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Golden-wings
The last time I saw a golden-winged warbler on our property was May 29, 2008, when I heard him singing his “bee, bzz, bzz” song and tracked him to his usual nesting spot at the top edge of First Field. Of course, that wasn’t the only place I saw golden-winged warblers on our property. But
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Long-term Ecological Reflections Project
A year ago I was asked to join the host of artists, writers, scientists, and students who have contributed to Penn State’s Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center’s Long-term Ecological Reflections Project (LTERP). Begun ten years ago under the auspices of Dr. Ian Marshall of Penn State Altoona’s Environmental Studies Program, the hope is to continue such
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Wintering Short-eared Owls
For years I have wanted to see the wintering short-eared owls of Adams County, especially after reading an article in National Wildlife about the dozens of these owls at a farm in the winter of 2005. But as the years passed, it seemed as if the large numbers had dwindled. Then, in early March, I
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Chipmunk Lives
It was eight degrees at dawn on February 6, and once again I was out on snowshoes looking for animal tracks. That’s when I spotted eastern chipmunk tracks emerging from a burrow hole beneath one log and moving over the snow to a hole underneath another log. Possibly it was a male checking out the
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Tracking Snow
Most Januarys it is cold and light snows fall which make ideal tracking weather. Only then do we discover, for instance, that we have fishers on our mountain property. Last winter, in mid-January, it was a relatively balmy 16 degrees Fahrenheit, after days below zero or in the single digits, although three days before, it
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American Treecreepers
I always think of brown creepers as winter birds but, depending where you live in Pennsylvania, they may be summer residents, spring and fall migrators, and/or winter visitors. Because we live on the westernmost ridge in the ridge-and-valley province, they are migrators as well as winter visitors. But along the Allegheny Front and in the
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Carolina Chickadees
For years I thought I could tell the difference between black-capped and Carolina chickadees by their songs and calls. After all, I had heard them one winter on the mall in Washington, D.C. and they certainly sounded different from the black-cappeds I was used to. So last winter, when I heard a calling chickadee that
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Migrating Palm Warblers
It’s the middle of October and every day songbird migrants dwindle. Still, between rainstorms one morning the trees fill with warblers, especially yellow-rumps, which haven’t all that far to go. But I spot the pumping tail of a palm warbler too. The following day three palm warblers sit and bob their tails in the one
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Food for Wildlife
After three lean years, our oak trees finally produced a bumper crop of acorns last September. Forewarned by hordes of blue jays screaming from the treetops as they plucked ripe acorns from the oaks, I had to be careful on our steep trails not to slide on the fallen nuts that were more hazardous than
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Little Brown Bats
Before white-nose syndrome, we could sit out on our unscreened veranda even after dark and rarely see or hear a mosquito. A few male little brown bats roosted in our barn and in openings under our roof and the guesthouse portico roof.
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Amazing Hooded Warblers
It’s a hot, humid day in mid-July, and a hooded warbler sings his clear, whistled “ta-wit, ta-wit, ta-wit, tee-yo” song. Because hooded warblers have one of the loudest and clearest of warbler songs, it can be heard a long distance, which may be why I can hear it despite a slight hearing loss as I…
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Stony Garden
Researchers puzzled over why only the boulder fields in a thin line from northern Bucks County to nearby Montgomery County outside of Pottstown ring with melodious tones. Current thinking is that they ring because of the density of the rocks and the high degree of internal stress that occurred when the molten rock came close…
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Marcia Bonta 