“We’ll sing you in, we’ll sing you out, we’ll even raise a mighty shout—HOORAY! Hail, hail, the gang’s all here, welcome to Outdoor School … HOO-AH!” These are the first few words every student hears as they put down the windows on the bus before they hop off and begin their week-long adventure at Outdoor…
The Naturalist Notebook
Welcome to the Shaver’s Creek blog! The entries here are posted by staff, interns, and volunteers, and aim to keep you informed about the programs, updates, and natural history happenings here at the Creek. Enjoy!
We are all seeing the telltale signs of fall: colored leaves, brisk evenings, shaved cornfields, and pumpkin flavored everything. At Shaver’s Creek, the signs of the impending Fall Harvest Festival are appearing like the leaves in your yard. As the large orange pumpkin signs at the end of Charter Oak Road and other spots around…
The fall season at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center is building momentum. The fall season out here starts at about 500 MPH and continues so until the beginning of November, when the waves of programs and events begin to slow down. On Monday, September 15th the summer 2014 season review took place, marking the official close…
“Can you imagine being the age you are today and to never have been in the woods?” Campers are stunned as their counselor Acorn (Kayla Czekaj) poses this unbelievable question to them after a reading of Dr. Suess’ The Lorax. As they sit in Fox’s Den, surrounded by trees and the chirping birds, they are…
Almost every Friday night during the summer, around 8:30 pm, a large group of families and summer camp staff gather in Grasshopper Glen, behind the raptor center, as the launching place for night hikes. Once everyone has arrived, the camp director introduces the night hikes—speaking of the beauty of the night, the sounds that emerge…
A van loaded with animals, a jeep full of interns, and a sedan of two State College residents make their way in the early morning of Tuesday, August 12th, to commence Shaver’s Creek activities at Ag Progress Days. No rain, wind, or mud will stop us. I trudge through the mud and grasp my raincoat…
The orange butterfly weed seemed a hub of gustatory commerce as dozens of dusty wings set it to motion. With the sun high overhead, three humans garbed for the hunt took to the meadow. I was in my rubber boots (for blocking poison ivy) and big hat (for shade), and in my hands, a butterfly…
Late morning in early July, ten girls create intently in a hemlock grove. In this, their third day of Wild About Arts Camp, they’ve been given a prompt that requires no paper, no pencils, and no paint — just their imaginations and the forest. They are building small structures from piled sticks thatched with moss.…
As another week of summer camp with the fantastic Wee Wonderers and the pensive WAACers (Wild About Art Camp) simmered to a close last Friday, I began to hear strange, foreign phrases emanating from the mouths of Shaver’s Creek interns such as, “What should we do next week?” and “I’m going to have tons of…
You are curled up on your deck, overlooking a field soaked in summer twilight. Winking between foliage you see them; insect beacons, shamelessly waving their abdomens in the air for the entire world to see. They flicker and frolic through the air, traveling who knows where, with the dancing demeanor of a playful ballerina. Some…