natureswondersbyclyde

     Over the years, I've heard people boast "we have bluebirds at our house" or say with enthusiasm "we have barred owls in our neighborhood."  Well, let me say with pride "we have house sparrows in our neighborhood"!  These little, abundant birds, to me, are just as interesting as bluebirds, barred owls and every other form of life.  And they have as much right to life on Earth.          House sparrows dominate my neighborhood in southeastern Pennsylvania with their numbers and aggression.  They usually move around in small groups and have their favorite bushes to gather in.  I think their daily, lively activities are interesting and entertaining.        Though native to Eurasia, house sparrows, a kind of weaver finch, are adaptable, common birds that live successfully in human-made habitats in southeastern Pennsylvania, and across much of North America.  They are permanent residents in cities and towns, farmyards, shopping malls, zoos and parks.  I

     Though inhabiting different parts of eastern North America, mink frogs and carpenter frogs have several characteristics in common, which indicates how unrelated species can be the same because they adapted to similar habitats.  Adults of both kinds of frogs are camouflaged, and only three inches long, making them difficult to spot.  Both species are nocturnal, hunting invertebrates and calling for spawning mates under the cover of darkness.  Some individuals of both kinds live in damp sphagnum bogs, close to a pond or slow-moving stream.  Females of both species spawn clusters of eggs on submerged vegetation, which their tadpoles ingest.  Each type of frog has a limited range in natural habitats where they are seldom seen and relatively unknown.  And, being frogs, each of these species has their tongues anchored to the front of their mouths.  To snare invertebrates, they flip their sticky tongues out and on the intended prey, then snap their tongues back into their mouths when the

     Bottomlands of the New Jersey Pine Barrens are mostly forested with pitch pines, and other kinds of pine trees, and red maple, black gum and pin oak trees.  Fallen needles and leaves of these trees make the waters of the barrens bottomlands tea-colored and acidic.  Plants and aquatic animals must adapt to that acidic water to survive in the barrens.         A variety of wildlife inhabits those bottomlands, including gray tree frogs, upland chorus frogs, carpenter frogs and pine barrens tree frogs.  These small, nocturnal frogs have characteristics in common, because of their relatedness, and the habitat they share.  They are all attractive in a camouflaged way.  They all ingest a variety of invertebrates.  They grow from tadpoles in the shallow, acidic ponds of the pine barrens.  All these species hibernate underwater through winter.  They spawn in shallow water.  They are mostly wild, mysterious voices in the night, as they are seldom seen.  But they herald warm weather.  And bot

     During many summer mid-mornings, when I lived along Rohrerstown Road in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I saw several turkey vultures soar up effortlessly and gracefully on warm, summer breezes over a wooded hill located a quarter mile in front of our house.  Within a few minutes, those vultures rose gracefully and sailed across the sky out of sight.  Each vulture was on its way to search for carrion in fields throughout much of southeastern Pennsylvania.  And each one expends little energy while soaring for hours.         Today, throughout each year, I see turkey vultures soaring on high, literally everywhere; around home in New Holland, Pennsylvania, over fields in southeastern Pennsylvania, and over the lower Susquehanna River.  I even see them sailing over the expressways we take south on trips.      Turkey vultures are large, dark-brown birds.  Young and mature birds have naked skin on their heads and necks, which is gray on immatures and red on adults.  They may appear a lit

     Some years ago, I occasionally visited a six-acre pond in a woods in southeastern Pennsylvania from mid-June to about the middle of July to observe nature during summer evenings.  Although I don't visit that pond anymore, I have fond memories of being there during summer evenings to experience certain kinds of wildlife.  And I know there are other ponds in this area with the same kinds of twilight wildlife that can be enjoyed.        As the sun sets each evening, courting male wood thrushes, veeries (another kind of thrush) and eastern wood pewees sing lovely vesper songs.  The thrushes sound like flutes in the woods, while the pewees chant a gentle, melancholy "peee-a-weeee" time after time.      While those birds sing beautifully, green frogs and bull frogs begin to twang and bellow respectively from muddy shorelines under overhanging vegetation.  The choristers of both these types of amphibians are males coaxing females to spawn in the shallows.        Sometimes,

     There is a quarter-acre pond, surrounded by a regularly-mowed, tree-dotted lawn, and bordered by a long, narrow dense thicket of trees, shrubbery, vines and tall grasses and "weeds" on one side of the lawn.  That human-made impoundment, lawn and thicket together are nestled between a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania town and cropland.  And, although the pond and lawn are manicured, and heavily used by fisher-people and other folks in summer, several kinds of adaptable wildlife spend at least part of each summer there, most of them searching for food.  Those creatures are used to people being at the pond in summer, and they show the value of being adaptable, to survive, even where people abound.       The lawn, thickets and surrounding farmland are pleasantly-green, making them a beautiful, peaceful place to relax and enjoy the scenery, and the fishing for bluegill sunfish and large-mouthed bass.      Several mallard ducks dominate the pond in summer.  In June of 2024, I sa