The Naturalist Notebook

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We continue to welcome back our returning migrants. An Eastern phoebe has been singing for a couple of weeks now, and was joined this weekend by chipping sparrows, pine warblers, and a blue-headed vireo! Migration Morning Bird Walks with Doug Wentzel start this week. Meet here at Shaver’s Creek every Wednesday at 7AM through early…

Pre-festival fridge at Shaver’s Creek! Thank you Meyer Dairy!