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Living in the Appalachian Forest
If you have aliens on your property, March is the month to take inventory. That’s because many of the most damaging ones leaf out way ahead of native plants. Scientists call the worst of these plants “invasives.” And invade they do, especially over on the former property of our logger-neighbor. Back in 1991, before we…
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Nature’s Ultimate Bankers
It’s late January as I crunch over frosty, fallen leaves on my way to Coyote Bench. Almost immediately I hear the high-pitched whine of a female gray squirrel in a mating chase. Four male squirrels are after her, but one male fends off the others. Once the female turns and faces him at the end…
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A Red-breasted Winter
Last winter we had our first ever red-breasted nuthatch at our bird feeders. The little mite zipped in and out from late November until late April, keeping his own company in as singular a fashion as our lone wintering song sparrow. Was I merely dazzled by his rareness here to think him more attractive than…
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Alan’s Bench
We have a new bench on our property–a memorial bench–built to honor one of our youngest hunters. Seventeen-year-old Alan Harshberger died in a pickup truck collision, through no fault of his, on Memorial Day weekend 2000. The bench was built by Tim Tyler, a hunter friend of ours who is a close friend of the…
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The Leaves of Autumn
Weeks before the maples and oaks turn color, I have already been satiated by the brilliant hues of the understory trees, shrubs, and vines. From the time I spot the first scarlet and purple leaves on black gum trees in late August until the understory leaves fall in mid-October, I am surrounded by gold, purple,…
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Visitor from the Taiga
The church bells began ringing at twelve noon and continued for ten minutes. It was the National Day of Prayer–September 14, 2001. Everyone was focused on the death and destruction of September 11, praying both for the victims and the survivors, and looking for a ray of hope in that dark time. To find that…
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Coyote Birthday
Two summers ago I reached one of those milestone birthdays that I didn’t want to think about. “Don’t bother celebrating my birthday,” I told my family. “But Mom,” our son Dave protested, “I’m going to give you coyotes for your birthday.” I was skeptical that he could do so even though our adventure with coyotes…
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Mobbed by Birds
Last year I was mobbed eleven times. I was always minding my own business as I walked quietly along our woodland trails, but nesting birds didn’t see it that way. To them I was a predator, and they wanted me to move on. Birds or other animals mob by harassing a common enemy such as…
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Turtle Woods Wildflower Sanctuary
I never should have taken my husband Bruce to see Latham’s Acre. Located at State Game Lands 30 on Dividing Ridge in southeastern McKean County, it was like stepping into a lost world, one that had been fenced to keep out deer back in 1949 by Roger Latham and Stan Forbes of the Pennsylvania Game…
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An Aural April
On a misty morning in early April, I set out on a listening walk. The fog was so thick I could barely make out the trail in front of me. But although my visibility was almost zero, my hearing was excellent. First I stood in our yard and listened to the assorted whistles of a…
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Marcia Bonta 