The Naturalist Notebook

I donned the Wood Cookie that I had made for Outdoor School during my undergraduate semesters at Penn State, but this time it wasn’t to head to Camp Blue Diamond. This time it was for my last week of Shaver’s Creek Summer Camp. My name is written in black sharpie on the front of this…

Hellbenders — What are they? When someone told me, in college, that there were salamanders in Pennsylvania capable of being a foot and a half long, I thought I would be calling a bluff. But those salamanders are real and incredible and they’re called eastern hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis). Hellbenders are the largest amphibian in North…

Microstegium vimineum, more commonly known as Japanese stilt grass, is an invasive plant that has begun to sweep across the eastern United States, taking over areas of native forests. This plant can be seen all throughout the woods of Pennsylvania, down to areas as south as Florida and as west as Texas and Oklahoma. The…

There is a creature that sifts through Pennsylvania soil, a slender slice of sky with yellow stars painted upon its body. As spring approaches, she waits for a warm, wet night that will trigger her emergence. She will crawl towards the same pool that hosted her as a larvae, and become the center of a…

“We admire the drive and commitment that the birds show because our individual extraordinary feats pale in comparison to those of a godwit.” — Bernd Heinrich It would be impossible to quantify the number of times I have sheepishly flagged down a stranger for directions. Although I have improved over time, I remain incompetent when…

In Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold spoke of a bird that refuted this notion: “the utility of a game bird is to serve as a target, or to pose gracefully on a slice of toast.” Throughout his essay, Leopold’s prose makes it clear that witnessing the theatrics of the American woodcock (Scolopax minor) provided him…

Why did the turtle cross the road? To get the other side. ‘Tis the season of turtle crossings; they’re roaming the roads at all hours of the day and night and they might need your help. Every spring turtles begin moving around their territories for many reasons. Males might be looking for a female to…

Pencils down at 7:00 p.m. Saturday — the 24th hour of the Birding Cup has come and gone. Collectively, 186 species were seen or heard—a wonderful species count with many highlights. Now it’s time to declare the winners! The Birding Cup goes to: Raiders of the Lost Lark Part II: In Search of the Holy…

At 7:00 p.m. on Friday, May 1, teams comprised of both rookie and veteran birders will take up their binoculars in search of as many bird species as they can see or hear. The annual Birding Cup is a 24 hour event, and in addition to being great fun and an opportunity to collect data…

What do barn owls have in common with Brussels sprouts, or kestrels with kale? Farms! These are connections we’ve been talking about in the past few weeks with farmers at the Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture Conference and Penn’s Valley Conservation Association. Farmland raptors like the American kestrel, barn owl, and short-eared owl provide natural pest control…