The Naturalist Notebook

This Earth Day, Let’s Get Smart, Get Healthy, and Get Kids Outside! Join the No Child Left Inside Coalition and Earth Day Network as they call on parents, teachers, and schools across the country to take kids outside to learn on the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, 2010. We all know that Mother…

A rather cold and misty start to the day, but it provided a nice contrast to last week’s warm and clear weather. Highlights for our group of 17 included a pair of fox sparrows, gobbling wild turkeys, and plenty of ruby-crowned kinglets to keep us company. We also observed a pair of bluebirds carrying nesting…

The Creek is crawling with water-loving animals in the month of April!  Pictured first is a Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) on the Boardwalk Trail. This large freshwater turtle may hiss when threatened or approached, and should be regarded with caution. It can easily amputate a finger if handled incorrectly.  Pictured next is a Northern…

We’ll be at the BANFF Mountain Film Festival at the State Theatre tonight and tomorrow. Come by and say hi at our information table! For more information on the festival, visit: http://pennsylvania.sierraclub.org/moshannon/banff.html

Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) can already be seen along Black Walnut trail. A relative of skunk cabbage, both Arums prefer damp soil and contain calcium oxalate crystals that make consumption and digestion unpleasant. Small white flowers will occur along the spadix (“Jack”), which is covered in a hood or spathe (“the Pulpit”).   Pennywort (Obolaria virginica),…

With the unseasonably warm temperatures that have descended upon the region many wildflowers have come into bloom over the past week. Today Trout Lily and Rue Anemone are blooming on the slope to the left of the trail heading to the point. According to John Eastman in The Book of Forest and Thicket, Trout Lily…

Shaver’s Creek interns Lauren Seiler and Danny Hontz were our “Trail Steward” Champions for proactively keeping their assigned trails well-maintained and accessible to the public. Our other interns are hard at work trying to reclaim the title next week! See the full gallery on Posterous

Greetings all, A beautiful morning to be out and about with 30 plus enthusiastic birders. Thirty-four species tallied including rusty blackbird, sapsucker, blue-headed vireo, yellow-rumped and pine warbler. Purple finches sang throughout the walk and we also caught snatches of a ruby-crowned kinglet’s lively song. Surprised to see a tiger swallowtail, but I suppose unusually…

At 8PM tonight, at the corner of Red Rose Road and Charter Oak Road, there was an American Woodcock peenting! Can’t wait to get out to CE Fields soon! Check out allaboutbirds.org for more info on the bogsucker…

One of the earliest spring blooms in Pennsylvania, bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is easily recognizable by its white petals, yellow reproductive parts, and bright red sap.  The colorful sap, toxic in bloodroot, is characteristic of flowers in the poppy family (Papaveraceae).  These flowers were found on the Twin Bridges trail.  See the full gallery on Posterous