Olin Hall? Is that off-campus?

The Johns Hopkins University (Homewood) campus, sits in the middle of Baltimore city – just over 2 miles north of downtown! Homewood is surrounded by urban, residential neighborhoods on three sides and on its western boundary is Wyman Park – a mile long strip of green running north-south. Through Wyman Park flows a little stream, and running parallel to this stream is a walking trail. Oak, beech, tulip and other trees form the canopy in this park, evidently making a good urban forest habitat.

Olin Hall, housing the department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, is located along San Martin Drive and is virtually surrounded by a small patch of urban forest connected to Wyman Park. One can almost call our location off-campus!

Immediately north of Olin Hall another small stream flowing under the curved bridge drains into a shallow pond. All office windows are along the north side of the building, facing the woods and the pond – making it a perfect setting for any nature lover. Along with a variety of birds we also have a resident pair of foxes, raccoons, and the occasional deer.

The Red-shouldered Hawks are continuing residents in the neighborhood and I’ve found them nesting for the past three years in close proximity to Olin Hall (the years on the Google Earth image mark the approximate nest locations of the pair since 2006).