Natural Lands Trust Preserve Blog

Mariton - Good News/Bad news

The good news is that 14 Chickadee eggs have hatched out in three of Mariton's nest boxes. The babies in one box looked like they had just hatched, and there was one egg left.  That may hatch before next week.  It is really exciting. 

Tree Swallows have also started nests in several boxes, and are very protective.  The pair would fly very close to my head while I monitored the box and snap their bills.  It only takes me about 20 seconds to check a box, so I am soon on my way. 

The (very) bad news is that all of the Bluebird chicks died.  They were in the nests unmolested.  I can only assume that they either died of hypothermia or starvation.  The spat of cold wet weather that we have had this spring is very hard on baby birds.  Parents have a hard time finding enough food for themselves, let alone their young.  And if the parents are away from the nest foraging for food, it is tough for the babies to stay warm.

Mariton - A Walk in the Woods

I spent the day monitoring conservation easements in Pike County with Joe Vinton and Dave Steckel.  I usually monitor easements alone, so it was nice to share the experience.  Especially since Joe and Dave also appreciate the gems that landowners have protected with the help of Natural Lands Trust. 

One of the neat things that we found was a lot of forest regeneration.  We saw head high white oaks, red maples, cherry, and a lot of neat wildflowers.  Since the landowners are managing the property for wildlife, it was wonderful to walk the property with their forester and listen to his long term management approach to reaching those goals. 

Birds were very active and we saw several Scarlet Tanagers.  Because the leaves aren't fully developed we were able to watch the tanagers, Redstarts and Orioles without binoculars.  I heard Black and White, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Prairie, Parula and Worm-eating just to name a few of the warbler species.  We heard Hermit Thrushes singing.  I hope we are this fortunate on our Field Trip to Bear Creek this Sunday.

But the day's highlight was spotting this huge black bear.  It dropped over the hill towards a marsh and we were able to follow it for photos.  I have seen several black bears in my life (a few while monitoring easements).  I never tire of seeing them and always fascinated by their behavior.  This is one of the biggest I have ever seen.  And the landowners who protected this property with a conservation easement are providing great habitat for bears, as well as many other species of wildlife.

Mariton - Bird Walk

This past Tuesday we visited two locations.  We started at Natural Lands Trust's Paunacussing Preserve in Bucks County.  Ryan Hopkins recently wrote about the wetlands restoration project at Paunacussing.  I am very proud to be one member of the team that planted trees last fall and herbaceous plugs this spring.  So, I wanted to see some of the results of our work as it relates to wildlife.

I was happily surprised.  We were treated to a great view of Rough-winged Swallows perched on tree branch that Ryan had placed in the wetlands for habitat.  This was the first time I have ever seen Rough-wingeds sitting still.  Usually they are in perpetual motion.  This provided the perfect opportunity to observe and point out field marks that distinguish them for other swallow species.  (Photo by Carole Mebus.)

We also were treated to three sandpiper species.  I have a tough time with sandpipers, so I relied on others to identify a Solitary Sandpiper and Spotted Sandpipers.  There was a third species that was a little too far away for a positive ID.  (Photo by Carole Mebus.)

  We had a great view of a Baltimore Oriole.  Orioles seem to be making a big come back and we seem to see more of them each year.  They are beautiful birds and I particularly like their singing.  (Photo by Carole Mebus.)

From Paunacussing, we made a quick trip to Peace Valley Nature Center.  We saw several Sandpipers there also.  Probably the highlight was seeing an American Redstart in full view while it sang.  We also spotted a Purple Martin, which I rarely see except when I go to southern New Jersey. 

Harmonyville Road bridge... finished!

The guide rail was installed today and the signs taken down; the first traffic has resumed on the Harmonyville Road bridge over French Creek. Two halves of Crow's Nest preserve have been reunited. Here are photos of the finished bridge followed by an artist's rendering of the proposed bridge and then the old bridge that was replaced. We are delighted to regain access for farm equipment and to reach neighbors.

Natural Lands Trust at the GVA Envirofest

We were invited to have a table exhibit at the Green Valleys Association Envirofest today. The threatening rain passed and it turned into a beautiful day and was a fun event. Extensive use of twine and binder clips kept our exhibit from blowing away in gale-force winds.

We talked to a very interested and environmentally aware crowd and showed Jim Thorne's Big Woods flyover video. People carefully selected brochures (about bluebird boxes, plants to attract butterflies, controlling invasive plants, about conservation easements and more, also available online).

There was live music and local food, animal demonstrations and garden celebrity Mike McGrath as keynote speaker. I also got to ride an electric bicycle and won a raffle chance to ride in a Tesla electric roadster.

Crow's Nest surprises

One of the many things I like about working at Crow's Nest is that after 14 years the preserve still contains many surprises. I didn't know we had any black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) growing at the preserve—or if I did, I had forgotten—until the other evening I found this one growing in a thicket near an old farmhouse on Northside Road.

The fragrance was strong and the white flowers glowed in the dusk. It's a tree I like and while it may not be native to this exact location it is native to parts of the eastern U.S.

It joins the "only one" club, along with Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) and honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos—not even in the same genus as black locust). We only have one of each of these species at the preserve (extra points if you can name where they are located).

The black locust may not stay in the "only one" club forever; it is a species that tends to form colonies—groves of trees connected by the roots. As such it is sometimes considered invasive if found where not wanted and can be difficult to get rid of. But it is also a favorite of beekeepers, it's wood is very rot resistant, and the firewood has a high heat content.

One last story: At Taylor Memorial Arboretum where I used to work the visitor center was surrounded by "shipmast" black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia var. rectissima that had very straight trunks. (Propagated from tree on Long Island it is now thought to be an ecological variant and not a true variety—that is, it grew in that form due to conditions on that site and was not intrinsically tall and straight, though ours at the Arboretum also certainly were!) I enjoyed the beauty of the flowers and the hum of bees. As some of them declined we took them down and milled the lumber. Some of that wood is still in use, in ground contact, under the boardwalk that leads to the creek trail at Crow's Nest today! As I replace the boards on top (made from other species) nailing into the locust is still like nailing into stone.

Mariton - Bird Census Postponed

Because of the weather this morning.  We have postponed the Migratory Bird Census until Saturday, May 15.  We will start at 7:30 a.m. Sorry for any confusion.

Crow's Nest: On the trail of wildflowers

Here's one I have been returning to see in flower this week: Indian cucumber-root (Medeola virginiana). We have a few hundred plants in our woods but I found only three with the second tier of leaves and flower buds above the rosette. This is the only one that has bloomed so far. The flower is smaller than a thimble but resembles a lily; it is in the lily family.

Although I have seen the whorls of these plants' leaves for many years I have never seen it in flower before. As such it deserves a second photo:

Crow's Nest: Spiderlings & Goslings

This was my favorite picture from today's Spiderlings program, where adults of two species usher their goslings across French Creek.

Kids today crossed six bridges at Crow's Nest including these planks, a wire bridge, a log bridge, and the new Harmonyville Road bridge. And there was still time to collect caterpillars, skip rocks in the stream, and have lemonade in the barnyard.

Crow's Nest: Ten years of digital photography

Today marks the 10th anniversary of our first digital camera at the preserve, and this photo of dogwood flowers was one of the first pictures I took with it.

We've scanned a few of the older film and print photos from before the digital era (and taken very few since!). Time will tell about the archival quality of digital media, but two things are for sure:

1. We've taken many more photos documenting the preserve than we could have with a film camera. By now I have more than 10,000 photos just of the land at Crow's Nest and thousands more of our education activities.

2. Digital photos are a little easier to keep track of than slides or prints, and take up much less room! I rarely project old slides and store them in binders. Digital photos can be arranged by date so it isn't difficult to flip through the seasons.

The photography is more than pretty pictures. Particularly because of the built-in date stamp we use photos to document period conditions and blooming records. And they are invaluable for recording things that are no longer visible, such as underground utilities and the wiring in the walls of the buildings we restore!