Tuesday’s collision of the container ship Dali into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and the nearly immediate collapse of the span into the chilly waters below reminds us just how unforgiving and deadly maritime accidents can be. Upon termination of rescue and recovery operations, salvage and cleanup will be prioritized as the next steps in the long-term process of reopening the navigable waters to ship traffic and construction of a new bridge. Part of the effort will include monitoring for leaks of fuels and other hazardous materials from the ship, its damaged cargo containers, and vehicles and equipment that were on the bridge when it failed.
Damage to the hull of the Dali and to the cargo containers on her deck could lead to leaks of hazardous liquids or other materials into Chesapeake Bay. (United States Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore image)
On the waters and shores of today’s Chesapeake, numerous county, state, and federal agencies, including the United States Coast Guard, monitor and inspect looking for conditions and situations that could lead to point-source or accidental discharges of petroleum products and other hazardous materials into the bay. Many are trained, equipped, and organized for emergency response to contain and mitigate spills upon detection. But this was not always the case.
Through much of the twentieth century, maritime spills of oil and other chemicals magnified the effects of routine discharges of hazardous materials and sanitary sewer effluent into the Chesapeake and its tributaries. The cumulative effect of these pollutants progressively impaired fisheries and bay ecosystems leading to noticeable declines in numbers of many aquatic species. Rather frequently, spills or discharges resulted in conspicuous fish and/or bird kills.
One of the worst spills occurred near the mouth of the Potomac River on February 2, 1976, when a barge carrying 250,000 gallons of number 6 oil sank in a storm and lost its cargo into the bay. During a month-long cleanup, the United States Coast Guard recovered approximately 167,000 gallons of the spilled oil, the remainder dispersed into the environment. A survey counted 8,469 “sea ducks” killed. Of the total number, the great majority were Horned Grebes (4,347 or 51.3%) and Long-tailed Ducks (2,959 or 34.9%). Other species included Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) (405 or 4.8%), Common Loon (195 or 2.3%), Bufflehead (166 or 2.0%), Ruddy Duck (107 or 1.3%), Common Goldeneye (78 or 0.9%), Tundra Swan (46 or 0.5%), Greater Scaup (19 or 0.2%), American Black Duck (12 or 0.2%), Common Merganser (11 or 0.1%), Canvasback (10 or 0.1%), Double-crested Cormorant (10 or 0.1%), Canada Goose (8 or 0.1%), White-winged Scoter (Melanitta deglandi) (7 or 0.1%), Redhead (5 or 0.1%), gull species (10 or 0.1%), miscellaneous ducks and herons (13 or 0.2%) and unidentified (61 or 0.7%). During the spring migration, a majority of these birds would have made their way north and passed through the lower Susquehanna valley. The accident certainly impacted the occurrence of the listed species during that spring in 1976, and possibly for a number of years after.
Of the 8,469 birds killed by the February 2, 1976, oil spill on the Chesapeake, 51.3% (4,347) were Horned Grebes. Many of them would have migrated north through the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed during the coming spring.
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, commonly known as the Clean Water Act, put teeth into the original FWCPCA of 1948 and began reversing the accumulation of pollutants in the bay and other bodies of water around the nation. Additional amendments in 1977 and 1987 have strengthened protections and changed the culture of “dump-and-run” disposal and “dilution-is-the-solution” treatment of hazardous wastes. During the late nineteen-seventies and early nineteen-eighties, emergency response teams and agencies began organizing to control and mitigate spill events. The result has been a greater awareness and competency for handling accidental discharges of fuels and other chemicals into Chesapeake Bay and other waterways. These improvements can help minimize the environmental impact of the Dali’s collision with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Oil spills and other pollution in the Chesapeake can impact populations of migratory fish including the anadromous Hickory Shad which are presently transiting the bay on their way to the waters of the Susquehanna below Conowingo Dam.
SOURCES
Roland, John V., Moore, Glenn E., and Bellanca, Michael A. 1977. “The Chesapeake Bay Oil Spill—February 2, 1976: A Case History”. International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings (1977). 1977 (1): 523-527.
Homo sapiens owes much of its success as a species to an acquired knowledge of how to make, control, and utilize fire. Using fire to convert the energy stored in combustible materials into light and heat has enabled humankind to expand its range throughout the globe. Indeed, humans in their furless incomplete mammalian state may have never been able to expand their populations outside of tropical latitudes without mastery of fire. It is fire that has enabled man to exploit more of the earth’s resources than any other species. From cooking otherwise unpalatable foods to powering the modern industrial society, fire has set man apart from the rest of the natural world.
In our modern civilizations, we generally look at the unplanned outbreak of fire as a catastrophe requiring our immediate intercession. A building fire, for example, is extinguished as quickly as possible to save lives and property. And fires detected in fields, brush, and woodlands are promptly controlled to prevent their exponential growth. But has fire gone to our heads? Do we have an anthropocentric view of fire? Aren’t there naturally occurring fires that are essential to the health of some of the world’s ecosystems? And to our own safety? Indeed there are. And many species and the ecosystems they inhabit rely on the periodic occurrence of fire to maintain their health and vigor.
For the war effort- The campaign to reduce the frequency of forest fires got its start during World War II with distribution of this poster in 1942. The goal was to protect the nation’s timber resources from accidental or malicious loss due to fire caused by man-made ignition sources. The release of the Walt Disney film “Bambi” during the same year and the adoption of the Smokey the Bear mascot in 1944 softened the message’s delivery, but the public relations outreach continued to be a key element of a no-fire policy to save trees for lumber. Protection and management of healthy forest ecosystems in their entirety has only recently become a priority. (National Archives image)
Man has been availed of the direct benefits of fire for possibly 40,000 years or more. Here in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, the earliest humans arrived as early as 12,000 years ago—already possessing skills for using fire. Native plants and animals on the other hand, have been part of the ever-changing mix of ecosystems found here for a much longer period of time—millions to tens of millions of years. Many terrestrial native species are adapted to the periodic occurrence of fire. Some, in fact, require it. Most upland ecosystems need an occasional dose of fire, usually ignited by lightning (though volcanism and incoming cosmic projectiles are rare possibilities), to regenerate vegetation, release nutrients, and maintain certain non-climax habitat types.
But much of our region has been deprived of natural-type fires since the time of the clearcutting of the virgin forests during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This absence of a natural fire cycle has contributed to degradation and/or elimination of many forest and non-forest habitats. Without fire, a dangerous stockpile of combustible debris has been collecting, season after season, in some areas for a hundred years or more. Lacking periodic fires or sufficient moisture to sustain prompt decomposition of dead material, wildlands can accumulate enough leaf litter, thatch, dry brush, tinder, and fallen wood to fuel monumentally large forest fires—fires similar to those recently engulfing some areas of the American west. So elimination of natural fire isn’t just a problem for native plants and animals, its a potential problem for humans as well.
Indiangrass (seen here), Switchgrass, Big Bluestem, and Little Bluestem are native species requiring periodic forms of disturbance to eliminate competition by woody plants. These warm-season grasses develop roots that penetrate deep into the soil, sometimes to depths of six feet or more, allowing them to survive severe drought and flash fire events. In the tall grass prairies, these extensive root systems allow these grasses to return following heavy grazing by roaming herds of American Bison (Bison bison). Without these habitat disturbances, warm season grasslands succumb to succession in about seven years. With their periodic occurrence, the plants thrive and provide excellent wildlife habitat, erosion control, and grazing forage.
To address the habitat ailments caused by a lack of natural fires, federal, state, and local conservation agencies are adopting the practice of “prescribed fire” as a treatment to restore ecosystem health. A prescribed fire is a controlled burn specifically planned to correct one or more vegetative management problems on a given parcel of land. In the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, prescribed fire is used to…
Eliminate dangerous accumulations of combustible fuels in woodlands.
Reduce accumulations of dead plant material that may harbor disease.
Provide top kill to promote oak regeneration.
Regenerate other targeted species of trees, wildflowers, grasses, and vegetation.
Kill non-native plants and promote growth of native plants.
Prevent succession.
Remove woody growth and thatch from grasslands.
Promote fire tolerant species of plants and animals.
Improve habitat for rare species (Regal Fritillary, etc.)
Recycle nutrients and minerals contained in dead plant material.
Let’s look at some examples of prescribed fire being implemented right here in our own neighborhood…
Prescribed fires are typically planned for the dormant season extending from late fall into early spring with burns best conducted on days when the relative humidity is low.Prescribed fire is used regularly at Fort Indiantown Gap Military Reservation in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, to keep accumulations of woody and herbaceous fuels from accumulating on and around the training range areas where live ordinance and other sources of ignition could otherwise spark large, hard-to-control wildfires.Prescribed fires replace the periodic natural burns that would normally reduce the fuel load in forested areas. Where these fuels are allowed to accumulate, south-facing slopes are particularly susceptible to extreme fires due to their exposure to the drying effects of intense sunlight for much of the year. The majority of small oaks subjected to treatment by the prescribed fire shown here will have the chance to regenerate without immediate competition from other species including invasive plants. The larger trees are mostly unaffected by the quick exposure to the flames. Note too that these fires don’t completely burn everything on the forest floor, they burn that which is most combustible. There are still plenty of fallen logs for salamanders, skinks, and other animals to live beneath and within.
A prescribed fire in late winter prevents this grassland consisting of Big Bluestem and native wildflowers from being overtaken by woody growth and invasive species. Fires such as this that are intended to interrupt the process of succession are repeated at least every three to five years.In its wildlife food plots, prescribed fire is used by the Pennsylvania Game Commission to prevent succession and control invasive species such as Multiflora Rose, instead promoting the growth of native plants.An example of a woodlot understory choked with combustible fuels and dense tangles of invasive Multiflora Rose. A forester has the option of prescribing a dose of dormant-season fire for a site like this to reduce the fuel load, top kill non-native vegetation, and regenerate native plants.A dose of prescribed fire was administered on this grassland to kill the woody growth of small trees beginning to overtake the habitat by succession.The Pennsylvania Game Commission employs prescribed fire at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area and on many of their other holdings to maintain grasslands.Prescribed fire is used to eliminate invasive species including Multiflora Rose from grasslands at Middle Creek W.M.A. Annual burns on the property are conducted in a mosaic pattern so that each individual area of the grassland is exposed to the effects of fire only once every two to five years. Without fire or some type of mechanical or chemical intervention, succession by woody trees and shrubs would take hold after about seven years.Prescribed fire is planned for a fraction of total grassland acreage at Middle Creek W.M.A. each year. Another section of the mosaic is targeted in the following year and yet another in the year that follows that. Because burns are conducted in the spring, grassland cover is available for wildlife throughout the winter. And because each year’s fire burns only a portion of the total grassland acreage, wildlife still has plenty of standing grass in which to take shelter during and after the prescribed fire.Prescribed fire at Middle Creek W.M.A. provides grassland habitat for dozens of species of birds and mammals including the not-so-common Grasshopper Sparrow……and stocked Ring-necked Pheasants that do nest and raise young there.On a few sites in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed , prescribed fire is being used to establish and maintain savanna-like grasslands. This one, located on a dry, south-facing slope near numerous man-made sources of ignition, can easily be dosed with periodic prescribed burns to both prevent succession and reduce fuel accumulations that may lead to a devastating extreme fire.One year following a prescribed burn, this is the autumn appearance of a savanna-like habitat with fire-tolerant Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida), Bear Oak, warm-season grasses, and a variety of nectar-producing wildflowers for pollinators. These ecosystems are magnets for wildlife and may prove to be a manageable fit on sun-drenched sites adjacent to man-made land disturbances and their sources of ignition.Savanna-like grasslands with oaks and other scattered large trees, some of them dead, make attractive nesting habitat for the uncommon Red-headed Woodpecker.Prescribed fire can benefit hungry Wild Turkeys by maintaining savanna-like grasslands for an abundance of grasshoppers and other insects in summer and improving the success of mast-producing oaks for winter.In the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, the caterpillar of the rare Eastern Buck Moth feeds on the foliage of the Bear Oak, also known as the Scrub Oak, a shrubby species that relies upon periodic fire to eliminate competition from larger trees in its early successional habitat.Leaves of the Bear Oak in fall. The Bear Oak regenerates readily from top kill caused by fire.Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea) is a native cool-season grass with a colorful inflorescence in spring. But given the right situation, it can aggressively overtake other species to create a pure stand lacking biodiversity. It is one of the few native species which is sometimes labelled “invasive”.Prescribed fire can be used to reduce an overabundance of Reed Canary Grass and its thatch in wetlands. Periodic burning can help restore species diversity in these habitats for plants and animals including rare species such as the endangered Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii).On the range areas at Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, disturbances by armored vehicles mimic the effects of large mammals such as the American Bison which periodically trampled grasses to prevent succession and the establishment of woody plants on its prairie habitat. To supplement the activity of the heavy vehicles and to provide suitable habitat for the very rare Regal Fritillary (Speyeria idalia) butterflies found there, prescribed fire is periodically employed to maintain the grasslands on the range. These burns are planned to encourage the growth of “Fort Indiantown Gap Little Bluestem” grass as well as the violets used as host plants by the Regal Fritillary caterpillars. These fires also promote growth of a variety of native summer-blooming wildflowers to provide nectar for the adults butterflies.A last record of a wild American Bison killed in Pennsylvania was an animal taken in the Susquehanna watershed in Union County in 1801. The species is thereafter considered extirpated from the state. Since that time, natural disturbances needed to regenerate warm-season grasses have been limited primarily to fires and riverine ice scour. The waning occurrence of both has reduced the range of these grasses and their prairie-like ecosystems in the commonwealth. (Exhibit: State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg)A male Regal Fritillary on the range at Fort Indiantown Gap, where armored vehicles and prescribed fire provide suitable prairie-like habitat for this vulnerable species.Prescribed fires return the nutrients and minerals contained in dead plant material to the soil. Following these controlled burns, insects like this Honey Bee can often be seen collecting minerals from the ashes.A Greenbottle Fly gathering minerals from the ash following a prescribed burn.
In Pennsylvania, state law provides landowners and crews conducting prescribed fire burns with reduced legal liability when the latter meet certain educational, planning, and operational requirements. This law may help encourage more widespread application of prescribed fire in the state’s forests and other ecosystems where essential periodic fire has been absent for so very long. Currently in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, prescribed fire is most frequently being employed by state agencies on state lands—in particular, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources on State Forests and the Pennsylvania Game Commission on State Game Lands. Prescribed fire is also part of the vegetation management plan at Fort Indiantown Gap Military Reservation and on the land holdings of the Hershey Trust. Visitors to the nearby Gettysburg National Military Park will also notice prescribed fire being used to maintain the grassland restorations there.
For crews administering prescribed fire burns, late March and early April are a busy time. The relative humidity is often at its lowest level of the year, so the probability of ignition of previous years’ growth is generally at its best. We visited with a crew administering a prescribed fire at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area last week. Have a look…
Members of a Pennsylvania Game Commission burn crew provide visitors to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area with an overview of prescribed fire and the equipment and techniques they use to conduct a burn.Pennsylvania Game Commission Southeast Region Forester Andy Weaver will fulfill the role of Burn Boss for administering this day’s dose of fire. His responsibilities include assessing the weather before the burn and calculating a probability of ignition.The Burn Boss briefs personnel with information on site layout, water supply location(s), places of refuge, emergency procedures, the event’s goals and plan of action, crew assignments, and the results of the weather check: wind from the northwest at 5 miles per hour, temperature 48 degrees, and the relative humidity 63%. Today’s patient is a parcel of warm-season grasses receiving a dose of fire to eliminate invasive non-native plants, woody growth, and thatch. The probability of ignition is 20%, but improving by the minute.To begin the burn, a test fire is started in the downwind corner of the parcel, which also happens to be the bottom of the slope. Fuel ignition is good. The burn can proceed.Crews proceed uphill from the location of the test fire while igniting combustibles along both flanks of the area being treated.A drip torch is used to ignite the dried stems and leaves of warm-season grasses and wildflowers. Each member of the burn crew wears Nomex fire-resistant clothing and carries safety equipment including a two-way radio, a hydration pack, and a cocoon-like emergency fire shelter.An all-terrain vehicle equipped with various tools, a fire pump, hose, and a small water tank accompanies the crew on each flank of the fire.A mowed strip of cool-season grasses along the perimeter of the burn area is already green and functions as an ideal fire break. While the drip torch is perfect for lighting combustibles along the fire’s perimeter, the paintball gun-looking device is an effective tool used to lob incendiaries into the center areas of the burn zone for ignition.With green cool-season grasses already growing on the trails surrounding the burn zone, very little water was used to contain this prescribed fire. Where such convenient fire breaks don’t already exist, crews carry tools including chain saws, shovels, and leaf blowers to create their own. They also carry flame swatters, backpack water pumps, shovels, and other tools to extinguish fires if necessary. None of these items were needed to control this particular fire.This fast-burning fire provides enough heat to damage the cambium layer of the woody tree and shrub saplings in this parcel being maintained as a grassland/wildflower plot, thus the process of succession is forestalled. Burns conducted during previous years on this and adjacent fields have also controlled aggressive growth of invasive Multiflora Rose and Olives (Elaeagnus species).Crews proceed up the slope while maintaining the perimeter by igniting dry plant material along the flanks of the burn zone.Ignition complete, the crews monitor the fire.The Burn Boss surveys the final stages of a safe and successful prescribed fire. The fire has left behind a mosaic of burned and unburned areas, just as a naturally occurring event may have done. Wildlife dodging the flames may be taking refuge in the standing grasses, so there is no remedial attempt to go back and ignite these areas. They’ll be burned during prescribed fires in coming years.By June, this grassland will again be lush and green with warm-season grasses and blooming wildflowers like this Common Milkweed being visited by a Great Spangled Fritillary.And later in the summer, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails on Joe-pye Weed.Indiangrass in flower in mid-summer.Bobolinks glow in the late August sun while taking flight from a stand of warm-season grasses maintained using springtime prescribed fire. The small dots on the dark background at the top of the image are multitudes of flying insects, many of them pollinators. The vegetation is predominately Indiangrass, excellent winter cover for birds, mammals, and other wildlife.
Prescribed burns aren’t a cure-all for what ails a troubled forest or other ecosystem, but they can be an effective remedy for deficiencies caused by a lack of periodic episodes of naturally occurring fire. They are an important option for modern foresters, wildlife managers, and other conservationists.
Yet another flight of waterfowl departing Chesapeake Bay for breeding grounds to our north passed over sections of the lower Susquehanna valley this morning. In the one hour between 10 A.M. and 11 A.M., at least six thousand honking Canada Geese passed through the small piece of sky visible from susquehannawildlife.net headquarters. At times, five or more flocks of about one hundred birds each were seen simultaneously.
Northbound migratory Canada Geese pass over susquehannawildlife.net headquarters.While observing and photographing geese flying about two thousand feet above our heads, we noticed several barely visible flocks at much higher altitudes. Any such birds flying above this flock would go undetected in or above the cumulus clouds.More geese on the way through.In addition to the geese, a flock of 80 Tundra Swans was seen. Not bad.
To take advantage of this unusually mild late-winter day, observers arrived by the thousands to have a look at an even greater number of migratory birds gathered at the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. Here are some highlights…
Multitudes of Sunday hikers enjoyed the warm afternoon on Middle Creek’s many trails.In one of Middle Creek’s numerous impoundments, newly emerged Painted Turtles bask in the sunshine.Native blackbirds, particularly males including this Brown-headed Cowbird, are arriving to stake out a claim on suitable breeding territory.Male Red-winged Blackbirds visit the feeding station at the Middle Creek W.M.A. Visitor’s Center.Brown-headed Cowbirds regularly maintain close association with Red-winged Blackbirds, a frequent victim of the former’s nest parasitism, the practice of laying and abandoning their eggs in a host species’ abode. By early May, adult “red-wings” can often be seen tending fledged cowbird young raised at the expense of their own progeny.Male Common Grackles display their colors in an attempt to establish dominance.Visitor’s to Middle Creek’s Willow Point Trail not only had a chance to see thousands of geese and other waterfowl, but they might also get a good look at some of the handsome White-crowned Sparrows that have been there during recent weeks.The first Tree Swallows of the season have arrived to stake a claim to nest boxes located throughout the refuge’s grasslands.Bare croplands and muddy shorelines around Middle Creek’s lakes and ponds are attracting migrating Killdeer. Some will stay to nest.Hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls arrived during the late afternoon to spend the night on the main lake.A Red-tailed Hawk was seen hunting mice and exhibiting territorial behavior. It is probably protecting a nest site somewhere on the refuge.Canada Geese could be seen coming and going, with migratory birds apparently supplementing the resident flock. This group flushed when a Bald Eagle passed close by.You could hold a Bald Eagle I.D. clinic at Middle Creek W.M.A. right now. Dozens of birds of varying age classes could be seen in the trees surrounding the main lake and the larger ponds. Currently, fifty or more could be present. At least one Golden Eagle has been seen as well.An adult Bald Eagle in definitive plumage investigating the inhabitants of the lake.This Bald Eagle in its second calendar year is not yet one year of age, but it has already begun replacing dark body feathers with a light plumage that will earn it the nickname “white belly” for this and its third year. It will start molting its long hatch-year (juvenile) flight feathers soon after its first birthday.Another second-year immature Bald Eagle, this one being scolded by the aforementioned territorial Red-tailed Hawk. Though showing some wear in the tail, this eagle still has a full set of lengthy hatch-year (juvenile) flight feathers and remains mostly dark below when compared to the bird of the same age class seen in the previous image. As in other birds, diet, genetics, stress, climatic conditions, and many other factors will frequently vary the timing of molt among individuals in a population of Bald Eagles.An immature Bald Eagle in its third calendar year still retaining numerous long juvenile wing and tail feathers. In coming months, as it reaches its second birthday, it will begin replacing the remaining older plumage with a set of new flight feathers.An immature Bald Eagle in its fourth calendar year approaches its third birthday with a rather conspicuous long juvenile feather remaining in each wing. These feathers will soon be replaced. In addition, the body plumage will darken, the head will begin to show more white, and the bill will become yellow. In about two more years, the bird will attain its familiar adult definitive plumage. Click the “Hawkwatcher’s Helper: Identifying Bald Eagles and other Diurnal Raptors” tab at the top of this page to learn more about determining the age of these and other birds of prey.Bald Eagles draw a crowd, but the real attraction at Middle Creek W.M.A. in late winter is Snow Geese,……thousands of them.Migratory Snow Geese, an annual spectacle at Middle Creek.Snow Geese and hundreds of delighted onlookers.
The late afternoon sky filled with Snow Geese.As daylight waned and the Snow Geese returned to the main lake for the night, more than one hundred lucky observers were treated to the rare sight of several Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus) emerging to hunt the refuge’s managed grasslands for mice and voles. For many of these visitors, it was a memorable first-time experience.
Though soggy, windy, and rainy, it happened to be a delightfully mild day to search for migrating waterfowl in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed. Here’s a look at what we found temporarily grounded by the poor flight conditions…
It’s prime time for northbound Northern Pintails.This raft of distant waterfowl appears to include mostly American Wigeons and Ring-necked Ducks.A much more cooperative drake Ring-necked Duck.A couple of American Black Ducks take a break during an afternoon shower.A pair of Northern Shovelers in the rain.And a pair of blissful Common Mergansers.Uh oh!…must be something he said.
With a southerly breeze and warm front rolling through the region, migratory Canada Geese and other waterfowl are taking advantage of the tail wind to depart Chesapeake Bay and stream through the lower Susquehanna valley to begin a trek that will ultimately take them to nesting grounds far to our north.
Noisy flocks of migratory Canada Geese were passing over the lower Susquehanna valley throughout the morning.There goes another flock,……and yet another.Dozens of flocks of as many as one hundred birds each passed over our temporary lookout at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters this morning. By 11 A.M. we saw and heard in excess of 3,000 birds.A single flock of northbound Tundra Swans included about one hundred birds.With the south wind increasing in intensity this afternoon, more geese, swans, and other waterfowl can be expected. Then, when the rains hit later this evening and overnight, there could be a significant fallout of grounded birds on local bodies of water including the river. Be certain to check it out!
It’s that time of year. Your local county conservation district is taking orders for their annual tree sale and it’s a deal that can’t be beat. Order now for pickup in April.
The prices are a bargain and the selection includes the varieties you need to improve wildlife habitat and water quality on your property. For species descriptions and more details, visit each tree sale web page (click the sale name highlighted in blue). And don’t forget to order packs of evergreens for planting in mixed clumps and groves to provide winter shelter and summertime nesting sites for our local native birds. They’re only $12.00 for a bundle of 10.
It’s the most desirable block in town, not because the houses are any different from others built during the post-war years of the mid-twentieth century, but because the first owners of these domiciles had the good taste and foresight to plant long-lived trees on their lots, the majority of them native species. Pin Oak, Northern Red Oak, Yellow Poplar, Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), Eastern Red Cedar, Eastern White Pine, Eastern Hemlock, Norway Spruce, and American Holly dominate the landscape and create excellent habitat for birds and other wildlife. These 75-year-old plantings provide an abundance of shade in summer and thermal stability in winter, making it a “cool” place to live or take a stroll at any time of the year.
Pickup on: Thursday, April 18, 2024 or Friday, April 19, 2024
Cumberland County Conservation District is taking orders for Common Winterberry, the ideal small shrub for wet soil anywhere on your property. To get berries, you’ll need both males and females, so buy a bunch and plant them in a clump or scattered group.To live for a century or more like this towering giant, a Pin Oak needs to grow in well-drained soils with adequate moisture. These sturdy shade providers do well along streams and on low ground receiving clean runoff from hillsides, roofs, streets, and parking areas. As they age, Pin Oaks can fail to thrive and may become vulnerable to disease in locations where rainfall is not adequately infiltrated into the soil. Therefore, in drier areas such as raised ground or slopes, avoid the Pin Oak and select the more durable Northern Red Oak for planting. This year, Pin Oaks are available from the Cumberland and Lancaster County Conservation Districts, while Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, and York Counties are taking orders for Northern Red Oaks.The Cumberland County Conservation District is again offering a “Showy Northeast Native Wildflower and Grass Mix” for seeding your own pollinator meadow or garden. It consists of more than twenty species including this perennial favorite, Purple Coneflower.
Pickup on: Thursday, April 18, 2024 or Friday, April 19, 2024
The Eastern Redbud is small tree native to our forest edges, particularly in areas of the Piedmont Province with Triassic geology (Furnace Hills, Conewago Hills, Gettysburg/Hammer Creek Formations, etc.) Also known as the Judas Tree, the redbud’s brilliant flowers are followed by heart-shaped leaves. As seen here, it is suitable for planting near houses and other buildings. Eastern Redbud seedlings are being offered through tree sales in Dauphin, Cumberland, and Lancaster Counties.
The Yellow Poplar, often called Tuliptree or Tulip Poplar for its showy flowers, is a sturdy, fast-growing deciduous tree native to forests throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed. Its pole-straight growth habit in shady woodlands becomes more spreading and picturesque when the plant is grown as a specimen or shade tree in an urban or suburban setting. The Yellow Poplar can live for hundreds of years and is a host plant for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. It is available this year from the Lancaster County Conservation District.The American Sweetgum, also known as Sweet Gum, is a large, long-lived tree adorned with a mix of vibrant colors in autumn.Ever wonder where all the American Goldfinches and particularly the Pine Siskins go after passing through our region in fall? Well, many are headed to the lowland forests of the Atlantic Coastal Plain where they feed on an abundance of seeds contained in spiky American Sweetgum fruits. In the Piedmont and Ridge and Valley Provinces of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, American Sweetgum transplants can provide enough sustenance to sometimes lure our friendly finches into lingering through the winter.The American Sweetgum is a versatile tree. It can be planted on upland sites as well as in wet ground along streams, lakes, and rivers. In the beaver pond seen here it is the dominate tree species. This year, you can buy the American Sweetgum from the Lancaster County Conservation District.“Red-twig Dogwood” is a group of similar native shrubs that, in our region, includes Silky Dogwood and the more northerly Red-Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea). Both have clusters of white flowers in spring and showy red twigs in winter. They are an excellent choice for wet soils. Landscapers often ruin these plants by shearing them off horizontally a foot or two from the ground each year. To produce flowers and fruit, and to preserve winter attractiveness, trim them during dormancy by removing three-year-old and older canes at ground level, letting younger growth untouched.“Red-twig Dogwoods” make ideal mass plantings for streamside buffers and remain showy through winter, even on a gloomy day. They not only mitigate nutrient and sediment pollution, they provide excellent food and cover for birds and other wildlife. Both Silky and Red-osier Dogwoods are available for sale through the Lancaster County Conservation District as part of their special multi-species offers, the former is included in its “Beauty Pack” and the latter in its “Wildlife Pack”. The similar Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa) is being offered for sale by the York County Conservation District.
The unique maroon flowers of the Common Pawpaw produce banana-like fruits in summer. These small native trees grow best in damp, well-drained soils on slopes along waterways, where they often form clonal understory patches. To get fruit, plant a small grove to increase the probability of pollination. The Common Pawpaw is a host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly. It is available through both the Lebanon and Lancaster County sales.The Eastern Red Cedar provides excellent food, cover, and nesting sites for numerous songbirds. Planted in clumps of dozens or groves of hundreds of trees, they can provide winter shelter for larger animals including deer and owls. The Eastern Red Cedar is being offered for purchase through both the Lebanon and Lancaster County Conservation Districts.Care to try your hand at raising some chestnuts? Lebanon County Conservation District has hybrid American Chestnut seedlings for sale.Lebanon County Conservation District is offering Common Winterberry and Eastern White Pine during their 2024 Tree and Plant Sale. Plant them both for striking color during the colder months. Eastern White Pine is also available from the Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, and York County sales.
In addition to a selection of trees and shrubs, the Perry County Conservation District is again selling wildflower seed mixes for starting your own pollinator meadow or garden. For 2024, they have both a “Northeast Perennials and Annuals Mix” and a “Butterfly and Hummingbird Seed Mix” available. Give them a try so you can give up the mower!
Again this year, Perry County is offering bluebird nest boxes for sale. The price?—just $12.00.
Wait, what?,…twelve bucks,…that’s cheaper than renting!
The Buttonbush, a shrub of wet soils, produces a cosmic-looking flower. It grows well in wetlands, along streams, and in rain gardens. Buttonbush seedlings are for sale from both the York and Lancaster County Conservation Districts.
To get your deciduous trees like gums, maples, oaks, birches, and poplars off to a safe start, conservation district tree sales in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, and Perry Counties are offering protective tree shelters. Consider purchasing these plastic tubes and supporting stakes for each of your hardwoods, especially if you have hungry deer in your neighborhood.
Tree shelters protect newly transplanted seedlings from browsing deer, klutzy hikers, visually impaired mower operators, and other hazards.
There you have it. Be sure to check out each tree sale’s web page to find the selections you like, then get your order placed. The deadlines will be here before you know it and you wouldn’t want to miss values like these!
Since Tuesday’s snow storm, the susquehannawiildlife.net headquarters garden continues to bustle with bird activity.
Our Northern Mockingbird remains ever vigilant in its attempts to discourage American Robins and Eastern Bluebirds from feeding on the berry crop. Slowly, the latter species are winning the contest.A Carolina Chickadee carefully dissects a sunflower seed to snack on the nutritious kernel.This beauty shows us that yes, Red-bellied Woodpeckers do indeed have red bellies.Getting energized for a big move north, the robins keep on gulping berries.
Today, there arrived three species of birds we haven’t seen here since autumn. These birds are, at the very least, beginning to wander in search of food. Then too, these may be individuals creeping slowly north to secure an advantage over later migrants by being the first to establish territories on the most favorable nesting grounds.
This Song Sparrow is the first we’ve seen in the garden since sometime last fall. Is it working its way north or did it just come to town in search of food?Northern Flickers regularly spend the winter in small numbers in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed. This is the first one we’ve had visit the garden since late last autumn.Fish Crows, seen here feeding on the fruits adorning an Eastern Red Cedar, have returned after being absent in our neighborhood since November. In coming weeks, both they and the more numerous American Crows that remained through winter will begin constructing nests in nearby trees.
They say the early bird gets the worm. More importantly, it gets the most favorable nesting spot. What does the early birder get? He or she gets out of the house and enjoys the action as winter dissolves into the miracle of spring. Do make time to go afield and marvel a bit, won’t you? See you there!
In mid-February each year, large numbers of American Robins descend upon the susquehannawildlife.net headquarters garden to feast on the ripe fruits that adorn several species of our native shrubs and trees. This morning’s wet snowfall provided the needed motivation for these birds and others to make today the big day for the annual feeding frenzy.
Early this morning, branches and limbs in the headquarters garden were loaded with clinging snow and more than one hundred American Robins.To have first grabs at suitable nesting sites, early American Robins are currently beginning to edge their way north. Spring migration is underway.The fruits of Common Winterberry are always a favorite of visiting robins.After selfishly guarding the garden’s berries through the entire season, our Northern Mockingbird finds chasing more than one hundred robins away from its food supply an impossible task.This and other visiting robins will strip the winterberry, cedar, American Holly, and other fruit-producing shrubs and trees within a day or two. To survive what remains of the season, our resident mockingbird will have to look elsewhere for provisions.Another American Robin devouring winterberry fruit.In addition to robins, there were, of course, other guests in the garden refuge on this snowy day.This Red-bellied Woodpecker tries to make sense of all the commotion.A pair of Carolina Chickadees established a family in the garden during the spring of 2023. At least five of the birds still stop by on a daily basis.As spring nears, our American Goldfinches are beginning to show a hint of their bright breeding colors.A Blue Jay peeks out from the cover of the Eastern Hemlocks.Our Carolina Wrens sing throughout the winter,……but today we noticed that this Mourning Dove has begun softly cooing to charm a mate……and the male House Finches are warbling away with the sounds of spring.With the local mockingbird busily harassing robins, our Eastern Bluebirds went unmolested long enough to stop by……for some raisins from their enclosed feeder.A showy male Eastern Bluebird on a snowy day in the garden. Spring must be just around the corner!
Now is a great time of year to see Bald Eagles in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed. For the population that breeds here in our region, it’s nesting season. These birds are defending territories and some of them can get pretty aggressive towards the other eagles that happen to be wintering in the Susquehanna valley or will be migrating north through the area in coming weeks. All that competition has these birds spending a lot of time in the air, so no matter where you happen to be, keeping an eye on the sky may provide you with an opportunity for a memorable glimpse of one or more eagles in action. Skeptical? Well, just an hour ago, we spotted these eagles high above the susquehannawildlife.net headquarters garden.
So do spend some time outdoors soon and while you’re there, don’t forget to look up. You might turn some of your time into Bald Eagle time too!
As week-old snow and ice slowly disappears from the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed landscape, we ventured out to see what might be lurking in the dense clouds of fog that for more than two days now have accompanied a mid-winter warm spell.
After freezing to a slushy consistency earlier this week, the Susquehanna is already beginning to thaw. Below the York Haven Dam at Conewago Falls, the water is open and ice-free.On frozen man-made lakes and ponds, geese and ducks like these Mallards and American Wigeon are presently concentrated around small pockets of open water.During the past ten days, American Robin numbers have exploded throughout the lower Susquehanna valley. The majority of these birds may be a mix of both those coming south to escape the late onset of wintry conditions to our north and those inching north into our region as early spring migrants.The January thaw has melted the snow from lawns and fields to provide thousands of visiting robins with a chance to forage for earthworms.A visit by this young Cooper’s Hawk to the susquehannnawildlife.net headquarters garden sent songbirds scrambling……but did nothing to unnerve our resident Eastern Gray Squirrels,……which promptly went into tail-waving mode to advertise their presence.But earlier in the week, when heavy snow cover in the rural areas surrounding our urbanized neighborhood made it difficult for rodent-eating raptors to find food, we received brief visits from both a Red-tailed Hawk……and this young Red-shouldered Hawk, an uncommon bird of prey most often found in wet woods and other lowlands.To escape notice during visits by these larger raptors, our squirrels remained motionless and commenced performance of their best bump-on-a-log impressions.Unimpressed, each of our visiting buteos remained for just a few minutes before moving on in search of more favorable hunting grounds and prey.As snow melted and exposed bare ground in fields of early successional growth, we encountered……a flock of White-crowned Sparrows, most in first-winter plumage……and at least a dozen American Tree Sparrows. During the twentieth century, these handsome songbirds were regular winter visitors to the lower Susquehanna region. During recent decades, they’ve become increasingly more difficult to find. Currently, moderate numbers appear to be arriving to escape harsher weather to our north.What could be more appropriate on a foggy, gray evening than finding a “gray ghost” (adult male Northern Harrier) patrolling the fields in search of mice and voles.
If scenes of a January thaw begin to awaken your hopes and aspirations for all things spring, then you’ll appreciate this pair of closing photographs…
The maroon-red flower buds of Silver Maples are beginning to swell. And woodpeckers including Pileated Woodpeckers are beginning to drum, a timber-pounding behavior they use to establish breeding territories in habitats with suitable sites for cavity nesting.In wet soil surrounding spring seeps and streams, Skunk Cabbage is rising through the leaf litter to herald the coming of a new season. Spring must surely be just around the corner.
Just as bare ground along a plowed road attracts birds in an otherwise snow-covered landscape, a receding river or large stream can provide the same benefit to hungry avians looking for food following a winter storm.
Here is a small sample of some of the species seen during a brief stop along the Susquehanna earlier this week.
Along vegetated edges of the Susquehanna and its tributaries, the Song Sparrow is ubiquitous in its search for small seeds and other foods. As the river recedes from the effects of this month’s rains, the shoreline is left bare of more recently deposited snow cover. Song Sparrows and other birds are attracted to streamside corridors of frost-free ground to find sufficient consumables for supplying enough energy to survive the long cold nights of winter.Thousands of American Robins have been widespread throughout the lower Susquehanna valley during the past week. Due to the mild weather during this late fall and early winter, some may still be in the process of working their way south. Currently, many robins are concentrated along the river shoreline where receding water has exposed unfrozen soils to provide these birds with opportunities for finding earthworms (Lumbricidae) and other annelids.This Golden-crowned Kinglet was observed searching the trees and shrubs along the Susquehanna shoreline for tiny insects and spiders. Temperatures above the bare ground along the receding river can be a few degrees higher than in surrounding snow-covered areas, thus improving the chances of finding active prey among the trunks and limbs of the riparian forest.Not far from the kinglet, a Brown Creeper is seen searching the bark of a Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) for wintering insects, as well as their eggs and larvae. Spiders in all their life stages are a favorite too.American Pipits not only inhabit farm fields during the winter months, they are quite fond of bare ground along the Susquehanna. Seen quite easily along a strip of pebbly shoreline exposed by receding water, these birds will often escape notice when spending time on mid-river gravel and sand bars during periods of low flow.An American Pipit on a bitterly cold afternoon along the Susquehanna.
As anticipated, lakes and ponds throughout the lower Susquehanna basin are beginning to freeze. Fortunately for the waterfowl thereon, particularly diving ducks, the rain-swollen river is slowly receding and water clarity is improving to provide a suitable alternative to life on the man-made impoundments.
The Susquehanna, ice-free and receding from near flood stage levels last week, can presently provide suitable habitat for diving ducks and other wintering waterfowl.A feeding Common Merganser takes a breather between dives on the Susquehanna in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
The deep freeze is not only impacting ponds and lakes in the lower Susquehanna valley, but is evidently affecting the larger bodies of water to our north and northwest. During Tuesday’s snow event, thousands of diving ducks arrived on the main stem of the river—apparently forced down by the inclement weather while en route to the Atlantic Coast from the Great Lakes and its connected waterways, which are currently beginning to freeze.
Tuesday’s snowfall not only blanketed the landscape with a coating of white,……it prompted thousands of migrating “bay ducks” including Canvasbacks, Redheads, scaup, and other diving species to seek open water and make a forced landing.Scaup were by far the most numerous of the birds in the grounded flight. The majority appeared to be Lesser Scaup.Scaup in flight on the Susquehanna.A mixed raft of scaup and Buffleheads seen one day after a snowstorm-related fallout of late-season migrants. A single Long-tailed Duck, a species formerly known as Oldsquaw, can be seen to the lower left.Scaup and a Bufflehead (center) fly past a Long-tailed Duck. Because they winter primarily in coastal waters, both of the latter species are sometimes categorized as “sea ducks”.A small flock of Ruddy Ducks.While Common Mergansers on the Susquehanna are fish eaters (piscivores), other diving ducks observed during this fallout event are primarily benthic feeders, eating plant matter and invertebrate animals collected from the river bottom.A small flock of Common Goldeneyes. They, like the Long-tailed Duck and Bufflehead, are sometimes known as a species of “sea duck”.Another mixed raft of scaup and Buffleheads loafing on the Susquehanna.Large numbers of waterfowl attract the attention of the river’s ever-vigilant Bald Eagles.An adult Bald Eagle patrolling the area of a fallout in search of dead, sick, or injured ducks. In addition to the victims of naturally occurring ailments, eagles find birds and mammals wounded or killed by hunters to be particularly attractive sources of food. They can, therefore, quite easily ingest pieces of shot. Because eagles in the lower Susquehanna valley feed as frequently in upland habitats as they do in riverine environs, use of alternatives to toxic lead shot is prudent practice in all habitat types.A Bald Eagle in the first month of its fourth calendar year. Though not yet matured to breeding age, this bird is nevertheless smart enough to be on the lookout for vulnerable or deceased waterfowl during a post-storm fallout.A fallout of some migrating waterfowl seldom escapes notice by members of the gasoline and gunpowder gang……who find their very presence an irresistible temptation to arouse their adolescent urges……to get an adrenaline junkie’s fix.
With more snow on the way for tomorrow, you may be wondering if another fallout like this could be in the works. The only way to find out is to get out there and have a look. Good luck! And be good!
Heavy rains and snow melt have turned the main stem of the Susquehanna and its larger tributaries into a muddy torrent. For fish-eating (piscivorous) ducks, the poor visibility in fast-flowing turbid waters forces them to seek better places to dive for food. With man-made lakes and ponds throughout most of the region still ice-free, waterfowl are taking to these sources of open water until the rivers and streams recede and clear.
The Common Merganser is a species of diving duck with a primary winter range that, along the Atlantic Coast, reaches its southern extreme in the lower Susquehanna and Potomac watersheds. Recently, many have left the main stem of the muddy rivers to congregate on waters with better visibility at some of the area’s larger man-made lakes.Common Mergansers dive to locate and capture prey, primarily small fish. During this century, their numbers have declined along the southern edge of their winter range, possibly due to birds remaining to the north on open water, particularly on the Great Lakes. In the lower Susquehanna valley, some of these cavity-nesting ducks can now be found year-round in areas where heavy timber again provides breeding sites in riparian forests. After nesting, females lead their young to wander widely along our many miles of larger rivers and streams to feed.The behavior of these mergansers demonstrates the stiff competition for food that can result when predators are forced away from ideal habitat and become compressed into less favorable space. On the river, piscivores can feed on the widespread abundance of small fish including different species of minnows, shiners, darters, and more. In man-made lakes stocked for recreational anglers with sunfish, bass, and other predators (many of them non-native), small forage species are usually nonexistent. As a result, fish-eating birds can catch larger fish, but are successful far less often. Seen here are several mergansers resorting to intimidation in an effort to steal a young bass away from the male bird that just surfaced with it. While being charged by the aggressors, he must quickly swallow his oversize catch or risk losing it.
With a hard freeze on the way, the fight for life will get even more desperate in the coming weeks. Lakes will ice over and the struggle for food will intensify. Fortunately for mergansers and other piscivorous waterfowl, high water on the Susquehanna is expected to recede and clarify, allowing them to return to their traditional environs. Those with the most suitable skills and adaptations to survive until spring will have a chance to breed and pass their vigor on to a new generation of these amazing birds.
When the ground becomes snow covered, it’s hard to imagine anything lives in the vast wide-open expanses of cropland found in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed’s fertile valleys.
A snow-covered field with no standing vegetation. For nearly all wild birds, mammals, and other animals, modern agricultural practices offer no means of sustenance, particularly during the winter months.
Yet, there is one group of birds that can be found scrounging a living from what little exists after a season of high-intensity farming. Meet the Horned Lark.
Horned Larks occur year-round in the lower Susquehanna region. Birds found wintering here are hardy individuals that breed in the arctic tundra, terrain reminiscent of our treeless farmlands. Another population of larks seems to have adapted to no-till farming, nesting with some success in unplowed fields during the early part of the growing season. The impact of herbicide application on survival of these broods could be a topic of research for an energetic student out there…hint, hint.Nearly invisible on bare ground, Horned Larks are much more conspicuous after a fresh snowfall. For protection from predators, they gather in flocks. During the days of raw manure application, 300 to 500 larks could be found attracted to a freshly spread strip in a snow-covered field. Modern liquid manure, which contains fewer undigested seeds and grains for larks, is not as attractive to these and other birds.During severe storms, we’ve seen Horned Larks remain active throughout the night. We’ve even witnessed them taking shelter by burying themselves in the snow.To find food, Horned Larks are constantly on the move……seeking out bare ground or the seed-bearing tops of plant stems that remain exposed above the snow.Following storms, Horned Larks often gather along roadsides where snow removal has revealed “weed” seeds and other tiny morsels that, though they are almost imperceptible to us, are a meal for a Horned Lark.A Horned Lark munching “weed” seeds.Flocks of wintering Horned Larks will sometimes contain one or more of the several much less numerous species with a similar proclivity for tundra-like environs during the colder months. We examined this gathering a little bit more closely……and found these Lapland Longspurs (Calcarius lapponicus). In winter, Lapland Longspurs (the two streaked birds: one to the far left and the other high-stepping the white line) can be hard to discern from the earth tones of farmland habitat. Breeding males, however, are a brilliant white with a chestnut-colored nape and a black bib, mask, and cap. On rare occasions, these males in spectacular alternate plumage can be found in the lower Susquehanna valley prior to their departure to nesting areas near the treeline in northern Canada and Alaska.A close-up image (through the windshield) of a roadside flock of Horned larks and three Lapland Longspurs (top, far right, and third from bottom).
If you decide to take a little post-storm trip to look for Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs, be sure to drive carefully. Do your searching on quiet rural roads with minimal traffic. Stop and park only where line-of-sight and other conditions allow it to be done safely. Use your flashers and check your mirrors often. Think before you stop and park—don’t get stuck or make a muddy mess. And most important of all, be aware that you’re on a roadway—get out of the way of traffic.
Flushed from roadside feeding areas by passing automobiles, these Eastern Meadowlarks were previously displaced from their grassland and pasture foraging areas by snow cover.
If you’re not going out to look for larks and longspurs, we do have a favor to ask of you. Please remember to slow down while you’re driving. Not only is this an accident-prone time of year for people in cars and trucks, it’s a dangerous time for birds and other wildlife too. They’re at greatest peril of getting run over while concentrated along roadsides looking for food following snow storms.
The American Pipit is another barren-field specialist that can be found feeding at roadside following snowstorms, particularly when they coincide with the bird’s migration in late fall or early spring. (Vintage 35 mm image)The Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis), like the Lapland Longspur, occurs among flocks of Horned Larks in winter. Other barren-ground birds you’ll see feeding along country roads following significant snowfalls include Savannah and Vesper Sparrows.During mild winters, Killdeer may linger in farmlands where they are more easily heard than seen…until it snows.
With the earth at perihelion (its closest approach to the sun) and with our home star just 27 degrees above the horizon at midday, bright low-angle light offered the perfect opportunity for doing some wildlife photography today. We visited a couple of grasslands managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission to see what we could find…
On this State Game Lands parcel, prescribed fire is used to maintain a mix of grasslands and brushy early successional growth. In nearby areas, both controlled fire and mechanical cutting are used to remove invasive species from hedgerows and the understory of woodlots. Fire tolerant native species then have an opportunity to recolonize the forest and improve wildlife habitat. This management method also reduces the fuel load in areas with the potential for uncontrolled wildfires.The sun-dried fruits of a native Common Persimmon tree found growing in a hedgerow.Just one year ago, mechanical removal of invasive trees and shrubs (including Multiflora Rose) on this State Game Land was followed by a prescribed fire to create this savanna-like grassland.Hundreds of Song Sparrows were found in the grasses and thickets at both locations.White-throated Sparrows were also abundant, but prefer the tangles and shrubs of the thickets.Northern Mockingbirds were vigilantly guarding winter supplies of berries in the woodlots and hedgerows.In grasses and tangles on wetter ground, about a dozen Swamp Sparrows were discovered.The adult White-crowned Sparrow is always a welcome find.And seeing plenty of juvenile White-crowned Sparrows provides some assurance that there will be a steady stream of handsome adult birds arriving to spend the winter during the years to come.Dark-eyed Juncos were encountered only in the vicinity of trees and large shrubs.Several Savannah Sparrows were observed. Though they’re mostly found in treeless country, this particular one happened to pose atop a clump of shrubs located within, you guessed it, the new savanna-like grasslands.A tiny bird, even when compared to a sparrow, the Winter Wren often provides the observer with just a brief glimpse before darting away into the cover of a thicket.Within grasslands, scattered stands of live and dead timber can provide valuable habitat for many species of animals.Woodpeckers and other cavity-nesting birds rely upon an abundance of “snags” (standing dead trees) for breeding sites.This Red-bellied Woodpecker and about a dozen others were found in trees left standing in the project areas.A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker soaks up some sun.This very cooperative Pileated Woodpecker seemed to be preoccupied by insect activity on the sun-drenched bark of the trees. This denizen of mature forests will oft times wander into open country where larger lumber is left intact.
Just as things were really getting fun, some late afternoon clouds arrived to dim the already fading daylight. Just then, this Northern Harrier made a couple of low passes in search of mice and voles hidden in the grasses.It was a fitting end to a very short, but marvelously sunny, early winter day.
Imagine a network of brooks and rivulets meandering through a mosaic of shrubby, sometimes boggy, marshland, purifying water and absorbing high volumes of flow during storm events. This was a typical low-gradient stream in the valleys of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed in the days prior to the arrival of the waves of trans-Atlantic human migrants that started to inundate the area during the seventeenth century. Then, a frenzy of trapping, tree chopping, mill building, and stream channelization accompanied the east to west surge of settlement across the region. The first casualty: the indispensable lowlands manager, the North American Beaver (Castor canadensis).
Nineteenth-century beaver traps on display in the collection of the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. Soon after their arrival, trans-Atlantic migrants (Europeans) established trade ties to the “trans-Beringia”/”Pacific-rim” migrants (“Indians”) already living in the lower Susquehanna valley and recruited them to cull the then-abundant North American Beavers. By the early 1700s, beaver populations (as well as numbers of other “game” animals) were seriously depleted, prompting the Conoy, the last of the Indian peoples to reside on the lower Susquehanna, to disperse to the north. The traps pictured here are samples of the types which were subsequently used by the European settlers to eventually extirpate the North American Beaver from the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed during the 1800s.
Without the widespread presence of beavers, stream ecology quickly collapsed. Pristine waterways were all at once gone, as were many of their floral and faunal inhabitants. It was a streams-to-sewers saga completed in just one generation. So, if we really want to restore our creeks and rivers, maybe we need to give the North American Beaver some space and respect. After all, we as a species have yet to build an environmentally friendly dam and have yet to fully restore a wetland to its natural state. The beaver is nature’s irreplaceable silt deposition engineer and could be called the 007 of wetland construction—doomed upon discovery, it must do its work without being noticed, but nobody does it better.
North American Beaver diorama on display in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. Beavers were reintroduced to the Susquehanna watershed during the second half of the twentieth century.A beaver dam and pond on a small stream in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.Beaver dams not only create ponds, they also maintain shallow water levels in adjacent areas of the floodplain creating highly-functional wetlands that grow the native plants used by the beaver for food. These ecosystems absorb nutrients and sediments. Prior to the arrival of humans, they created some of the only openings in the vast forests and maintained essential habitat for hundreds of species of plants as well as animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. Without the beaver, many of these species could not, and in their absence did not, exist here.Their newly constructed lodge provides shelter from the elements and from predators for a family of North American Beavers.Floodplains managed by North American Beavers can provide opportunities for the recovery of the uncommon, rare, and extirpated species that once inhabited the network of streamside wetlands that stretched for hundreds of miles along the waterways of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.A wintering Great Blue Heron is attracted to a beaver pond by the abundance of fish in the rivulets that meander through its attached wetlands.Beaver Ponds and their attached wetlands provide nesting habitat for uncommon birds like this Sora rail.Lesser Duckweed grows in abundance in beaver ponds and Wood Ducks are particularly fond of it during their nesting cycle.Beaver dams maintain areas of wet soil along the margins of the pond where plants like Woolgrass sequester nutrients and contain runoff while providing habitat for animals ranging in size from tiny insects to these rare visitors, a pair of Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis).Sandhill Cranes feeding among Woolgrass in a floodplain maintained by North American Beavers.
Few landowners are receptive to the arrival of North American Beavers as guests or neighbors. This is indeed unfortunate. Upon discovery, beavers, like wolves, coyotes, sharks, spiders, snakes, and so many other animals, evoke an irrational negative response from the majority of people. This too is quite unfortunate, and foolish.
North American Beavers spend their lives and construct their dams, ponds, and lodges exclusively within floodplains—lands that are going to flood. Their existence should create no conflict with the day to day business of human beings. But humans can’t resist encroachment into beaver territory. Because they lack any basic understanding of floodplain function, people look at these indispensable lowlands as something that must be eliminated in the name of progress. They’ll fill them with soil, stone, rock, asphalt, concrete, and all kinds of debris. You name it, they’ll dump it. It’s an ill-fated effort to eliminate these vital areas and the high waters that occasionally inundate them. Having the audacity to believe that the threat of flooding has been mitigated, buildings and poorly engineered roads and bridges are constructed in these “reclaimed lands”. Much of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed has now been subjected to over three hundred years-worth of these “improvements” within spaces that are and will remain—floodplains. Face it folks, they’re going to flood, no matter what we do to try to stop it. And as a matter of fact, the more junk we put into them, the more we displace flood waters into areas that otherwise would not have been impacted! It’s absolute madness.
By now we should know that floodplains are going to flood. And by now we should know that the impacts of flooding are costly where poor municipal planning and negligent civil engineering have been the norm for decades and decades. So aren’t we tired of hearing the endless squawking that goes on every time we get more than an inch of rain? Imagine the difference it would make if we backed out and turned over just one quarter or, better yet, one half of the mileage along streams in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed to North American Beavers. No more mowing, plowing, grazing, dumping, paving, spraying, or building—just leave it to the beavers. Think of the improvements they would make to floodplain function, water quality, and much-needed wildlife habitat. Could you do it? Could you overcome the typical emotional response to beavers arriving on your property and instead of issuing a death warrant, welcome them as the talented engineers they are? I’ll bet you could.
Here’s something to look forward to in the new year. The good citizens of East Donegal Township in Lancaster County have partnered with Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to establish an extensive wildflower meadow on what had been a mowed field of turf grass at Riverside Park in the Susquehanna floodplain near Marietta. As the photo shows, the lawn plants have been eliminated in preparation for seeding with a diverse assortment of native grasses and wildflowers to provide habitat for birds and pollinators including butterflies, bees, and other insects. Once established, the meadow’s extensive vegetative growth will help reduce stormwater runoff by better infiltrating rainfall to recharge the aquifer. During flood events, the plantings will provide soil stabilization and increase the ability of the acreage to uptake nutrients, thus reducing the negative impact of major storms on the quality of water in the river and in Chesapeake Bay. Check the project’s progress by stopping by from time to time in 2024!
It’s been a green Christmas at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters. Among thick growth of Lesser Duckweed and other aquatic plants in the garden ponds, the Green Frogs and their tadpoles remain active. The water’s open…still no ice here.
What was the attraction that prompted dozens of birders to hike more than a mile to a secluded field edge along the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail on this last full day of autumn? It must be something good.
Birders photographing a rarity in the vicinity of the Shock’s Mill Railroad Bridge along the Susquehanna in Conoy Township, Lancaster County, earlier today.
Indeed it was. A Western Flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis), first discovered late last week, has weathered the coastal storm that in recent days pummeled the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed with several inches of rain and blustery winds. Western Flycatchers nest in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast regions of North America. They spend their winters in Mexico. There are several records of these tiny passerines in our area during December. The first, a bird found in an area known as Tanglewood during the Southern Lancaster County Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on December 16, 1990, was well documented—photographs were taken and its call was tape recorded. It constituted the first record of a member of the Western Flycatcher’s “Pacific-slope” subspecies group ever seen east of the Mississippi River. It was reported through December 26, 1990. The Tanglewood flycatcher and a bird sighted years later on a subsequent “Solanco CBC” were both found inhabiting wooded thickets in the shelter of a ravine created by one of the Susquehanna’s small tributaries.
Early this morning, a vagrant Western Flycatcher finds a sunny spot adjacent to the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail to search the vines, shrubs, and tree limbs for spiders and small insects.The compact Western Flycatcher on the lookout for flying insects from an elevated perch in the treetops.Like other Western Flycatchers which have been found during the month of December in Lancaster County, this individual has some topographic protection from cold northwest winds. It spends its time in a thicket along the edge of woodlands on the leeward side of the railroad grade that rises as the approach to the nearby Shock’s Mill Bridge.
How long will this wandering rarity remain along the river trail? For added sustenance, sunny days throughout the coming winter offer ever-increasing chances of stonefly hatches on the adjacent river, particularly in the vicinity of the stone bridge piers. But ultimately, the severity of the weather and the bird’s response to it will determine its destiny.
Torrential rains throughout the Susquehanna watershed last night have the river’s main stem on the rise today. By late this afternoon, the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail’s underpass beneath the Shock’s Mill Bridge was just 18 inches from inundation. An additional seven feet or more of flood water is expected at this location by the time the river reaches its crest on Wednesday.
The last of the year’s migrating Bald Eagles are streaming down the ridges of the mid-Atlantic region and many of them will be stopping for at least a part of the winter season along the lower Susquehanna River. If you want to see them, now is the best time. Taking a walk along a riverside recreation trail is a relaxing way to spend some time checking them out. To see the greatest concentrations of these majestic birds, plan a visit to one of the lower river’s hydroelectric dams. Conowingo Dam, located where U.S. Route 1 crosses the river at Rising Sun, Maryland, is currently hosting dozens of visiting eagles. If you’ve never been there, we can assure you that it’s certainly worth the trip.
As the autumn raptor migration draws to a close in the Lower Susquehanna Valley Watershed, observers at the Second Mountain Hawk Watch in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, were today treated to a flight of both Bald and Golden Eagles. Gliding on updrafts created by a brisk northwest breeze striking the slope of the ridge, seven of the former and three of the latter species were seen threading their way through numerous bands of snow as they made their way southwest toward favorable wintering grounds.
The best and final bird of the day, and possibly one of the highlights of the season at this counting station, was a “Barthelemyi Golden Eagle”, a rare Golden Eagle variant with conspicuous shoulder epaulets created by white scapular feathers.
The grand finale, a “Barthelemyi Golden Eagle”, passed the Second Mountain Hawk Watch during a break in the afternoon’s snow showers. Note the bright white scapulars at the base of the leading edge of the wing.Barthelemyi variants are known from populations of Golden Eagles in the Alps of southern Europe and from both eastern and western populations of birds in North America. Spofford (1961) documented a pair of Golden Eagles with the Barthelemyi traits nesting in eastern North America. In two successive seasons they produced young that developed the same plumage characteristics, suggesting the variation may be passed to offspring by one or more genetic alleles.
Today’s rarity is the second record of a “Barthelemyi Golden Eagle” at Second Mountain Hawk Watch—the first occurring on October 21, 2017.
SOURCES
Spofford, W. R. 1961. “White Epaulettes in Some Appalachian Golden Eagles”. Prothonotary. 27: 99.
While trimming the trees and shrubs in the susquehannawildlife.net garden, it didn’t seem particularly unusual to hear the resident Carolina Chickadees and Carolina Wrens scolding our every move. But after a while, their persistence did seem a bit out of the ordinary, so we took a little break to have a look around…
A scolding Carolina Wren……keeping an eye on something in the tree overhead.There, just ten to twelve feet away, was this juvenile Cooper’s Hawk, perched quietly and having a look around.Hatch-year Cooper’s Hawks have yellow eyes that darken to red as the bird matures. The blood stains reveal that this bird, despite its young age, is a successful hunter.This individual seems to be particularly well nourished, showing early growth of a gray-and-black adult tail feather.Despite their continuous pestering, this Cooper’s Hawk showed little interest in the small wrens, juncos, and chickadees that harassed it. Larger birds, particularly non-native House Sparrows, are its quarry. Moments after this photo was taken, the pursuit was underway. To conserve energy and protect themselves from injury, predators target the vulnerable. The unwary, the injured, the diseased, and the weak among its prey species are the most likely to be seized. And thus, these raptors, while in the near term providing for their own sustenance and safety, assure the long-term existence of their species by helping to maintain a healthy population of their prey species.
Here at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters, we are visited by Cooper’s Hawks for several days during the late fall and winter each year. The small birds that visit our feeders have plenty of trees, shrubs, vines, and other natural cover in which to hide from raptors and other native predators. We don’t create unnatural concentrations of birds by dumping food all over the place. We try to keep our small birds healthy by sparingly offering fresh seed and other provisions in clean receptacles to provide a supplement to the seeds, fruits, insects, and other foods that occur naturally in the garden. With only a few vulnerable small birds around, the Cooper’s Hawks visit just long enough to cull out our weakest individuals before moving elsewhere. While they’re in our garden, they too are our welcomed guests.
A glimpse of the rowdy guests crowding the Thanksgiving Day dinner table at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters…
A male White-breasted Nuthatch visits a peanut feeder……soon to be joined by a female White-breasted Nuthatch.A male Downy Woodpecker gets a bill full of suet.A Carolina Wren nibbles at a peanut.An Eastern Gray Squirrel stuffs itself on peanuts dropped by the birds.A territorial Northern Mockingbird stands guard over its supply of Common Winterberry fruit.To avoid the mockingbird’s aggression, the Eastern Bluebirds opted out of fresh fruit in favor of raisins offered at the feeders.This persistent American Robin has made an art of repeatedly sneaking in to quickly devour a few berries before being chased away by the vigilant mockingbird.After everyone has had their fill, Dark-eyed Juncos clean up the leftovers.
As the annual autumn songbird migration begins to reach its end, native sparrows can be found concentrating in fallow fields, early successional thickets, and brushy margins along forest edges throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.
A streamside thicket composed of seed-producing grasses and wildflowers as well as fruit-bearing shrubs and vines can be ideal habitat for migrating and wintering native sparrows.
Visit native sparrow habitat during mid-to-late November and you have a good chance of seeing these species and more…
The Song Sparrow can be found in woody brush and grassy margins from the shores of the Susquehanna all the way up to the ridgetops of the Appalachians.During the colder months of the year, the Dark-eyed Junco is a familiar visitor to bird-feeding stations. Where suitable natural cover is present, they regularly venture into suburban and urban settings.The White-throated Sparrow is commonly found in the company of juncos, but is generally less adventurous, being more likely in weedy fields near young woodlands than in suburban gardens.The Eastern Towhee is a large native sparrow most often found in early successional growth near woodlands. Look for them in utility right-of-ways.The elusive Fox Sparrow is a regular late-fall migrant. Few stay for the winter, but northbound birds can be seen as early as mid-February each year.
If you’re lucky enough to live where non-native House Sparrows won’t overrun your bird feeders, you can offer white millet as a supplement to the wild foods these beautiful sparrows might find in your garden sanctuary. Give it a try!
Recently, we found these Chestnut Oak acorns setting roots into the leaf litter to secure their place among the plants that will turn the forest understory green in the spring. Individual acorns that germinate soon after falling to the ground in autumn may avoid becoming food for squirrels, turkeys, deer, and other wildlife, thus increasing their chances of surviving to later become adult trees able to produce acorns that pass this quick-development trait to yet another generation of oaks.
Among the hardy wildflowers still in bloom in the forests of the lower Susquehanna valley is the Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium), a variable species also known as the Heart-leaved Aster.
It looks like Uncle Tyler Dyer had a fun-filled Halloween. Earlier this afternoon, we caught him drifting off into a nap during his work to make updates to his leaf scans. As he snoozed away, we found these lying on the floor next to his easy chair and decided to lend a hand by adding them to his collection. We’ll see how long it takes him to discover our dirty little deed. You can have a look at our mischief by clicking on the “Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines” tab at the top of this page.
Colder temperatures and gusty northwest winds are prompting our largest migratory raptors to continue their southward movements. Here are some of the birds seen earlier today riding updrafts of air currents along one of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed’s numerous ridges.
Hundreds of Turkey Vultures are presently passing through the lower Susquehanna valley on their way south. Their winter abundance here is largely determined by the availability of carrion.The late-season push of Bald Eagles is now underway. Today, ten or more birds were seen at several of the region’s hawk watches. This particular eagle is a juvenile, a hatch-year bird, with an unusually large area of white in the tail.Red-tailed hawks pass a hawk-counting station while gliding away to the southwest within an energy-saving updraft of ridge-deflected wind.A migrating Golden Eagle keeps a wary eye on a marauding Red-shouldered Hawk. This Golden Eagle is young, either in its hatch year or second year of life.A Red-tailed Hawk migrating during a late-afternoon snow shower.
As winter begins clawing at the door, now is great time to visit a hawk watch near you to see these late-season specialties. Remember to dress in layers and to click the “Hawkwatcher’s Helper: Identifying Bald Eagles and other Diurnal Raptors” tab at the top of this page. Hawkwatcher’s Helper is your guide to regional hawk watching locations and raptor identification. Be sure to check it out. And remember, it’s cold on top of those ridges, so don’t forget your hat, your gloves, and your chap stick!
Only fools mess around with bees, wasps, and hornets as they collect nectar and go about their business while visiting flowering plants. Relentlessly curious predators and other trouble makers quickly learn that patterns of white, yellow, or orange contrasting with black are a warning that the pain and anguish of being zapped with a venomous sting awaits those who throw caution to the wind. Through the process of natural selection, many venomous and poisonous animals have developed conspicuously bright or contrasting color schemes to deter would-be predators and molesters from making such a big mistake.
The brilliant colors of the “Red Eft”, the terrestrial sub-adult stage of the aquatic Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), provide protection not as a form of camouflage, but as a warning to potential predators that “I am inedible” due to the presence of tetrodotoxin, a strong neurotoxin. Over the generations, natural selection has better enabled the brightest of the individual “Red Efts” to survive to adulthood and reproduce. Meanwhile, those efts that provided a less obvious visual clue to their toxicity frequently allowed their pursuer to learn of their defense mechanism by the taste-test method. As one might expect, far fewer of these latter individuals survived to breed and pass along their more cryptic color variation.
Visual warnings enhance the effectiveness of the defensive measures possessed by venomous, poisonous, and distasteful creatures. Aggressors learn to associate the presence of these color patterns with the experience of pain and discomfort. Thereafter, they keep their distance to avoid any trouble. In return, the potential victims of this unsolicited aggression escape injury and retain their defenses for use against yet-to-be-enlightened pursuers. Thanks to their threatening appearance, the chances of survival are increased for these would-be victims without the need to risk death or injury while deploying their venomous stingers, poisonous compounds, or other defensive measures.
Armed and Dangerous The yellow-and-black color pattern on this European Paper Wasp signals a potential aggressor that they have come upon a social insect and could be struck with a venomous sting. The warning colors alone may be all the defenses necessary for this wasp to survive an otherwise fatal encounter.
One shouldn’t be surprised to learn that over time, as these aforementioned venomous, poisonous, and foul-tasting critters developed their patterns of warning colors, there were numerous harmless animals living within close association with these species that, through the process of natural selection, acquired nearly identical color patterns for their own protection from predators. This form of defensive impersonation is known as Batesian mimicry.
Let’s take a look at some examples of Batesian mimicry right here in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.
Suppose for a moment that you were a fly. As you might expect, you would have plenty to fear while you spend your day visiting flowers in search of energy-rich nectar—hundreds of hungry birds and other animals want to eat you.
You might not hurt a fly, but plenty of other creatures will. This Greenbottle Fly relies upon speed and maneuverability to quickly flee predators.Like the Greenbottle Fly, the Common Flesh Fly (Sarcophaga species) needs to be constantly vigilant and survives by being quick to the wing.
If you were a fly and you were headed out and about to call upon numerous nectar-producing flowers so you could round up some sweet treats, wouldn’t you feel a whole lot safer if you looked like those venomous bees, wasps, and hornets in your neighborhood? Wouldn’t it be a whole lot more fun to look scary—so scary that would-be aggressors fear that you might sting them if they gave you any trouble?
Suppose Mother Nature and Father Time dressed you up to look like a bee or a wasp instead of a helpless fly? Then maybe you could go out and collect sweets without always worrying about the bullies and the brutes, just like these flies of the lower Susquehanna do…
FLOWER FLIES/HOVER FLIES
The Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) is an unarmed Honey Bee mimic. This one is gathering nectar on goldenrod flowers.The Transverse Flower Fly (Eristalis transversa) is another bee mimic. Members of the genus Eristalis scavenge carcasses in aquatic habitats. Their larvae are known as rat-tailed maggots, a name that references their long siphons used for breathing surface air while submerged in ponds, streams, and wetlands.Flower flies of the genus Spilomyia are convincing mimics of temperamental yellowjacket wasps.The Yellowjacket Hover Fly (Milesia virginiensis) is usually heard long before it is seen. It will often approach people and persist with a loud buzzing, sounding more like a bee than a bee does. Scary, isn’t it?The Maize Calligrapher (Toxomerus politus) is a hover fly mimic of wasps. Seen here on Indiangrass, it is believed to associate primarily with Corn (Zea mays).The Narrow-headed Marsh Fly (Helophilus fasciatus) is a wasp mimic. Like other mimics of hymenopterans, they are important pollinators of flowering plants.This hover fly of the genus Syrphus is another wasp mimic.
TACHINID FLIES
The Feather-legged Fly (Trichopoda species) is a wasp mimic. Its larvae are parasitoids of stink bugs and leaf-footed bugs.
BEE FLIES
Bee flies of the genus Exoprosopa convincingly resemble bumble bees.The larvae of Exoprosopa bee flies are believed to be parasitic on the larvae of the parasites of bee and wasp larvae that mature in the soil. Confused yet?
So let’s review. If you’re a poor defenseless fly and you want to get your fair share of sweets without being gobbled up by the beasts, then you’ve got to masquerade like a strongly armed member of a social colony—like a bee, wasp, or hornet. Now look scary and go get your treats. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Where should you go this weekend to see vibrantly colored foliage in our region? Where are there eye-popping displays of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens without so much brown and gray? The answer is Michaux State Forest on South Mountain in Adams, Cumberland, and Franklin Counties.
South Mountain is the northern extension of the Blue Ridge Section of the Ridge and Valley Province in Pennsylvania. Michaux State Forest includes much of the wooded land on South Mountain. Within or adjacent to its borders are located four state parks: King’s Gap Environmental Education Center, Pine Grove Furnace State Park, Caledonia State Park, and Mont Alto State Park. The vast network of trails on these state lands includes the Appalachian Trail, which remains in the mountainous Blue Ridge Section all the way to its southern terminus in Georgia.
In Pennsylvania, the forested highlands of the Blue Ridge Section of the Ridge and Valley Province are known as South Mountain. Much of South Mountain lies within the boundaries of Michaux State Forest. Stars indicate the locations of 1) King’s Gap Environmental Education Center, 2) Pine Grove Furnace State Park, 3) Caledonia State Park, and 4) Mont Alto State Park. A drive on US 30 between Gettysburg and Chambersburg will take you right through Michaux State Forest along an east to west axis while a scenic northbound or southbound trip along PA 233 will bring you in proximity to each of the state parks located therein. (Base image from NASA Earth Observatory Collection)
If you want a closeup look at the many species of trees found in Michaux State Forest, and you want them to be labeled so you know what they are, a stop at the Pennsylvania State University’s Mont Alto arboretum is a must. Located next door to Mont Alto State Park along PA 233, the Arboretum at Penn State Mont Alto covers the entire campus. Planting began on Arbor Day in 1905 shortly after establishment of the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy at the site in 1903. Back then, the state’s “forests” were in the process of regeneration after nineteenth-century clear cutting. These harvests balded the landscape and left behind the combustible waste which fueled the frequent wildfires that plagued reforestation efforts for more than half a century. The academy educated future foresters on the skills needed to regrow and manage the state’s woodlands.
Online resources can help you plan your visit to the Arboretum at Penn State Mont Alto. More than 800 trees on the campus are numbered with small blue tags. The “List of arboretum trees by Tag Number” can be downloaded to tell you the species or variety of each. The interactive map provides the locations of individual trees plotted by tag number while the Grove Map displays the locations of groups of trees on the campus categorized by region of origin. A Founder’s Tree Map will help you find some of the oldest specimens in the collection and a Commemorative Tree Map will help you find dedicated trees. There is also a species list of the common and scientific tree names.
The Yellow Buckeye (Aesculus flava) is a tree found in the forests of the Blue Ridge Section of the Ridge and Valley Province in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. You can see it in Pennsylvania by visiting the collection of trees in the Arboretum at Penn State Mont Alto.The American Chestnut can be difficult to find due to the impact of chestnut blight, but you can see it in the Arboretum at Penn State Mont Alto.Shagbark Hickory is a common tree in the forests of South Mountain.The Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium), a native of Europe, is naturalized throughout eastern and south-central Pennsylvania and is one of the more than 150 species of trees in the arboretum’s collection.Sweet Birch (Betula lenta) foliage is particularly bright yellow on South Mountain this autumn. It really “pops” against the backdrop of the evergreen Eastern White Pines and Eastern Hemlocks. During less-than-ideal years, Sweet Birch leaves can subtly transition from green to drab brown without much fanfare before falling.You might have a difficult time finding a Common Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) growing wild in Pennsylvania, but you can find it in the Arboretum at Penn State Mont Alto.
The autumn leaves will be falling fast, so make it a point this weekend to check out the show on South Mountain.
Have you noticed? Foliage throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed has been painted with the brilliant colors of autumn, so now is the time to get out there and have a look. Why not make a collection? You can pick up an inexpensive scrap book or photo album at the craft store to press and label the varieties you find. Uncle Tyler Dyer is already busy adding to the project he assembled last year. You can use his exhibit as a reference for identifying and learning a little bit more about the leaves you find.
To identify the leaves you discover, click this image.The editor’s 1995 collection of leaves from the Susquehanna River floodplain at Conewago Falls.
