The Yankee Park playground is getting an upgrade! The Centerville-Washington Park District is interested in learning which of the proposed playground designs the community prefers. Goals previously identified for this project are: an ADA safety surface, an ADA specific element,…
It’s the middle of summer; mosquitoes are buzzing, the nighttime chorus of crickets and katydids is picking up volume, and we’re just coming down from an emergence of periodical cicadas. It might seem like an odd time to be asking:…
Birds’ nests serve a number of functions. One of those, of course, is to provide a secure place to lay and incubate eggs and, for many species, to raise young. In addition, the design and structure of nests may help…
In some ways, frogs and toads (amphibians in the order Anura, meaning “no tail”) are visual creatures. Their eyes are finely attuned to movement, and they feed on insects that make the mistake of crossing their visual paths. But when…
Image: courtesy of Katja Schulz, Creative Commons I have lived in Dayton, OH, since 1986. This May and June, for just the third time in those 35 years, I look forward to the spectacle of Magicicada Brood X, the 17-year…
Spring! It’s the season when robins and red-winged blackbirds regale us with song and, in Ohio, when Hinckley welcomes back its turkey vultures. Who doesn’t look forward to the lengthening daylight and warming weather? But why wait for the robins…
In late summer, at their colorful flowering peak, goldenrod (Solidago) flowers provide an important source of nectar for the late-season activities of butterflies, bees and wasps, flies, and other insects. But even in winter, when the plants have long since…
The Centerville-Washington Park District began work on the Grant Park master plan project in March 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, proposed community engagement sessions were modified to include an online survey and a virtual community meeting. The online survey…
Squirrels are among the most recognizable local wildlife; they’re noisy, they’re active, and they always seem to be around. But there’s more than one way to be a squirrel! Squirrels are members of the rodent family Sciuridae, and our local…
With the season of diminished daylight upon us, the shift from summer wildlife to winter wildlife is pretty much complete. Insects have substantially disappeared from the meadows. You’re not likely to see a snake in your path through the woods.…