Connect With Us
Facebook-f X-twitter Youtube Instagram

Web Extras

CURRENT Web Extras

Homes for Displaced Chimney Swifts: A Refuge for Fall and Spring

As old industrial and school buildings and their chimneys disappear, so too do refuge spots for migrating swifts. Work is underway to create new hollow spaces for the birds to overnight safely.

October’s Wild Edible: Black Trumpets

In the Blue Ridge Mountains, chanterelle family members such as the smooth and cinnabar light up the forest floor with their yellow and red hues, respectively. But their close relative the black trumpet is anything but flashy.

Kurt’s Hikes: Feb-Sept, 2022

Our hikes from February through September included our 18th annual Valentine’s Day visit to Apple Orchard Falls; and several firsts, including Virginia’s Channels and a section of the

Birds of the Blue Ridge: Northern Flicker

The first flicker I remember seeing confounded me. With binoculars in one hand and my favorite field guide in the other, a positive ID was made: Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker.

Rockbridge County’s Scenic Highways and Greenways are Golden in the Fall

Every season in Lexington, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County VA can deliver golden memories, but the experience is literal in fall

Current Issue

Swifts can eat up to 10,000 insects a day.

Homes for Displaced Chimney Swifts: A Refuge for Fall and Spring

As old industrial and school buildings and their chimneys disappear, so too do refuge spots for migrating swifts. Work is underway to create new hollow spaces for the birds to overnight safely.
Black trumpets often grow in small colonies.

October’s Wild Edible: Black Trumpets

In the Blue Ridge Mountains, chanterelle family members such as the smooth and cinnabar light up the forest floor with their yellow and red hues, respectively. But their close relative the black trumpet is anything but flashy.
Gail stays comfy in rain under the tarp at Carvins Cove, 9/11/22.

Kurt’s Hikes: Feb-Sept, 2022

Our hikes from February through September included our 18th annual Valentine’s Day visit to Apple Orchard Falls; and several firsts, including Virginia’s Channels and a section of the
e2c11504-3dd4-11ed-a2f7-12274efc5439-Yellow-shafted-Flicker-1---photo-by-Mike-Blevins

Birds of the Blue Ridge: Northern Flicker

The first flicker I remember seeing confounded me. With binoculars in one hand and my favorite field guide in the other, a positive ID was made: Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker.
87e88bd4-3d9e-11ed-b14a-12274efc5439-Fall-Colors-Leaves-Shires-1-Brownsburg

Rockbridge County’s Scenic Highways and Greenways are Golden in the Fall

Every season in Lexington, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County VA can deliver golden memories, but the experience is literal in fall
VIEW MORE

Departments

At Coopers Rock State Forest, new Stargazer cabins invite guests to look up through skylights and telescopes.
Country Roads

Even Closer to Almost Heaven

New Stargazer cabins at Coopers Rock State Forest offer a skyward escape in the mountains of West Virginia.

June 29, 2026
©Duncan Seaman
Country Roads

A Mountain Tradition Turns 90 

Visitors flock to Galax, Virginia, each summer for the Old Fiddlers’ Convention, a days-long celebration of Appalachian music.

June 29, 2026
Synchronous Fireflies
Creature Feature

The Light Fantastic

Fireflies are struggling with the effects of artificial light.

June 29, 2026

CALENDAR OF EVENTS