Naturalist training is over.

Twelve-spot Skimmer (Libellula pulchella), originally uploaded by donnallong.

My core training as a naturalist is over. I am relieved and sad at the same time. I glad because I finally feel as if I am on summer vacation. Saddened because I met some great people and won't see them until next spring.

I loved the camaraderie of a group of like minded people. And of learning from each other.  Learning about the environmental history and natural history of Philadelphia was invaluable. I really wish one of the universities would teach adult education or continuing education classes on the topics.

I will be using what I learned for a long time to come. I plan in the coming weeks to put up photos essays and and journal posts about what I learned.  

Another Funky Photo - Enraged Frog

Green frog (Rana Clamitans) A Philly resident

Shady Morning Walk

Tacony Creek tributary

The weather finally broke yesterday morning. It had been hot and humid for the past several days. The temperature stayed in the 90s. Yesterday, we had a respite. It only reached 83 degrees.

So, I took a walk, along a busy road I usually travel. Cars zoomed by, going 50 on a 40 mile per hour stretch of road. I speed by on this road several times a week. But I miss walking it.

When I walk it, I notice the shade and the gently rolling hills. I stop to peer into the forest that edges the shallow creek that winds over rocks and dives beneath the road to emerge on the other side.

I watch the birds as they stand in the small pools of the creek and dip their heads as they sip.  The squirrels jump from rock to rock as they drink from the winding water. Cool, clear.

This small swallow creek, feeds into the Schuylkill River, into the Delaware River and finally into the sea. The water I gaze into will spill out into Delaware Bay and mingle with the salty drops of the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time being and becoming the sea.

I miss all this as I speed by in my car. But by walking, I hear the sounds, smell the smells and feel the breezes as they brush against my face.

Walking, soothes the soul.

Full Moon Today/Tonight

There is something very sensuous about a full moon. The bigness, the bright face, the dark of the enveloping night.

When I stand outside and gaze at the full moon, I can't help but breathe deeply, feel the chill night air against my skin, and listen. All that is needed is to reach my hands toward the sky and touch the moon.

Enjoy the full moon, tonight.

Funky Nature Photos from Donna

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)

Funky Nature Photos from Donna

Crows Protest Against Screaming Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamicensis)
Photo credit: George Genry/USFS

The Summer Solstice was today and it started with a hew and a cry. Just after 9 am I heard the screaming of a hawk and the crows went crazy. The crows nesting in the Locust tree out back, began to “caw-caw-caw”, frantically until the hawk left the area. 

I craned my neck out my bedroom window but couldn’t see the Hawk in the sky. The hawk  twice gave that husky, piercing scream which told me it was a Red-tailed. 

The call was not the short two-syllable “kerr-kerr” of the Red-shouldered nor the high-pitched whistle (papeeeee) of the Broad-winged. 

I eliminated the Accipiter Hawks because they often stay quiet during the nesting season. But the Buteos can be vocal.

Several hawks are permanent residents here in Philadelphia. The Red-tailed (Buteo jamaicensis) is the most numerous. You can see them circling high in the sky all year around. And Cooper’s Hawks (Accipiter cooperii) live here. Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nest in a few spots within the city proper. A Bald Eagles pair produced two chicks this past April in John Heinz NWR at Tinicum. 

Summer residents include Broad-winged Hawks (Buteo platypterus), Red-shoulders (Buteo lineatus) and Osprey (Pandion haliaetus). Osprey can be found hunting along the two rivers, the Schuylkill and the Delaware.

A Sharp-shinned Hawk visited my backyard bird feeders two autumns ago. But on that day left empty handed. Sharpies travel through the area during the autumn migration

Eastern Tent Caterpillar

Eastern Tent Caterpillar web

While my naturalist training group was at Andorra Meadow in Roxborough, we took a walk through the meadows into a cool lush upland forest. The forest is located behind the Andorra Meadow area. This combination of meadow and forest side-by-side is an example of how the land of Philadelphia is naturally.

The forest that we walked through is, at most, 150 years old. I don't think many forests or woodlands in Philadelphia are much more than that. Slightly before that time, the settlers who came to this area went on a tree-cutting frenzy. And most of the trees in the state were cut down.

The forests that you see in the state are most likely to be second growth forest.

In the forest we saw the web of the Eastern Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma americanum).  The female moth lays her black packets of eggs on twigs. After the caterpillars hatch, together the caterpillars weave these communal webs in the fork of tree branches. The caterpillars prefer trees of the Rose family. The web in the photo is a cherry tree, a member of the Rose family.

The Eastern Tent Caterpillar rarely eats all the leaves off the trees, like Gypsy Moths do.

This native moth gets a bad rap from people who unknowingly confuse it with the Gypsy Moth Caterpillar.

The Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar) is a European insect brought over to New England as an alternative silk producing moth. The Gypsy Moths will eat all the leaves off trees, leaving the tree unable to produce food for itself. And the Gypsy Moth larvae don't weave the silken web that the Eastern Tent Caterpillars will.


Find more information at on Gypsy Moths at http://www.invasive.org/species/subject.cfm?sub=165 

Summer Solstice!

I know this sounds weird but "summer" is finally here. If you have read my Beltane post, you know how I feel about the Solstice.

Houston Meadow

Houston Meadow, Fairmount Park

My naturalist training group went to the Houston Meadow (also called Cathedral Meadow). The meadow is near Houston Playground between Cathedral Road and Bell's Mill Road in the Andorra section of the city.

The land in this section of the city is upland forest and riverine forest with natural patches of meadows where trees fall and open the forest canopy. 

The land that Philadelphia is in, is a patchwork of forests, meadows and wetlands. And more survives then most people think and less than what would be ideal. 

Indigo Dogbane Beetle on Dogbane

To find this natural meadow in the city of Philadelphia was a shock and a joy. We spotted a rare beetle, the Indigo Dogbane Beetle on Dogbane. The beetle is rare because the Dogbane plant is rare. And the beetle feeds on no other plant.

A nesting Box for an American Kestrel was placed in the meadow. This raptor needs open areas such as meadows to hunt in. I suspect if a Kestrel is nesting there that the meadow provides plenty of small mammals and insects to feed its young. If we had seen a Kestrel it would have been the perfect way to cap off the visit.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

The meadow had many native grasses, flowers, native fruits and nuts. And Butterflies and Moths. Including Eastern Tent Caterpillar in the nearby forest, Silver Spotted Skipper, Cabbage White and Eastern Swallowtails in the Meadow. The butterflies certainly need the Meadow to survive and reproduce.

Houston Meadow has been a natural meadow for several hundred years. The Fairmount Park Commission removed many invasive and alien tree, shrub and plant species when it cleared and renovated the meadow this past spring. The meadow was expanded from about 15 acres to 47 acres. Good move. The species that require sunlight and open areas would not be able to survive in a shaded forest. This means no American Kestrels nesting in the city and less butterflies.

Visting Houston Meadow is a great nature-centered "Thing to do in Philadelphia".

I really look forward to leading groups and showing residents and visitors the natural wonders that lie within the city limits.  I look forward to the day Philadelphia is visited not just for the historic human-centered places, but also for the fascinating natural places.