natureswondersbyclyde

     In the middle of October, 2024, while waiting in our car while my wife was in the doctor's office, I noticed several yellow cloudless sulphur butterflies flying low over a recently mowed lawn on the border of a suburban area and farmland in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Driving closer to that lawn, I saw those yellow butterflies were sipping nectar from tiny, golden wood sorrel flowers that were so short they were not mowed off.  I noticed, too, there were a few each of cabbage white butterflies, meadow fritillary butterflies and skipper butterflies of at least two kinds also getting nectar from wood sorrel blossoms.  I was impressed how those butterflies all made use of the only blooms left on that short-grass lawn, a human-made habitat.       While watching the butterflies for a few minutes, I saw a couple flocks of about twenty wild pigeons each flying strongly and gracefully across the sky, and round and round over nearby fields.  Eventually, those handsome pigeons land

     Many cow pastures of green grass in southeastern Pennsylvania farmland have a brook or stream flowing sparkling-clear through them.  Those pretty, little waterways provide fresh water for grazing livestock.  Currents of some of those brooks and streams gouge out mud and stones, here and there, from waterway bottoms, creating small, deeper "holes" in them.  The current is slower in those little holes, providing places where wildlife settles without having to battle stronger currents as they would in shallow water.  Green alga grows on some of the rocks in those holes and tall grass and other plants, including forget-me-nots, arrowheads, smartweeds, evening primrose, bur-marigolds, sneezeweeds and bittersweet nightshade, flourish on the edges of many holes.        Several kinds of aquatic creatures live in those small "holes" in meadow waterways.  But each hole harbors a unique community of critters; no two hole communities are alike.        Little schools of str

     Every year, September is the time of the elk rut in the wooded hills and cultivated fields of northcentral Pennsylvania.  The loud, raucous squealing of stately bull elks echoes through the hills each late afternoon into the night, which is exciting to hear.      I am thrilled to see and hear those majestic bulls through a live camera, mounted by the Pennsylvania Game Commission in a state game lands field, and our computer screen.  And I am happy to experience other kinds of mammals, and a variety of birds, by the same camera.  This field reflects some of the wildlife living in northcentral Pennsylvania, and following are some of the interesting wildlife highlights.      Both genders and all ages of elk mingle in that field during the elk breeding season.  Up to 18 elk, including two or three large bulls with magnificent antlers, cows, and calves of the year, might be in that field at once from dusk into the night.  They all nibble grass and other plants, and the big bulls sniff

     Suburban lawns in southeastern Pennsylvania are homes to a handful of adaptable mammals.  But skunks, chucks, bats, coyotes and other kinds are not usually welcome.  However, cottontail rabbits and gray squirrels, though they can cause trouble on lawns, are more appealing to many folks.       Cottontails have large, dark eyes and soft, brown fur.  Gray squirrels are intelligent and inquisitive and, therefore, interesting.  The squirrels plot treetop routes among the boughs, and figure how to get to squirrel-proof bird feeders, often to the dismay of human owners.  Both these furry species are active on many lawns the year around, the rabbits mostly at night and the squirrels during the day.  I even see cottontails silhouetted on snow on our lawn at night.        This kind of rabbit is a creature of protective shrubbery and vine thickets next to habitats of grass.  Gray squirrels inhabit deciduous woods.  Older suburbs are human-made habitats of lawns, and planted bushes and trees,

      In August and September of 2024, while driving through Lancaster County, Pennsylvania farmland, I saw several alfalfa and red clover hay fields, abandoned, overgrown meadows and roadside edges populated with several kinds of lovely flowering plants and intriguing insects.  All those species of adaptable life flourish through summer and into autumn in those human-made habitats called croplands.      The alfalfa fields and red clover fields were spangled with cabbage white butterflies, yellow clearwing butterflies, bumble bees and honey bees, all sipping nectar from alfalfa and clover blossoms.  And there were other kinds of butterflies in those hayfields, including at least a few each of monarchs, swallowtails, fritillaries, red admirals and skippers.        Many local meadows have been abandoned because of a reduced milk business.  Some of those pastures had been plowed and planted to corn and soybeans.  Others were planted with deciduous trees, which caused succeeding habitats o

      Some mammals in southeastern Pennsylvania, including white-tailed deer, cottontail rabbits, beavers and gray squirrels, have tails that warn others of their respective species of potential danger.  Those tails are obvious when needed, and invisible when not needed to communicate danger, which helps hides each kind of mammal from predators.      Each deer has a furry tail that is over a foot long and dark on top.  But the under-tail is white.  When a deer senses danger, it snorts a warning, stamps a front leg and raises its tail like a white banner.  Then the deer might run for cover, waving its obvious, white banner from side to side, as it heads for shelter.  And when the deer reaches cover, it drops its tail, which covers the white hairs, and the deer mysteriously disappears, much to the confusion of a persuing coyote, wolf, dog or mountain lion.       Cottontail rabbits also have white under their tails.  Those white hairs are invisible when the rabbit is sitting, camouflaged,