Nature Center

Owings Mills Groundbreaking today for new Irvine center A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. today at the site of the new Irvine Nature Center, 11201 Garrison Forest Road, Owings Mills. Scheduled to open in the fall of 2007, the 116-acre campus will include festival space with an amphitheater, gardens, picnic area, trails and various environmental habitats. A new exhibition hall, designed in partnership with the Maryland Science Center, will feature interactive, educational exhibits.

Cupid and Owlex have had a hard time taking their afternoon naps since construction began outside their West Baltimore home two weeks ago. Outside the birds' cages in the Carrie Murray Outdoor Education Campus in Leakin Park, a bulldozer is flattening the earth to make way for a new classroom. Baltimore City is spending $500,000 to renovate and expand the 14-year-old nature center from 4,553 to 8,193 square feet and accommodate twice as many students who visit Owlex, Cupid and other creatures.

Curious birdwatchers and photographers can get a close look at Captain, a bald eagle that has been living at the Bear Branch Nature Center since January. The 10-pound eagle was acquired from Wildfowl Trust of North America in Grasonville, which asked the nature center in Carroll County to provide Captain with a home. Saturday will be the first opportunity for photographers to train their cameras on the eagle. Chris Snow, conservation director for Wildfowl Trust, said the trust had kept Captain for almost two years but the eagle needed a larger living space than the 35-by-15-foot cage it was in. "The nature center had a larger cage and could provide the eagle with a better home," Snow said.

Stargazing The Community College of Baltimore County, Dundalk (CCBC Dundalk) is opening its observatory to the public for a series of "star parties" on Friday evenings throughout the winter. View the night sky through the college's Meade 16-inch LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and talk with science faculty who will be on hand to answer questions and guide observations. The observatory is at the CCBC Dundalk campus at 7200 Sollers Point Road. Star parties will be held 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow, March 4 and March 18, 8 p.m.-10 p.m. on April 15 and 9 p.m.-11 p.m. on April 29 and May 6. Free.

The Bear Branch Nature Center, which opened Saturday, is testament to the power of volunteerism. Without the contributions of time, energy and labor, Carroll County's newest nature center still would be shuttered and closed. Volunteers of all ages, abilities and backgrounds made the difference, and they will have to continue their contributions if the center is to remain open.Construction of the Bear Branch center, located at the Hashawa Environmental Appreciation Center on Route 97 north of Westminster, was finished in 1991.

Winny Wong Tan, a naturalist at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center, likes to catch frogs. On a recent visit with her, she kneeled next to a manmade garden puddle behind the center and patiently moved her hand through the water, trying to scare a frog to the surface. A green frog, about the size of a child's hand, leaped up and settled near a rock on the edge of the water. Tan moved in to grab it, but this frog got away. "You have to be pretty dexterous," she said, and she managed to catch the next one. Tan is one of the four staff members at Oregon Ridge who lead periodic frog-catching missions in the park.

PARTICIPANTS AT the Fairy's Tea Party at Piney Run Park and Nature Center took great pleasure in escaping to a world of make-believe Friday afternoon. About 15 children, ranging in age from 4 to 8, and their parents were entertained with fairy stories, read by Karen Boger and Elaine Sweitzer. After each child received a sprinkle of fairy dust, the group proceeded into a meeting room at the nature center, which had been set up for the tea party. Six tables were set with china teacups and handmade centerpieces consisting of fairy figurines and homes.

With milk jugs, nets and high spirits, the fourth-graders in Betty L. Smith's science classes descended upon an outdoor laboratory that is only a short walk from their classroom at Manchester Elementary School. Forest, meadow, bogs, ponds and streams waited to be discovered - along with several miles of trails in the 69 acres that constitute Pine Valley Park and Charlotte's Quest Nature Center. "It's Manchester's Central Park," said Smith, who has served for six years on the board of the nonprofit Manchester Parks Foundation.

Group to honor businesses for family-oriented policies Carroll County Chapter of Mothers & More will present two awards to family-oriented businesses this week. Cathy's Creative Kids Corner in Carrolltown Center will receive the Business Award for Most Family Friendly Employer at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The award was established to promote businesses that have adopted policies supporting their employees as parents. Cathy Schroeder, owner of Cathy's Creative Kids Corner, allows her employees to bring their children to work and participate in the daily activities at no charge.