COLORED LEAVES AND WILDLIFE

      On the afternoon of October 14, 2020, Sue and I went to French Creek State Park in southeastern Pennsylvania for a couple of hours to enjoy the sunny, lovely day, colored leaves and whatever wildlife we would spot.  The fall foliage hadn't reached its peak, but there was still plenty of yellow, red and orange among the deciduous trees.  

     We saw little wildlife while driving along blacktop roads in the woods.  But the beauties of colored leaves, the many tiny, yellow flowers on tall goldenrod stems and pale-lavender aster blooms made up for that.  The wildlife was in the woods, but we drove from place to place without really looking for them.

     But we did stop for about 45 minutes at scenic Hopewell Lake in the park.  At first we saw only a few kayakers.  But with scanning that impoundment with 16 power binoculars and a little patience, we began to notice a few kinds of wildlife.  

     We saw at least a dozen attractive wood ducks peacefully pushing through lily pads in the shallows at one end of the lake and scooping up algae, invertebrates and other edibles with their spoon-like beaks.  A few of the ducks were resplendent, mature drakes in winter plumage.  But the rest of them were adult females and the young of the year.  

     Those beautiful woodies fed quietly and in a seemingly relaxed mood in the heat of the afternoon.  They were not bothered by people or predators.  But soon that post-breeding gathering of wood ducks, and woodies all over the northeastern United States, will soon be winging south to escape the northern winter.

     As I continued to scan the impoundment with binoculars, I saw two large groups of painted turtles lined up on floating logs and basking in the sunlight.  They are always a joy to see sunning themselves in ponds, lakes and creeks. Painted turtles are beautifully streaked red and yellow on their legs and necks, and they are harmless to people and fishing.       

     I also saw two large, dark turtles sunning themselves on another log.  I think they were either red-bellied turtles, or a couple of red-eared sliders that were unwanted pets released in the lake and ultimately grew to maturity.  

     And as we admired the lake that was surrounded by splashes of autumn colors in the deciduous woods around it, I spotted a few fish-eating birds with my field glasses.  I saw one each of pied-billed grebe, belted kingfisher and great blue heron, each bird fishing in its own way.  The grebe dives under water from the surface to seize fish in its bill.  Kingfishers dive from a twig perch hanging over the water, or from hovering into the wind, into the water beak-first to grab prey in their bills.  And herons slowly stalk the shallows and lunge out their long necks and beaks to grasp finny victims.  These various ways of fishing probably reduces competition for fish among these species.   

     Sue and I had a lovely day viewing autumn foliage at French Creek.  And we saw some lovely and interesting wildlife on the lake that day, which added some extra spice to the day. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SPRING ON THE UPPER CHESAPEAKE

      I visited the Upper Chesapeake Bay at the Community Park of Northeast, Maryland one afternoon about the middle of March a few years ago, as I had several times in different seasons before that day.  This time, I went there to spot migrating water birds of various kinds.        Because of their high numbers, gulls and ducks were the dominant birds on the ice, and strips of open water among the slabs of ice because of the warming weather in March.  Most of the handsome ring-billed, herring and great black-backed gulls stood picturesquely on slabs of ice.        The attractive, adult ring-billed and herring gulls are mostly gray on top, white below, and look much alike, except the herrings are larger and have a red mark on their beaks, whereas each ring-bill has a black "ring" around its bill.  Largest of these gulls, the stately, mature black-backs have black backs and upper wings and are white below, making a striking, attractive plumage pattern.        All three of thos
Read more

DADDY-LONG-LEGS

     During summer, over the years in southeastern Pennsylvania, I've seen many daddy-long-legs on the bark of tree trunks on lawns, and in parks and woods.  They blend into the color of tree bark well and are difficult to see.  Many people never see them at all until those camouflaged little critters are pointed out by people in the know about them.        Daddy-long-legs have eight, really long, thin legs, but they are not spiders.  But they are arachnids, and related to spiders.  These attractive, little creatures, called daddy-long-legs because of their long legs, have quarter-inch, compact bodies raised on stilt-like legs.  They have two dark eyes and feel the vibrations of birds and other predators with their legs.  But these arachnids have no venom, or silk to make webs.        Daddy-long-legs, like all other living beings, are part of several food chains.  They consume tiny invertebrates and decaying plant and animal materials they find on tree bark.  And, in turn, many of
Read more

FATHER FINCHES FEEDING FLEDGINGS

     While sitting on our back deck to enjoy the lovely scenery and weather during the afternoon of July 21, 2023, I noticed a tiny, red speck in our tall Norway spruce tree on our suburban lawn in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Peering at that red spot with 16 power binoculars, I saw it was a beautiful male house finch feeding three fledgling house finches; his offspring.  Those gray and dark-streaked young birds fluttered their wings vigorously while being fed invertebrates and seeds.  And the wild charm of those birds was decidedly enhanced by the deep-green of the needled spruce boughs.        Those four house finches were a lovely, exciting sight to me.  I know that species of small birds raises young in our neighborhood every summer, including a pair of house finches that hatch offspring on a support under an awning over our deck.  But never before had I watched a father house finch feed his young outside their twig and grass cradle.  And when that male finch flew off the spruce lim
Read more