Seasonal Highlights: Chestnut Oak / Mountain Laurel Forest in Rock Creek Park
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Spring Highlights
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Pink to whitish blooms of pink azalea, hillside blueberry, mountain laurel (late spring). White blooms of flowering dogwood.
Summer Highlights
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Pink blooms of mountain laurel (early summer). Pinkish to red blooms of black huckleberry. White blooms of striped prince's-pine (usually in two or threes), twin blooms of partridgeberry (early summer). Dark berries of hillside blueberry and black huckleberry. Low-to-the-ground chestnut oak seedlings with their distinctively scalloped leaves.
Autumn Highlights
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Chestnut oak acorns (one inch long). Brilliant orange and red leaves of blackgum. Yellow blooms of American witch-hazel. White blooms of white wood-aster. Red berries of partridgeberry and flowering dogwood.
Winter Highlights
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Notice the shape of the land, geologic features such as rock outcrops, and vistas opened up now that leaves have fallen. Dark contorted stems of mountain laurel. Dark, deeply furrowed bark of chestnut oak. Green bare twigs of hillside blueberry. Evergreen leaves of mountain laurel.
Spring Highlights
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Nesting birds vocally setting up territories and attracting mates. Migratory birds arriving or passing through on their way north. Look for them in early morning on the hilltops, where the sun’s first rays hit, warming them and activating their insect prey. White-chested, solitary red fox might be seen hunting rodents or insects. A male fox will hunt to feed his mate before and after she gives birth in spring.
Summer Highlights
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Female red fox might be seen, her coat looking scruffy from pulling out fur for spring nests. Pups may accompany parents outside the den. Dens are sometimes dug in the soil that clings to the roots of large fallen trees.
Autumn Highlights
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Migratory birds passing through, southward bound. Solitary foxes may be seen sunning themselves, foraging, or hunting. Red fox pups leave their parents in the fall.
Winter Highlights
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Since red foxes do not hibernate, a solitary fox may be spotted hunting or foraging for acorns. Look for its tracks after a snow.
