NEW: Your Weekly Virtual Calendar

Watch ospreys live on the Chesapeake Conservancy’s webcam.

The Bay Weekly calendar we know would have a week’s worth of local events to entertain you, but this world is anything but normal. We are up to the challenge of keeping you engaged, so let us introduce you to our new, stay-at-home-friendly local calendar. 

 In the time of COVID-19, it has become the norm for us to seek our entertainment online. Movies, books, television, and music primarily exist in the virtual realm for us. Even beyond entertainment, a world of education and information also awaits. 

It would be near impossible for us to share with you all the amazing things that are now taking place in cyberspace. Instead, we will give you a taste of what we—the CBM Bay Weekly staff—are finding exciting, enticing and just downright fun online. 

Animal Cams 

Longtime readers of Bay Weekly know that we love our animal webcams, and there’s no shortage of them. We are particularly fond of those by the Chesapeake Conservancy that peek in on peregrine falcons in Baltimore, osprey on Kent Island and great blue herons on the Eastern Shore. (www.chesapeakeconservancy.org

If birds aren’t your thing, the giant pandas at the Smithsonian National Zoo are relaxing to watch in the evenings, as they sit in their habitats slowly munching on bamboo.  https://nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams/panda-cam 

Higher Learning 

Did you know you can now take an Ivy League-level college course online for free? Some have a set start date but several are self-paced. Choose from hundreds of courses like Classical Music, Algorithms, Accounting, Science & Cooking, Computer Sciences or even Lessons From Ebola: Preventing the Next Pandemic? https://www.classcentral.com/collection/ivy-league-moocs 

Chesapeake Bay 

If you don’t know about the lifecycle of freshwater mussels, you’re not alone. These remarkable species are perhaps the most underrated and least studied of all the critters that call the Chesapeake Bay home. But the services they provide to the ecosystem, such as creating habitat and cleaning streams, are remarkable. Join the Chesapeake Bay Foundation on April 16, for a one-hour webinar during which Dr. Joe Wood, CBF’s Virginia Senior Scientist, will share the amazing lifecycle, survival strategies, and filtering capacity of mussels, and why this remarkable species might hold the secret to restoring the Chesapeake Bay: www.cbf.org/events/ 

Art Adventures 
Join Annmarie Gardens for a socially-awkward, at-home version of their popular Bad Art Night! Grab your favorite drink and snack, connect to the Zoom room, and get ready for the Junk Drawer Challenge! No need to gather art/craft supplies before the meeting. The frantic gathering will be part of the challenge! Find it on Facebook Thursday, April 9, 6:30-8:30pm. 

Share your favorite online events and discoveries: [email protected]