The ADA accessible trail to the boardwalk is now open! It was put to the test today during a school visit by a student who utilizes a wheelchair. See the full gallery on Posterous
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!
On April 29th we had a nice Envirothon group of 5th and 6th graders visit from Everett Area Elementary in Bedford County. Here are some pictures from their day here. While they were here, they watched a Bird of Prey show, went on a natural history walk, and got their feet wet as they studied…
via youtube.com Not a Shaver’s Creek happening, but pretty cool! Thanks to NOLS for tweeting about this this morning. We wish we had more of this in the States.
A pleasant morning to be out on our almost finished accessible trail to the boardwalk. Our group of 21 enjoyed hearing the newly returned migrants like scarlet tanager, red-eyed vireo and wood thrush (I wish I could add “seeing” them). Catbirds are back in force along the boardwalk trail and we have 2 active chickadee…
StoneValleyForestMap.pdf Download this file We are excited to announce that the Penn State School of Forest Resources and Purple Lizard Maps have created a wonderful new map of the Penn State Stone Valley Forest, within which Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center resides. You will need to download the PDF to get the cleanest version. You can…
The Birding Cup, Shaver’s Creek’s annual fund-raising tournament was this past weekend. From Friday, April 30, at 7:00 p.m., through Saturday, May 1, at 7:00 p.m., 18 teams of over 80 birders competed to identify the most number of bird species in a twenty-four-hour period in the central Pennsylvania region. For the third year in…
Settling down to sleep at 12:34 am. A good start for our team though- Saw-Whet Owl, Great Egret, Snipe- yes, really Snipe. We hope to sleep for about 3 hours before heading out for the dawn chorus! Wish us luck! Mark
Wild ginger (Asarum spp.) has been spotted along the Twin Bridges trail and various hillsides around Shaver’s Creek. Walk too quickly and you might miss it- the jug-shaped flower, found at the base of the twin heart-shaped leaves, is often hidden among leaf litter on the forest floor. Gaywings, or fringed polygala (Polygala paucifolia), is…
The Birding Cup, Shaver’s Creek’s annual fund-raising tournament is this weekend! From Friday, April 30, at 7:00 p.m., through Saturday, May 1, at 7:00 p.m., 18 teams of over 80 birders will compete to identify the most number of bird species in a twenty-four-hour period in the central Pennsylvania region. Our goal for this year’s…
A chilly and fairly quiet spring morning walk along the not-lake shore. After some initial difficulties, all seventeen of us did get an excellent view of a singing pine warbler, perched at the top of a walnut tree. Other highlights included a singing red-breasted nuthatch and purple finch and a drumming grouse. As I was…