We are lucky to live in the Miami Valley, a region that touts the largest paved trail network in the country! CWPD is proud to be part of this trail network with over 10 miles of multi-use paved trails for…
Spring Warblers: a radiation of color and song
For Ohio’s bird enthusiasts, May is prime time, as the arrival of northbound migrants adds color and song to the landscape. No group of birds exemplifies migration season more than the wood warblers. That family of birds, the Parulidae, includes…
Cracking the Shell Game
All around us, birds are back in the business of producing the next generation, their eggs hidden away in nest cups and tree holes. Bird eggs are marvels of biological engineering. All of the materials needed to build a new…
Beauty and the Bees
Spring beauties, Claytonia virginica, are among the earliest blooming of our so-called “spring ephemerals,” the woodland wildflowers that bloom in succession between March and May. Spring beauties survive the winter as a mini-potato-like tuberous root that provides the plant with…
Groundhog Day and Skunk Cabbage: Coupled by Uncoupling
It’s February, often Dayton’s coldest month. Groundhogs, aka woodchucks, which amuse us with their antics during the warmer seasons, have long since hidden away in their underground hibernation retreats. At the same time, the broad green leaves of skunk cabbages,…
Birds of Winter: Turning up the Fire of Life
Through the cold months of winter, the animals that remain active in our woods, meadows, and neighborhoods are those with high rates of metabolism that sustain warm body temperatures—the endothermic (“warm-blooded”) birds and mammals. While some small mammals, like mice…
Mighty Ecosystems From Little Acorns Grow
As fall turns to winter, and green leaves and insects have substantially disappeared until next spring, fruits and nuts become increasingly important in the diets of animals that remain active in the cold. Among those, the hard nuts produced by…
It’s Turkey Time!
It’s November, and across the country, turkeys are arriving in grocery stores and home freezers. The great majority of those, of course, are domestic turkeys, raised on farms and bred for meat production. But wild turkeys are on the rise,…
The Amazing Melting Mushroom
October is a great month for mushrooms. The cooler temperatures and moist soils promote mushroom emergence, and more than 125 species have been observed in Greene and Montgomery Counties. Some of those mushroom varieties can be hard to identify. But…
Community Events up 100%
Your Centerville-Washington Park District is serious about providing the park and recreation opportunities you want! CWPD perpetually seeks resident and stakeholder input to build strategic plans, master plans, programming plans, capital improvements plans and budgets. This allows us to align…