbanding
We band kestrels for many reasons but one of the most exciting reasons is so we can piece together their travels.
Earlier this year we had a kestrel all the way from Pennsylvania nest in a kestrel box in northern VA #bird #birdbanding
December 19, 2024 at 9:59 PM
Learning how to band under my supervisors this spring!
We band kestrels for many reasons but one of the most exciting reasons is so we can piece together their travels.
Earlier this year we had a kestrel all the way from Pennsylvania nest in a kestrel box in northern VA #bird #birdbanding
We band kestrels for many reasons but one of the most exciting reasons is so we can piece together their travels.
Earlier this year we had a kestrel all the way from Pennsylvania nest in a kestrel box in northern VA #bird #birdbanding
Pileated Woodpecker dancing his way around the forest at Sweet Briar College💃🕺
December 19, 2024 at 1:05 AM
Pileated Woodpecker dancing his way around the forest at Sweet Briar College💃🕺
Ever wonder what’s going on in a kestrel box? Well here is a sneak peak! Boxes are checked quickly once every two weeks with an endoscope to track nesting success. #birds #conservation #kestrels
December 19, 2024 at 1:00 AM
Ever wonder what’s going on in a kestrel box? Well here is a sneak peak! Boxes are checked quickly once every two weeks with an endoscope to track nesting success. #birds #conservation #kestrels
A warm and sunny 64 degree day on December 17th in Virginia. Bees are out and still collecting pollen…I wonder if they are as confused as I am. #bees #honeybees #apiary
December 17, 2024 at 7:58 PM
A warm and sunny 64 degree day on December 17th in Virginia. Bees are out and still collecting pollen…I wonder if they are as confused as I am. #bees #honeybees #apiary
Another completed Christmas Bird Count in Albemarle county 🎉
December 17, 2024 at 1:33 AM
Another completed Christmas Bird Count in Albemarle county 🎉
Another Kestrel Box installed and ready for monitoring in 2025! About 40% of our boxes are inhabited by kestrels their first year. Sometimes it takes time for our feathered friends to find it. But it will be there for when they are ready #birds #AmericanKestel #conservation
December 16, 2024 at 8:59 PM
Another Kestrel Box installed and ready for monitoring in 2025! About 40% of our boxes are inhabited by kestrels their first year. Sometimes it takes time for our feathered friends to find it. But it will be there for when they are ready #birds #AmericanKestel #conservation