Asterids – LIFE IN THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA RIVER WATERSHED

May 7, 2026May 6, 2026

Common Dandelions Are as Good as Gold

American Goldfinches Feeding on Common Dandelion Seeds — Please tell us you’re not putting herbicides and other toxic chemicals on the dandelions and other antioxidant and anti-inflammatory plants in your lawn and garden,…

April 14, 2026May 13, 2026

Managing a Grassland Ecosystem

If you’ve visited Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area anytime during the past month, you may have noticed quite a bit of activity around the large pole-mounted nest boxes placed out in the open fields.

American Kestrels at nest box — American Kestrels, a male and female, at a nest box at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area.

Kestrels competing for nesting sites and territory. — Within the past week, we noticed that kestrels are still competing for nesting sites and territory, driving away unwanted trespassers. A pair of kestrels seemed to be occupying each of the four box sites we observed. That’s good news, but the presence of these man-made nest cavities is in no way wholly responsible for this positive response from these declining birds. It’s a matter of habitat, much needed grassland habitat.

Cool Season Grasses — Cool-season grasses including fescue (Lolium species) and non-native Orchard Grass (Dactylis glomerata) mature by late spring. If left standing, they continue to provide indispensable habitat for grassland wildlife through the summer. Mowing early and often for hay harvest has rendered most cool-season meadows death traps for nesting birds. By delaying cuttings until at least early August, ground-nesting birds are given adequate time to fledge their young and get the juvenile birds strong enough to fly away from a set of spinning blades.

Grasshopper Sparrow in Timothy — A male Grasshopper Sparrow sings to demarcate its nesting territory in a stand of Timothy, an introduced species cultivated for harvest as hay. An insectivore during the breeding season, he and his mate will attempt to raise their brood exclusively within the cover of these cool-season grasses.

Eastern Meadowlarks arrive in cool-season grasslands by late-winter to begin their breeding cycle which typically extends into the hot summer days of July.

Orchard Grass with Black-eyed Susans — Prior to being mowed, Orchard Grass provides the short, dense cover meadowlarks and other ground-nesting grassland birds need to successfully reproduce. Growing a cool season grassland can be as easy as delaying the mowing of a pasture, field, or oversize lawn until August, then have a farmer friend come and take off a cutting or two of hay or straw to prevent woody plants from becoming established.

Warm-season Grasses — More durable stands of native warm-season grasses including Big Bluestem, Indiangrass, Switchgrass, and Little Bluestem thrive in the summer heat and provide wildlife habitat throughout the year. These perennial “prairie grasses”, fed by root systems five to eight feet deep, are especially drought tolerant . From these entrenched anchors, the plants would quickly bounce back after the once great herds of hungry bison had grazed the landscape bare of surface vegetation before moving on. This adaptation also assured “prairie grass” regeneration following naturally occurring seasonal fires, events mimicked in eastern North America by its pre-Columbian human residents. They used recurrent fire to perpetuate early successional habitat for wildlife propagation, foraging, and agriculture. Today in the lower Susquehanna watershed, establishing warm-season grassland meadows requires soil prep and seeding to get things going again.

Precribed Burn — To prevent succession, warm-season grassland parcels are most commonly maintained using applications of prescribed fire every 3 to 5 years. Among their benefits, these burns invigorate native vegetation while inhibiting the invasive tendencies of many non-native plants. Well-planned periodic fire can significantly reduce fuel accumulations, particularly in tinderbox woodland tracts managed as fire-free zones for the past century or more. Many forest trees including oaks rely on sporadic fire events for regeneration.

LEARN HOW LAND MANAGERS UTILIZE PRESCRIBED FIRE

This coming Saturday, April 18, 2026, beginning at 10 A.M. (rain date April 25), the Pennsylvania Game Commission is hosting a “Prescribed Fire Festival” at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. Be certain to come out to the visitor’s center at 100 Museum Road, Stevens, PA, for this event. Land managers will be there to answer questions and to explain the planning and preparations involved in overseeing a prescribed burn. There will be guided walks of habitats preserved using fire of varying intensities. You’ll see the equipment and protective clothing used by certified personnel to administer a live prescribed fire burn right before your eyes. Then you can have lunch—food trucks will be available on site.

Prescribed Fire Demonstration — Visitors witness a prescribed fire demonstration at the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in 2025.

After the burn demonstration, why not go for a walk or drive around the refuge. You can take note of how grassland and early successional plant communities are responding to previous doses of prescribed fire…

Greening up a week or two after the burn, Wingstem is blooming by June in areas treated using prescribed fire earlier in the spring.

Another scene from June: Four-foot-tall Joe-Pye-Weed amidst lush growth of goldenrod in early successional habitat where a prescribed burn eliminated accumulating wildfire fuel and turned back the growth of invasive plant species in March.

And how the grassland animals respond as well…

Ring-necked Pheasants in early successional habitat maintained by the periodic application of prescribed fire.

Eastern Cottontails prosper in the mosaic of warm-season grasses and early successional thickets on lands sustained using prescribed fire. Rabbits are herbivores, primary consumers eating mostly legumes and other plants, the producers that through the process of photosynthesis convert the energy of the the sun into food energy.

Other small vegetation-eating rodents including mice and voles thrive in managed grasslands. Similar in appearance are the shrews. Though seldom noticed, Northern Short-tailed Shrews spend day and night foraging for food, even in the shallow waters of wet meadows and thickets. Unlike the aforementioned herbivorous rodents, shrews are insectivores, secondary consumers feeding mostly on primary consumers including a variety of insects and other arthropods.

Some years ago, we found this tiny Masked Shrew (Sorex cinereus) in a grassland area being preserved using prescribed fire. Like other shrews, Masked Shrews are secretive, but always on the go. They feed constantly to fuel their vast energy requirements, sometimes consuming three times their body weight in a single day. But their voracious appetite can get them into trouble, causing these incessant eaters to encounter numerous potentially infective parasites during their non-stop foraging missions.

Female American Kestrel — Patrolling the grasslands is the female American Kestrel, a secondary consumer. She’s on the lookout for primary consumers including large insects like grasshoppers or crickets. But perhaps more likely is a small rodent whose less-than-ideal vigor may cause it to slip up, creating an easy target. If she selects a careless shrew as her prey, she may be assuming the role of a tertiary consumer, eating a secondary consumer (the shrew) that fed on insects (the primary consumers) that derived their energy from photosynthesized plant matter.

The strictly nocturnal American Barn Owl (Tyto furcata), another secondary and sometimes tertiary consumer, takes the night shift, hunting unwary voles, mice, and shrews, often by sensing the sounds they make among runways in the grass. As a native predator in its favored habitat, the owl’s selection of each victim actually helps to keep the prey species’ population healthy, eliminating the weak and vulnerable to provide a qualitative service to the surviving wildlife of the grasslands. While we may not think of the barn owl as a direct consumer of insects, its positive influence on insectivorous shrew populations makes it an important functionary in maintaining balance in the ecosystems it calls home.

Male American Kestrel — As food becomes increasing plentiful in the grasslands, a female kestrel will remain mostly out of sight, performing the majority of the egg incubation duties while her colorful mate stands guard nearby.

The fate of an avian predator such as a kestrel lies at the mercy of the fate of its quarry. Because, you see, the sun’s energy, after being converted to chemical energy by photosynthesizing plants, flows upward through the trophic levels of the food chain—herbivores (primary consumers) such as rodents and insects to carnivores (secondary and tertiary consumers) including kestrels. Grasslands, when abundant and diverse, are correspondingly abundant and diverse with small mammals and insects and will therefore support thriving populations of American Kestrels and other predators. These secondary and sometimes tertiary consumers fulfill a role in cultivating healthier populations of their prey—the primary and secondary consumers in the food web—as a balanced component of a flourishing grassland ecosystem. Sparse and fragmented grasslands, on the other hand, beget negligible small mammal and insect populations, are stricken with broken food webs, and champion few if any American Kestrels or other predators. If the land it occupies is neat, tidy, manicured, exploited, or sprayed sterile and dead, the energy flow cycle of the ecosystem is dead as well. There’s nothing animal introductions, reintroductions, rescues, culling, stocking, or harvesting can do about it, because in the end, it’s all about the habitat.

February 5, 2026

An Intermission Between Deep Freezes

With another round of single-digit and possibly sub-zero temperatures on the way, birds and other wildlife are taking advantage of a break in the extreme conditions to re-energize. During the past day, these species were among those attracted to the food and cover provided by the habitat plantings in the susquehannawildlife.net headquarters garden…

Dark-eyed Juncos, one of our numerous species of native sparrows, are sometimes called “snowbirds”, and for good reason. They spend the majority of their time on the ground searching for seeds and are particularly noticeable when the landscape is blanketed in white.

To make it through the winter, a Northern Mockingbird is again defending the garden’s supply of fruits adorning Common Winterberry, American Holly, and Eastern Red Cedar. Robins, starlings, waxwings, and bluebirds must be stealthy and quick if they want to grab a snack before the ever-alert mockingbird aggressively moves them on their way.

As they mature, our plantings of junipers, hollies, Eastern Hemlock, Norway Spruce, and Eastern White Pine offer the environs needed by evergreen-loving species like this Red-breasted Nuthatch to remain as winter residents instead of just seasonal transients.

November 28, 2025

Maybe They’ll Stay, Maybe They Won’t

Here are a few more late-season migrants you might currently see passing through the lower Susquehanna valley. Where adequate food and cover are available, some may remain into part or all of the winter…

During the summer, Ruby-crowned Kinglets nest in northern coniferous forests. Through the colder months, these petite songbirds can often subsist on tiny insects and other invertebrates found among the bark, limbs, and buds of leafless deciduous trees and shrubs. In our region, look for wintering kinglets in woodlands that include at least a small percentage of evergreens to provide protection from frigid nighttime temperatures.

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is our shiest of woodpeckers. These migrants are still quite common among stands of deciduous and mixed woods, but local numbers will soon decrease as the majority of the population continues moving along to the forests of the southeastern United States for winter.

Migrating American Robins are still transiting region, but an abundance of wild fruits can prompt hundreds to linger through winter. Look for them near supplies of wild grape, Poison Ivy, dogwood, Virginia Creeper, hackberry, hawthorn, American Holly,…

In case you were wondering…Yes, the adult Red-shouldered Hawk continues to visit the garden pond at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters. Earlier today, we watched it plunge into the shallows after a Green Frog. We’re enjoying the privilege of having it around, so we hope it decides to remain for as long as the food supply is accessible.

October 10, 2025

Changes Following the Season’s First Frost

Having experienced our first frost throughout much of the lower Susquehanna valley last night, we can look forward to seeing some changes in animal behavior and distribution in the days and weeks to come. Here are a few examples…

Unlike their close relatives the Tree Swallows, which include berries as well as invertebrates in their diet, Northern Rough-winged Swallows are strictly insectivores and will find it necessary to promptly move south to assure a frost-free environment where they can secure an adequate supply of food. Their one alternative: find a local sewage treatment plant where warm water attracts populations of flying insects through the remainder of autumn and maybe into winter.

Warblers too are insect eaters. Look for most of our dozens of species to evacuate the area in coming days and leave behind only the Yellow-rumped Warbler, another bird with a fondness for berries during cold weather. Into the winter months, they remain in small numbers in habitats with an abundant supply of berries like Poison Ivy, holly, wild grape, bittersweet, and Eastern Red Cedar. For lingering Yellow-rumped Warblers, thickets of cedars and other evergreens provide essential protection from frigid nighttime winds.

This Eastern Chipmunk will soon feel the pinch. Instead of eating the sweet, fruity portions of Mile-a-minute Weed berries, it’ll have to get serious about stocking its den with larger seeds, acorns, hickory nuts, and other foods to snack on through the winter. Better get busy, little friend!

July 15, 2025July 15, 2025

It’s Prime Time for Hummingbirds

Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Scarlet Bee Balm — Now that the nesting season is drawing to a close, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are a bit less fussy about where they spend their time. Even in urban settings, gardens with an abundance of nectar-producing flowers like this Scarlet Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) have a good chance of attracting them. Hummingbirds will be wandering the landscape and starting to drift south during the coming two months, so keep your feeders clean and filled with a fresh blend of sugar water to keep them energized and happy. If you’re feeding hummingbirds, or thinking about feeding hummingbirds, be sure to review the helpful tips contained in our post from August 5, 2022, “Two Feeders Are Better Than One”. Their health and your peace of mind may depend on it.

July 6, 2025

Sorry, But We Have No Steamed Crabs Today

Earlier today, we collected some mint leaves from the garden to make a batch of iced tea. Just prior to plunging them into boiling water, we noticed this Goldenrod Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) hiding in the foliage.

May 25, 2025May 25, 2025

Late May Action in the Forest

Here’s a short preview of some of the finds you can expect during an outing in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed’s forests this week…

The Mountain Laurel, designated as Pennsylvania’s state flower, is now in bloom.

Mountain Laurel Flower Buds — The buds of the Mountain Laurel remind us of a sugary frosting freshly squeezed from a baker’s pastry bag.

Mountain Laurel Flowers — The flowers of the Mountain Laurel, an evergreen understory shrub, invite pollinators to stop by for a sweet treat.

Little Wood-Satyrs (Megisto cymela) are patrolling forest edges looking for mates and, to host their eggs and larvae, the stands of grasses they find most suitable.

Many of the species of small butterflies we call skippers are now active. The Zabulon Skipper can be found patrolling grassy forest edges, particularly near streams, ponds, and wetlands.

Among the showiest of our butterflies, the Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) is seen here on the leaves of a Black Cherry, its favored host plant.

Butterfly observers will do well to pay a visit to the new Susquehanna Riverlands State Park on Furnace Road north of Hellam in York County, Pennsylvania.

Trail to Schull's Rock Overlook — Upon arrival at Susquehanna Riverlands, drive back the gravel road for about a mile to the parking area at the edge of the agricultural field. Then, hike the trail through the woods and farm hedgerow to the Schull’s Rock overlook on the river. In the forests along this route, the understory is dominated by colonial stands of Common Pawpaw trees.

Along the lookout trail to Schull’s Rock, the Common Pawpaws’ large leaves help them to shade out potentially fast-growing competition. In proper growing situations, pawpaws develop clonal suckers that mature over time to create colonial stands of a single genetic plant.

Common Pawpaw understory. — A Common Pawpaw understory along the approach to Schull’s Rock.

During our recent visit to Schull’s Rock, dozens of Zebra Swallowtails were seen along the trail, many in the vicinity of their sole host plant, the Common Pawpaw. But even more were observed along the edges of the fields and woods where nectar sources like this Multiflora Rose were being visited by numbers of butterflies we normally see only among abundant species like Cabbage Whites. Absolutely amazing!

Scull's Rock Overlook — And the view of the Susquehanna and the Shock’s Mills railroad bridge at the mouth of Codorus Creek is pretty good too!

Common Pawpaw and Hooded Warbler — You can look for colonial stands of Common Pawpaw at other parks and preserves along the lower Susquehanna as well. Birds like this Hooded Warbler can sometimes be found among them in mature riparian forests along the steep slopes of the river gorge.

Common Pawpaw and Baltimore Oriole — A Baltimore Oriole in a Common Pawpaw along a forest edge.

Meanwhile in the treetops, the spring thrust of Neotropical migrants is drawing to a close. The Blackpoll Warbler is typically one of the last to transit the lower Susquehanna valley on its way to northern coniferous forests for summer. They’ve had an unusually protracted movement through the region this spring, the earliest individuals reported during late April. Though very difficult to see in the canopy of the mature trees where it feeds and sings, hearing one is often a benchmark for senior birders each spring. Older observers have often said of the Blackpoll Warbler’s high-pitched song, a rapid series of insect-like staccato “tseet” notes, that it was the first they could no longer detect as their ears started losing sensitivity.

In many tracts along the lower Susquehanna this spring, the American Redstart is turning out to be the most common nesting warbler. Conditions favoring their reproductive success in recent cycles, as well as good survival rates during their migrations and stays on wintering grounds, have filled many lowland forests with redstart songs in 2025. Is this the start of a trend or just an exceptionally good year? Time will tell.

Yet one more reason for a stroll in local forests this week is the chance to see and hear the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Look for these Neotropical relatives of the cardinal nesting on territories in mature stands of deciduous trees like this Yellow Poplar, a species also known as the Tuliptree.

They spend nearly all their time among the canopy foliage of the largest timber…

May 6, 2025May 6, 2025

Singing in the Rain

Neotropical birds are fairly well acquainted with repetitive periods of thundershowers. With that in mind, we decided not to waste this stormy Tuesday by remaining indoors.

Utility Right-of-way with Successional Habitat — We hiked this utility right-of-way to the north of a heavy thunderstorm and found plenty of activity in the shrubby successional habitat there.

Rain or shine, male Indigo Buntings were busy singing. All this exuberance is intended not only to establish and defend a nesting territory…

Prior to the implementation of the intensive manicuring practices we see currently applied to most utility right-of-ways, shrubby thickets filled miles of these linear corridors to create a webbed network of early successional growth throughout the lower Susquehanna valley. Loss of this specialized habitat has led to the almost total elimination of the formerly common Blue-winged Warbler as a breeding species here.

Another Neotropical species that nests in successional thickets is the Prairie Warbler (Setophaga discolor), seen here during one of this morning’s downpours.

The Hooded Warbler is fond of wooded thickets along the edge of forested land such as those in the Third/Stony Mountain utility right-of-way.

We hope you enjoyed our walk in the rain as much as we did. If you venture out on a similar excursion, please remember this. The majority of the wild animals around us have busy lives, particularly at this time of year. Most don’t take a day off just because it rains—that includes ticks.

Female Deer Tick — Be certain to check yourself for ticks, especially these very small Deer Ticks (Ixodes scapularis), also known as Black-legged Ticks. Deer Ticks are vigilantly looking for something to latch onto, even in the rain, and they can be vectors of Lyme disease. We found this adult female as a stowaway on the editor’s neck just before heading home from today’s stroll.

May 5, 2025May 13, 2025

Shad Run at Conowingo Dam

As the Flowering Dogwoods remind us, it’s time for adult sea-run shad and other fishes to ascend the Susquehanna to spawn. So yep, we’re off to Fisherman’s Park on the river’s west shoreline below Conowingo Dam in Harford County, Maryland, to check it out.

Anglers at Conowingo Dam — Anglers were in the water and seeing action as we arrived below Conowingo Dam’s powerhouse at Fisherman’s Park. The east lift, which was constructed during the 1990s to raise American Shad and other migratory fish over the dam during their spring spawning runs, sits idle at the impoundment end of the wing wall in the distance.

The entrance to the idle east fish lift at Conowingo Dam.

Within minutes, we watched one of the culprits responsible for the lift’s shutdown being reeled in. The invasive population of introduced Northern Snakeheads continues to thrive in the waters of the Susquehanna and its tributaries below the dam. To prevent it from expanding its range to upriver sections of the watershed, all American Shad are being manually separated from among the snakeheads and other fish species deposited into sorting tanks using the west lift near the powerhouse.

Shad Transport Truck — One of several specialized transport vehicles returns from a “shad run” to the waters of the Susquehanna above York Haven Dam at Conewago Falls after delivering and releasing American Shad sorted from among the fish collected at Conowingo’s west lift earlier in the day.

American Shad began their run up the Susquehanna as water temperatures reached 60 degrees Fahrenheit…just about the time the Flowering Dogwoods started to bloom within the river’s riparian woodlands. Later this month, spawning activity peaks when the water warms to about 65 degrees. Earlier in the season, when the water reached about 55 degrees, another anadromous species, the Hickory Shad (seen here), began their spring spawning run from sea to freshwater rivers and streams.

While American Shad are seldom caught on hook and line, Hickory Shad are a popular catch-and-release target. Though they will energetically strike baits like the small shad dart seen here, Hickory Shad are very cautious while ascending the river; they very rarely enter the fish lifts to join the dozens of other species that readily accept their use. With water temperatures now in the sixties, an angler is seen here bringing in what may be among the last of this season’s Hickory Shad. Their spawning run is presently drawing to a close for the year.

The most commonly caught herring at Fisherman’s Park is the Gizzard Shad. This plankton feeder seldom takes bait; it is instead foul-hooked. Though not a sea-run species, Gizzard Shad by the tens of thousands leave open waters to seek shallower flowing riffles and pools to spawn.

Humans aren’t the only creatures attracted by the fish migration on the lower Susquehanna. This is just one of hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants we watched during our visit.

Cormorant along the base of Conowingo Dam — Hungry cormorants gather along the base of the dam where ascending fish congregate and become further disoriented by water turbulence.

Double-crested Cormorants — Fishing efforts here can bring great success to these accomplished piscivores.

Double-crested Cormorant with Gizzard Shad — Latching onto an oversize Gizzard Shad can make you very popular with your peers.

Bald Eagle with Gizzard Shad — A Bald Eagle hauls off a Gizzard Shad.

Osprey with Gizzard Shad — An Osprey saw this Gizzard Shad swimming close enough to the water’s surface to dive in and snag it with its talons.

An angler releases a small Striped Bass caught on a shad dart while fishing for Hickory Shad. To reduce pressure on their populations during the spring spawning run, the “Striper” harvest is presently closed. The fishing season resumes later this month in some areas, in June within others. On the Susquehanna Flats and other Chesapeake Bay waters, Striped Bass are also known as “Rockfish”.

Angler in Action — This angler is reeling in a big one.

A nice Channel Catfish weighed in at about six pounds and was released.

White Perch — This angler brought in yet another interesting catch.

Double-crested Cormorant with Blue Catfish — A Double-crested Cormorant does its duty and snatches up an invasive Blue Catfish. Very large Blue Catfish exceeding 24 inches in length are becoming increasingly plentiful on the upper Chesapeake and its tributaries resulting in a significant negative impact on the aquatic ecosystems there. Like the Northern Snakehead and Flathead Catfish, these invasive species are very palatable and anglers are encouraged to catch and keep as many as they like.

Eat Snakeheads — Maryland DNR sign at Fisherman’s Park.

Angler with Northern Snakehead — **What can we do about the plague of Northern Snakeheads (Channa argus) in the Susquehanna?** Well, let’s start by answering a question with a question…Why deplete ocean stocks when you can follow this angler’s example and harvest excellent fillets while helping to control an invasive species at the same time? And no, you don’t have to call them “Chesapeake Channa” if you don’t want to. Though you will make us laugh if you start calling them “Susquehanna Channa” or just “Susquechanna” from time to time.

May 4, 2025May 5, 2025

Six Flowering Woody Plants

Here’s a look at six native shrubs and trees you can find blooming along forest edges in the lower Susquehanna valley right now.

The Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), a member of the pea or legume family (Fabaceae), can be a dominant pioneer plant of sunny successional habitats, particularly on poor soils. Nodules along its roots fix nitrogen to help facilitate the growth of the intermediate and climax species of trees and shrubs that replace the pioneers. Initially armed with protective spines to reduce browsing, the Black Locust’s branches become mostly thornless as the tree matures.

The Pinxter Flower, also known as the Pink Azalea, is certainly a contender for our most spectacular native blossoming shrub;…

Spicebush Swallowtail on Pinxter Flower — …this Spicebush Swallowtail seems to like it too.

When in bloom, the Black Cherry is a common sight in regional woodlands. Often seen already covered with blossoms when young and shrub-like, many of these trees will continue flowering and producing fruit throughout the decades required to reach a mature height of 60 feet or more.

The Blackhaw is an understory shrub preferential to sun-dappled areas beneath a break in the forest canopy. Pollinated flowers later produce clusters of blue-black berries for birds and other wildlife.

Local old timers might remember hearing folklore that equates the northward advance of the blooming of the Flowering Dogwoods with the progress of the American Shad’s spring spawning run up the river. While this is hardly a scientific proclamation, it is likely predicated on what had been some rather consistent observation prior to the construction of the lower Susquehanna’s hydroelectric dams. In fact, we’ve found it to be a useful way to remind us that it’s time for a trip to the river shoreline below Conowingo Dam to witness signs of the spring fish migration each year. We’re headed that way now and will summarize our sightings for you in days to come.

April 7, 2025April 7, 2025

Early Season Wildflowers

Here are five common forest flowers that the average visitor to these environs may easily overlook during an early April visit.

The flowers of the Skunk Cabbage, a native member of the arum family, are contained within a spadix which is partially hidden inside the mottled maroon spathe at the base of the plant. In late winter, the closed spathe generates its own heat to melt through frozen water and soils to make its appearance in streamside and spring-fed wooded wetlands, just ahead of the emergence of the large green leaves.

Common Spicebush is a native flowering shrub of damp woodland understories. Later in the season, its foliage provides food for Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars. Pollinated blossoms yield bright-red oblong berries relished by a variety of birds in fall and winter.

The flowers of the indigenous Red Maple will soon generate the familiar helicopter-like winged seeds which readily distribute this native tree into new ground ranging from lowlands to the crests of our highest ridges.

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) is non-native wildflower of Eurasian origin. Reminding one at first glance of a dandelion, it is commonly seen blooming in disturbed areas of woodlands. Coltsfoot often grows where it has little competition from other plants, such as among the debris left behind due to snow plowing and grading along forest roads.

Though not particularly abundant, the non-native Sweet Cherry, an escape from cultivation, is widespread in forests and woodlots throughout the lower Susquehanna valley. Sweet Cherry is believed to be an ancestor of the Sour Cherry (Prunus cerasus) and is frequently used as rootstock for orchard and garden varieties of this popular fruit. Sweet Cherry is often called “Wild Cherry”, a name also applied to the Black Cherry, a native tree which blooms later in the spring.

Be certain to get out and enjoy this year’s blooming seasons of our hundreds of varieties of flowering plants. But, particularly when it comes to native species,…

February 17, 2025February 24, 2025

Think Spring: Order Your Seedlings Now!

Our wildlife has been having a tough winter. The local species not only contend with cold and stormy weather, but they also need to find food and shelter in a landscape that we’ve rendered sterile of these essentials throughout much of the lower Susquehanna valley’s farmlands, suburbs, and cities.

Planting trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses that benefit our animals can go a long way, often turning a ho-hum parcel of property into a privately owned oasis. Providing places for wildlife to feed, rest, and raise their young can help assure the survival of many of our indigenous species. With a little dedication, you can be liberated from the chore of manicuring a lawn and instead spend your time enjoying the birds, mammals, insects, and other creatures that will visit your custom-made habitat.

Verdant Neighborhood — What makes some neighborhoods so appealing? It’s the foresight property owners had a half a century or more ago when they planted their lawns and gardens with a variety of sturdy, long-lived trees and shrubs. They’ve not only minimized the need for mowing grass, they’ve provided the present-day residents of their home with added thermal stability during both the blazing heat of summer and the chilling cold of winter.

Fortunately for us, our local county conservation districts are again conducting springtime tree sales offering a variety of native and beneficial cultivated plants at discount prices. Listed here are links to information on how to pre-order your plants for pickup in April. Click away to check out the species each county is offering in 2025!

Cumberland County Conservation District Annual Tree Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 21, 2025

Pickup on: Thursday, April 24, 2025 or Friday, April 25, 2025

Zebra Swallowtail on Wildflowers — During its 2025 tree seedling sale, the Cumberland County Conservation District is offering Northeast Native Wildflower seed mix for four dollars per ounce. One ounce plants approximately 200 square feet of bare soil. This is a Zebra Swallowtail visiting nectar-rich flowers during July of the first year after sowing this mix at a site along the Susquehanna.

Dauphin County Conservation District Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Monday, March 17, 2025

Pickup on: Thursday, April 24, 2025 or Friday, April 25, 2025

"Red-twig Dogwood" — Able to thrive in wet soils, Red-osier and Silky Dogwood shrubs are ideal plants for intercepting and polishing stormwater in swales, detention/retention basins, and rain gardens. With their crimson twigs in winter, they look great along borders among clusters of cedars, pines, spruces, and other evergreens. They make an excellent choice for soil stabilization along the shorelines of streams, ponds, and other bodies of water too. Buy a dozen or more to create a showy mass planting in your soggy spot.

Franklin County Conservation District Tree Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Pickup on: Thursday, April 24, 2025

The Franklin County Conservation District is offering American Elm seedlings in bundles of 25 for 36 dollars. Start them in pots for a couple of years to really get ’em going, then find places with damp soil and plenty of room to give ’em a try. During autumn, they look great in the company of spruces, white pines, and other large evergreens.

Lancaster County Annual Tree Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 7, 2025

Pickup on: Friday, April 11, 2025

Norway Spruce and White Pine — We purchased these Eastern White Pine, Norway Spruce, and Common Winterberry plants from the Lancaster County Conservation District Tree Sale about four years ago. They’re filling in as understory growth in the margins beneath some thirty-year-old Eastern Hemlocks to create dense cover for resident and visiting fauna at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters.

Lebanon County Conservation District Tree and Plant Sale—

Orders due by: Monday, March 3, 2025

Pickup on: Friday, April 18, 2025

For 2025, the Lebanon County Conservation District is offering Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) trees in packs of ten for twelve dollars. Though native to Asia, these adaptable trees present little threat of naturalizing and have many positive attributes in a conservation planting. Given ample space, the Dawn Redwood, a relative of the sequoias, will rapidly grow to a towering giant. They create a particularly dramatic landscape feature when planted in clumps of three to five trees or more. With age, the trunks become stout and very sturdy. Don’t like raking? The finely divided deciduous foliage can be left where it falls in autumn. It usually disintegrates by spring to enrich the soil and promote more growth.

Three Sequoias — The genus Metasequoia was first described in 1941 based upon fossils collected in Jurassic and earlier strata from widespread locations in the northern hemisphere. Metasequoia were believed extinct until just a few years later when a small number of living Dawn Redwoods were first discovered in southern China. Now distributed around the world for cultivation, direct descendants of this wild population of Metasequoia glyptostroboides are available for nearly anyone in a temperate climate to plant and grow to exceptional size. (National Park Service image)

The Lebanon County Conservation District is also selling Bald Cypress trees. They’re offered in bundles of ten for ten dollars. These long-lived trees resemble the Dawn Redwood. Both are tolerant of damp ground, but the native Bald Cypress is the species to choose for placement along streams, in wetlands, and on other sites with standing water or saturated soil.

Bald Cypress Swamp — Wildlife rich Bald Cypress swamps currently occur on the Atlantic Coastal Plain as far north as Sussex County, Delaware. Just to the south, they’re also found along Chesapeake Bay in areas that, during the last glacial maximum when sea level was 300 to 400 feet below today’s tide lines, were the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed in portions of present-day Maryland and Virginia. The northward post-glacial range extension of Bald Cypresses is now blocked by centuries of human intervention that has eliminated, isolated, or fragmented the wetland habitats where they could potentially become established. Why not lend them a hand? Plant a cypress swamp in your flood-prone bottomland. (National Park Service image by Andrew Bennett)

York County Conservation District Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: March 15, 2025

Pickup on: Thursday, April 10, 2025

A privacy planting of sturdy, native Eastern White Pines and Northern Red Oaks thriving around the border of a parking area where they also provide shade from the sun and help infiltrate a share of the stormwater that would otherwise become runoff.

Native Northeast Wildflower and Grass mix during its first summer — This year, the York County Conservation District is offering a Showy Northeast Native Wildflower and Grass seed mix for $19.99 per quarter pound. Sure beats mowing!

If you live in Adams County, Pennsylvania, you may be eligible to receive free trees and shrubs for your property from the Adams County Planting Partnership (Adams County Conservation District and the Watershed Alliance of Adams County). These trees are provided by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Keystone 10-Million Trees Partnership which aims to close a seven-year project in 2025 by realizing the goal of planting 10 million trees to protect streams by stabilizing soils, taking up nutrients, reducing stormwater runoff, and providing shade. If you own property located outside of Adams County, but still within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (which includes all of the Susquehanna, Juniata, and Potomac River drainages), you still may have an opportunity to get involved. Contact your local county conservation district office or watershed organization for information.

Planted Riparian Buffer — As they mature, tree and shrub plantings along streams return pollution-controlling functions to floodplains and provide critical habitat for wildlife. These riparian buffers not only improve water quality for fisheries, they also create travel corridors that prevent terrestrial animal populations from becoming isolated.

A CREP Project Area — Do you own a parcel of streamside or wetland acreage that you’d like to set aside and plant for the benefit of wildlife and water quality? Contact your local county conservation district office and ask them to tell you about CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program) and other programs that may offer incentives including payment of all or a portion of the costs of plantings and other habitat improvements.

We hope you’re already shopping. Need help making your selections? Click on the “Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines” tab at the top of this page to check out Uncle Tyler Dyer’s leaf collection. He has most of the species labelled with their National Wetland Plant List Indicator Rating. You can consult these ratings to help find species suited to the soil moisture on your planting site(s). For example: if your site has sloped upland ground and/or the soils sometimes dry out in summer, select plants with a rating such as UPL or FACU. If your planting in soils that remain moist or wet, select plants with the OBL or FACW rating. Plants rated FAC are generally adaptable and can usually go either way, but may not thrive or survive under stressful conditions in extremely wet or dry soils.

NATIONAL WETLAND PLANT LIST INDICATOR RATING DEFINITIONS

- - OBL (Obligate Wetland Plants)—Almost always occur in wetlands.
  - FACW (Facultative Wetland Plants)—Usually occur in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands.
  - FAC (Facultative Wetland Plants)—Occur in wetlands and non-wetlands.
  - FACU (Facultative Upland Plants)—Usually occur in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands.
  - UPL (Upland Plants)—Almost never occur in wetlands.

Using these ratings, you might choose to plant Pin Oaks (FACW) and Swamp White Oaks (FACW) in your riparian buffer along a stream; Northern Red Oaks (FACU) and White Oaks (FACU) in the lawn or along the street, driveway, or parking area; and Chestnut Oaks (UPL) on your really dry hillside with shallow soil. Give it a try.

December 11, 2024December 14, 2024

Purple Finch Irruption?

Each spring and fall, Purple Finches are regular migrants through the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed. Northbound movements usually peak in April and early May. During the summer, these birds nest primarily in cool coniferous forests to our north. Then, in October and November each year, they make another local appearance on their way to wintering grounds in the southeastern United States. A significant population of Purple Finches remains to our north through the colder months, inhabiting spruce-pine and mixed forests from the Great Lakes east through New England and southeastern Canada. This population can be irruptive, moving south in conspicuous numbers to escape inclement weather, food shortages, and other environmental conditions. Every few years, these irruptive birds can be found visiting suburbs, parks, and feeding stations—sometimes lingering in areas not often visited by Purple Finches. Right now, Purple Finches in flocks larger than those that moved through earlier in the fall are being seen throughout the lower Susquehanna valley. Snow and blustery weather to our north may be prompting these birds to shift south for a visit. Here are some looks at members of a gathering of more than four dozen Purple Finches we’ve been watching in Lebanon County this month…

Male Purple Finch — A male Purple Finch in successional forest edge habitat consumes seeds from a dried stand of goldenrod.

October 30, 2024October 31, 2024

A Towering American Elm

During the past week, Uncle Tyler Dyer has been out searching for autumn leaves to add to his collection. One of the species he had not encountered in previous outings was the American Elm (Ulmus americana), so he made a special trip to see a rare mammoth specimen in a small neighborhood park (Park Place) along Chestnut Street between 5th and Quince Streets in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

American Elm at Park Place in Lebanon, Pennsylvania — Possibly the largest and oldest remaining American Elm in the lower Susquehanna watershed, the Park Place tree in Lebanon exceeds 60 feet in height and may be more than 300 years of age. In the nearly one hundred years since Dutch elm disease (DED) first began killing elms in eastern North America, this tree has been spared the fatal effects of the infection. DED is caused by several species of microfungi (Ophiostoma ulmi, O. himal-ulmi, and O. novo-ulmi) spread by numerous bark beetle (Curculionidae) species. As early as 1928, infected beetles arrived in the United States from the Netherlands among shipments of logs.

There’s still time to get out and see autumn foliage. With warmer weather upon us—at least temporarily—it’s a good time to go for a stroll. Who knows, you might find some spectacular leaves like these collected by Uncle Ty earlier this week. All were found adorning native plants!

Winged Sumac (Rhus copallina), a small native tree. In case you’re wondering, it’s not poisonous.

Black Chokeberry (Photinia melanocarpa), a native shrub also known as Aronia. It produces black-colored fruits in summer.

Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea), a shrub that prefers wet or damp soils. It yields white fruits.

Maple-leafed Viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium), a native shrub of upland forest understories.

Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), a native shrub and the source of many cultivated forms of the popular fruit.

To identify your finds, be certain to click the “Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines” tab at the top of this page to check out Uncle Ty’s extensive collection.

August 31, 2024August 31, 2024

A Prescribed Fire Site After the Burn

Back on March 24th, we took a detailed look at the process involved in administering prescribed fire as a tool for managing grassland and early successional habitat. Today we’re going turn back the hands of time to give you a glimpse of how the treated site fared during the five months since the controlled burn. Let’s go back to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area for a photo tour to see how things have come along…

Prescribed Fire application in March — Pennsylvania Game Commission crews administering prescribed fire on a grassland demonstration site back on March 16.

Prescribed Fire Site in May — By late May, native herbaceous perennial wildflowers including Joe-pye Weed had re-greened the site. One of the goals of the burn was to kill fire-sensitive woody plants, thus preventing the process of succession from reforesting the site.

Yellow-breasted Chat in May — Because prescribed fire is administered in a mosaic pattern that permits some early successional growth to remain until the next burn, birds including this thicket-nesting Yellow-breasted Chat are able to take advantage of the mixed habitat during their breeding season in May and June.

Prescribed Fire Site in August — By August, the site is a haven for native plants and animals.

Native Warm-season Grasses and Wildlflowers in August — The burn has promoted the growth and late-summer bloom of fire-tolerant native wildflowers and warm-season grasses…

Indiangrass in Flower — …including Indiangrass,…

Thin-leaved Coneflower, a plant also known as Brown-eyed Susan. — …Thin-leaved Coneflower (Rudbeckia triloba), a plant also known as Brown-eyed Susan,…

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail collecting nectar from Joe-pye Weed.

Black-morph Eastern Tiger Swallowtail — A black-morph Eastern Tiger Swallowtail collecting nectar from Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea steobe micranthos), a non-native invasive plant found growing in an area of the burn site missed by this year’s fire. While many non-native plants are unable to survive the flames and heat produced by prescribed fire, it isn’t an absolute cure-all. It doesn’t eliminate all invasive plants, it just keeps them from dominating a landscape by out-competing native species. Left unmanaged, Spotted Knapweed is a tough perennial invasive that can easily become one the species able to overtake a vulnerable grassland. It can be a stubborn survivor of some prescribed burns. On the plus side, butterflies really like it.

By August, native grassland plants in the prescribed fire area were already providing an abundance of seeds for birds including this American Goldfinch.

For larger birds like turkeys and pheasants, an abundance of Carolina Grasshoppers are providing a protein-dense food source in managed grasslands.

And tiny flying insects, a nuisance to us as we take a stroll alongside the grasslands, are a meal taken on the wing by dragonflies including this Black Saddlebags.

Elsewhere around the refuge at Middle Creek, prescribed fire and other management techniques are providing high-quality grassland habitat for numerous species of nesting birds…

Bobolinks nested both in areas subjected to controlled burns…

Bobolink in Hay Field — …and in hay fields where mowing was delayed until the nesting season, including the fledging process, was completed earlier this month.

As advertised, Grasshopper Sparrows nested in these fields as well.

We hope you enjoyed this short photo tour of grassland management practices. Now, we’d like to leave you with one last set of pictures—a set you may find as interesting as we found them. Each is of a different Eastern Cottontail, a species we found to be particularly common on prescribed fire sites when we took these images in late May. The first two are of the individuals we happened to be able to photograph in areas subjected to fire two months earlier in March. The latter two are of cottontails we happened to photograph elsewhere on the refuge in areas not in proximity to ground treated with a prescribed burn or exposed to accidental fire in recent years.

These first two rabbits are living the good life in a warm-season grass wonderland.

Eastern Cottontail with ticks. — Eastern Cottontail at a site not subjected to any recent fire activity.

Oh Deer! Oh Deer! These last two rabbits have no clock to track the time; they have only ticks. Better not go for a stroll with them Alice—that’s no wonderland! I know, I know, it’s time to go. See ya later.

August 30, 2024August 31, 2024

Aphrodite Fritillary

The Aphrodite Fritillary (Speyeria aphrodite), also known simply as the Aphrodite, is a brush-footed butterfly of deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forests. We found this female in a grassland margin between woodlots where prescribed fire was administered during the autumn of 2022 to reduce accumulations of natural fuels and an overabundance of invasive vegetation. A goal of the burn was to promote the growth of native species including the violets (Viola species) favored as larval host plants by this and other fritillaries.

By the time these adult butterflies make their reproductive flights in late summer, the violets that serve as larval host plants have gone dormant. To find patches of ground where the violets will come to life in spring, the female Aphrodite Fritillary has an ability to sense the presence of dormant roots, probably by smell. Upon finding an area where suitable violets will begin greening up next year, she’ll deposit her eggs. The eggs overwinter, then hatch to feed on the tender new violet leaves of spring.

August 6, 2024August 6, 2024

Photo of the Day

Berries and foliage of the Black Gum, also known as the Black Tupelo. — In the forests and woodlots of the lower Susquehanna watershed, the Black Gum, also known as the Black Tupelo, is always the first of our native trees to pop with autumn color. Its crimson leaves glow in an otherwise green landscape to help lure hungry birds including waxwings, American Robins, and Pileated Woodpeckers to its soon-to-be-ripe berries. The seeds contained in the fruit are thus well-distributed as a by-product of this avian feast. While not among the most massive of our trees, the Black Gum can live for over five hundred years, an age not exceeded by any other non-clonal indigenous flowering plant.

July 27, 2024July 27, 2024

Wildflower Meadow Update

Do you recall our “Photo of the Day” from seven months ago…

Riverfront Park Wildflower Meadow — 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!

Well, here’s what that site looks like today…

And there are pollinating insects galore, most notably butterflies…

A Cabbage White collecting nectar on Blue Vervain.

A Sulphur — A Clouded or Orange Sulphur among the grasses in the meadow.

The Least Skipper is our tiniest butterfly.

The Little Glassywing (Vernia verna), this one feeding on vervain nectar, deposits its eggs on Purpletop grass, which then functions as the host plant for this butterfly’s larvae.

A Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta) feeding on the nectar of a Black-eyed Susan.

A Common Buckeye on a “Gloriosa Daisy”, a showy, large-flowered cultivar of Black-eyed Susan.

A Red-winged Blackbird with a caterpillar found among the meadow’s lush growth.

An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Blue Vervain. Nearby Yellow (Tulip) Poplars and other trees serve as host plants for this butterfly’s larvae.

The Sachem, this one visiting a Black-eyed Susan, is a variable species with a range that normally lies south of the 40th parallel, the line of latitude that intersects the Susquehanna in the area of the Conejohela Flats at Washington Boro.

A Sachem visiting the blooms of Oxeye sunflower. During recent weeks, scorching winds from the south and southwest have transported an abundance of these vagrant skippers into the lower Susquehanna valley and beyond.

Here and there among the meadow’s plantings we noticed one of our favorites starting to flower, the Partridge Pea.

Partridge Pea happens to be a host plant for another vagrant from the south, the big, lime-yellow Cloudless Sulphur. We saw at least half a dozen patrolling the meadow.

Why on earth would anyone waste their time, energy, and money mowing grass when they could have this? Won’t you please consider committing graminicide this fall? That’s right, kill that lawn—at least the majority of it. Then visit the Ernst Seed website, buy some “Native Northeast Wildlflower Mix” and/or other blends, and get your meadow planted in time for the 2025 growing season. Just think of all the new kinds of native plants and animals you’ll be seeing. It could change your life as well as theirs.

A Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis), more commonly known as a hummingbird moth, visits the flowers of Blue Vervain in the Riverfront Park wildflower meadow.

June 29, 2024August 30, 2024

Fish Nurseries in the Susquehanna

Resilient to the pressures of flooding, ice scour, drought, and oft times really poor water quality, Water Willow (Dianthera americana, formerly Justicia americana) is the most common herbaceous plant on the Susquehanna’s non-forested alluvial islands. Yet, few know this native wildflower by name or reputation.

Water Willow on Alluvial Island — Pure stands of emergent Water Willow endure at times brutal conditions on non-forested islands in the Susquenanna.

Water Willow (foreground) and Black Willow. — Alluvial deposits of sand, clay, gravel, and silt create ideal substrate for mats of Water Willow along shorelines of the Susquehanna and its larger tributaries. Provided the loose substrate remains moist, this emergent thrives even when water levels retreat during periods of dry weather. The woody plant in the background, the native Black Willow (Salix nigra), shares similar soil preferences but is found growing on slightly higher ground as a non-emergent tree or shrub. It is a member of the willow family (Salicaceae).

Water Willow in bloom. — In bloom now, the orchid-like flower of the Water Willow is a quick giveaway that it is not a close relative of the willow trees but is instead a member of the acanthus family (Acanthaceae) and is allied with the genus Ruellia, the wild petunias.

The spring of 2024 has been very kind to our beds of Water Willow. Rainfall in the Susquehanna watershed has been frequent enough to maintain river levels just high enough to keep the roots of the plants wet. During the interludes in storm activity, dry spells have rolled back any threat of flooding on the river’s main stem, thus eliminating chances of submerging the plants in muddy water and preventing the sun from keeping them warm, happy, and flowering early. Thundershowers throughout the basin earlier this week have now raised the river a few inches to inundate the base of the plants and make mats of Water Willow favorable places for newly hatched fry and other young fish to take refuge while they grow. Here’s a look…

The Spottail Shiner (Notropis hudsonius) is a common native minnow of the Susquehanna. This juvenile was found among several dozen small fish taking refuge in the cover of Water Willow below Conewago Falls.

The Mimic Shiner (Notropis volucellus) is generally regarded to be a native transplant from the Mississippi drainage that has become established in the Susquehanna and many of its tributaries, possibly after introduction by way of bait buckets. However, the fish tends to be very fragile and dies quickly upon handling, so its use and transport as a bait species may be impractical. The Mimic Shiner is very common in around Conewago Falls.

Juvenile Mimic Shiner — A juvenile Mimic Shiner less than one inch in length found among flooded Water Willow below Conewago Falls earlier this week.

Juvenile Quillback — One of about a dozen juvenile Quillbacks (Carpiodes cyprinus) found in Water Willow just below Conewago Falls. For spawning, local populations of this compact native species of carpsucker favor the gravel-bottomed pools among the Jurassic-Triassic boulders of the falls’ pothole rocks. Probably hatched within the last eight weeks, this specimen was just one inch long.

Spotfin/Satinfin Shiner among Water Willow Rhizomes — As summer progresses, stands of emergent Water Willow begin to expand their size by sending out rhizomes. Increasing numbers of small fish like this Spotfin/Satinfin Shiner (Cyprinella species) concentrate in the cover of the thickening vegetation.

Spotfin/Satinfin Shiners — The importance of these patches of emergent wildflowers (sounds weird, doesn’t it?) is demonstrated by the numbers of fish gathered within their underwater forest of stems and leaves by summertime.

Spotfin/Satinfin Shiners (Cyprinella species) — To protect them from burial by silt and to prevent them from being swept away by current, spawning Spotfin/Satinfin Shiners deposit their eggs in crevices of submerged rocks and wood, often in or near mats of Water Willow. Males guard the eggs until hatching. The fry must then take shelter among boulders, cobble, and plant cover. Note the breeding-condition male in the upper right.

Panfish like this non-native Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) will often choose nesting sites in deeper water adjacent to beds of Water Willow, particularly if submerged growth like this Water Stargrass adds to the availability of cover for their young after hatching.

Smallmouth Bass gather in a pool adjacent to a Water Willow-covered island. These non-native predators rely on beds of these indigenous plants to provide habitat for their young, then, after spawning, lurk in the waters surrounding them to ambush less-than-vigilant minnows and other victims.

By now you’ve come to appreciate the importance of Water Willow to the sustainability of our populations of fish and other aquatic life. Like similar habitat features that reduce sediment runoff and nutrient pollution, undisturbed stands of terrestrial, emergent, and submerged native plant species are essential to the viability of our freshwater food webs.

June 15, 2024June 15, 2024

Photo of the Day

The minuscule Long-legged Fly (Condylostylus species) is a predatory consumer of soft-bodied invertebrates. In the headquarters garden, we found this individual and others scurrying around on the leaves of Common Milkweed where they may be seeking to gobble up infesting aphids.

June 14, 2024

Photo of the Day

A nectar-seeking Honey Bee visits the fragrant flowers of a Common Milkweed.

May 22, 2024May 23, 2024

Photo of the Day

Paulownia in Flower — While in flower, this extensive stand of Princess Trees (Paulownia tomentosa) straddling Second Mountain north of Harrisburg might be mistaken for a series of boulder outcrops. Native to eastern Asia, the fast-growing Princess Tree has escaped cultivation to become naturalized in many parts of eastern North America. You’ll currently notice the showy purple blooms on many forested ridges and hilltops throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed. Paulownia tomentosa is also known as the Phoenix Tree, a name derived from its ability, due to its extensive root system, to regenerate following fire. This fast-growing invasive therefore calls for measures in addition to prescribed burns for control within infected forests. Mechanical and/or chemical methods of removal are frequently required.

March 24, 2024May 13, 2026

Prescribed Fire: Controlled Burns for Forest and Non-forest Habitats

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 on Fire — Indiangrass (seen here), Switchgrass, Big Bluestem, and Little Bluestem are native species requiring periodic forms of disturbance to eliminate competition by woody plants. Intentional fires ignited by pre-Columbian human residents of eastern North America may have been at least partially responsible for the survival and distribution of burn-reliant species in the post-glacial landscape. 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 the periodic occurrence of fires, these 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.
  - Create, enhance, and/or manage specialized habitats.
  - 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 Fire at Fort Indiantown Gap — 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 fire in grassland. — 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.

Prescribed Fire to Control Invasive Species — 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.

A woodlot understory choked with combustible fuels and tangles of invasive Multiflora Rose. — 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.

Precribed Fire to Eliminate Woody Growth — 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.

Precribed Fire Education Sign at middle creek Wildlife Management Area — 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.

…and stocked Ring-necked Pheasants that do nest and raise young there.

Prescribed Burn Maintains Savanna-like Habitat — 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.

Pitch Pines in Savanna-like Habitat — 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.

Red-headed Woodpecker Adult and Juvenile — Savanna-like grasslands with oaks and other scattered large trees, some of them dead, make attractive nesting habitat for the uncommon Red-headed Woodpecker.

Wild Turkey in Savanna-like Habitat — 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 Burn to Reduce Prevalence of Reed Canary Grass — 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.

Depiction of Pennsylvania's Last American Bison, Killed in Union County in 1801. (Exhibit: State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg) — 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.

Honey Bee Collecting Minerals After Prescribed Burn — 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.

Fly Collecting Minerals from Burned Grasses — 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. — 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.

Burn Boss Checking Weather — 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.

Burn Boss Briefing Crew — 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.

Prescribed Fire Test Burn — 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.

Igniting the Fire — Crews proceed uphill from the location of the test fire while igniting combustibles along both flanks of the area being treated.

Prescribed Fire Crew Member with Equipment — 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.

Wildfire ATV — 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.

Effective Fire Break — 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.

Halting the Process of Succession in a Grassland with Prescribed 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).

Containing the Fire on the Flanks — Crews proceed up the slope while maintaining the perimeter by igniting dry plant material along the flanks of the burn zone.

The Crew Monitors the Burn — Ignition complete, the crews monitor the fire.

Prescribed Fire: Natural Mosaic-style Burn Pattern — 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.

Bobolinks in Indiangrass — 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.

February 22, 2024February 24, 2024

Time to Order Trees and Shrubs for Spring

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.

Mature Trees in a Suburban Neighborhood — 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.

Cumberland County Conservation District Annual Tree Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 22, 2024

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.

Dauphin County Conservation District Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Monday, March 18, 2024

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.

Lancaster County Annual Tree Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 8, 2024

Pickup on: Friday, April 12, 2024

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.

American Goldfinches and Pine Siskin on Sweet Gum — 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.

Sweet Gum in a Beaver Pond — 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.

Silky Dogwood Stream Buffer — “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.

Lebanon County Conservation District Tree and Plant Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 8, 2024

Pickup on: Friday, April 19, 2024

Common Pawpaw flower — 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.

Hybrid American Chestnut — Care to try your hand at raising some chestnuts? Lebanon County Conservation District has hybrid American Chestnut seedlings for sale.

Perry County Conservation District Tree Sale—

Orders due by: Sunday, March 24, 2024

Pickup on: Thursday, April 11, 2024

Pollinator Garden — 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.

Eastern Bluebird — Wait, what?,…twelve bucks,…that’s cheaper than renting!

York County Conservation District Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 15, 2024

Pickup on: Thursday, April 11, 2024

Buttonbush flower — 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.

Deciduous Tree Planting Protected by Shelters — 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!

February 15, 2024February 15, 2024

Birds Beginning to Wander

Since Tuesday’s snow storm, the susquehannawiildlife.net headquarters garden continues to bustle with bird activity.

Carolina Chickadee feeding on sunflower seed. — 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.

American Robin eating Common Winterberry fruits. — 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 feeding on Eastern Red Cedar berries. — 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!

February 13, 2024

Robins in a Snowstorm

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.

American Robin feeding on Common Winterberry — The fruits of Common Winterberry are always a favorite of visiting robins.

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.

Female Eastern Bluebird — With the local mockingbird busily harassing robins, our Eastern Bluebirds went unmolested long enough to stop by…

Bluebird Feeder — …for some raisins from their enclosed feeder.

Male Eastern Bluebird — A showy male Eastern Bluebird on a snowy day in the garden. Spring must be just around the corner!

January 3, 2024March 30, 2024

Birds of the Sunny Grasslands

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…

Grasslands and Hedgerows — 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 Common Persimmon tree found growing in a hedgerow. — The sun-dried fruits of a native Common Persimmon tree found growing in a hedgerow.

Savanna-like Grasslands — 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.

White-throated Sparrows were also abundant, but prefer the tangles and shrubs of the thickets.

In grasses and tangles on wetter ground, about a dozen Swamp Sparrows were discovered.

The adult White-crowned Sparrow is always a welcome find.

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.

Standing Clump of Timber — Within grasslands, scattered stands of live and dead timber can provide valuable habitat for many species of animals.

A "snag" with an excavated nest cavity. — Woodpeckers and other cavity-nesting birds rely upon an abundance of “snags” (standing dead trees) for breeding sites.

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.

November 23, 2023

Time to Eat

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…

A male Downy Woodpecker gets a bill full of suet.

An Eastern Gray Squirrel stuffs itself on peanuts dropped by the birds.

November 4, 2023November 23, 2023

Photo of the Day

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.

October 27, 2023October 28, 2023

Visit South Mountain for the Brightest Foliage Display You’ve Ever Seen

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.

Pennsylvania State Parks on South Mounatin — 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.

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.

October 11, 2023

Photo of the Day

A Monarch butterfly takes a break from its southbound migration to energize on nectar from a goldenrod flower.

October 5, 2023October 5, 2023

Late Season Ruby-throated Hummingbirds…Again

Last October 3rd, a late-season Ruby-throated Hummingbird stopped by the garden at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters to take shelter from a rainy autumn storm. It was so raw and chilly that we felt compelled to do something we don’t normally do—put out the sugar water feeder to supplement the nectar produced by our fall-flowering plants. After several days of constant visits to the feeder and the flowers, our lingering hummer resumed its southbound journey on October 7th.

Fast forward to this afternoon and what do you know, at least two migrating hummingbirds have stopped by to visit the flowers in our garden. This year, we have an exceptional abundance of blooms on some of their favorite plants. In the ponds, aquatic Pickerelweed is topped with purple spikes and we still have bright orange tubular flowers on one of our Trumpet Vines—a full two to three months later than usual.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Mexican Cigar — As is typically the case, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds quickly gravitate toward the tubular flowers of our Cuphea ignea, the Mexican Cigar. They find these showy plants to be absolutely irresistible.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Bat-faced Cuphea — We’re trying some new cultivars of Cuphea to see how they do. As this composite image shows, the hummingbirds won’t let our Bat-faced Cuphea (Cuphea llavea) alone. It’s another plant native to Mexico and Central America, right where some of our hummingbirds spend the winter.

Remember, keep those feeders clean and the provisions fresh! You’ll be glad you did.