February 6, 2012 at 12:04 pm (Activities, Hiking, mammals, Martins Creek, nature, outdoors, weather, wildlife)
Tags: tracking
On Saturday, John Jose of Otter Creek Environmental Education Services treated a group of 24 kids and adults to an educational program about Animal Tracking at PPL’s Martins Creek Preserve. This lively group was eager to learn about “stride” and “straddle” using indoor sand tracking trays and handmade animal track molds.
With temperatures in the upper 40’s, the group hit the trails at the Lower Mount Bethel Township Welcome Center to see if they could discover any animal tracks in the mud. To our surprise we made a unique discovery on a February day- a garter snake slithering around in the brush! The reptile must be as confused as we are about these warm winter days and lack of snow.
We finished the program by searching for tracks on the sandy banks of the Delaware River. Our search revealed many different animals had been there recently including a skunk and a muskrat. Can you name the two other animals that left evidence of their visit to the river by leaving their tracks in the sand?
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September 29, 2011 at 12:20 pm (Hiking, Lake Wallenpaupack, mammals, nature, outdoors, recreation, trees, wildlife)
Tags: Live animals, tree identification
It still might be a little soggy out there, but it’s always a good time to get outside and enjoy some fresh air! Come out on Saturday to learn some tree identification while you check out the Wallenpaupack Lake Trail that skirts the shoreline of Lake Wallenpaupack. Then see and hear about some of our furry friends who can sometimes cause conflict in our neighborhoods. We hope to see you this Saturday, Oct. 1 at the PPL Wallenpaupack Environmental Learning Center for some free programs…
Trees of the Trail ~ Saturday, October 1, 10 a.m. to noon
Presenter: Gene Shultz, Wallenpaupack Area School District educator
Enjoy a leisurely fall, morning walk on the Wallenpaupack Lake Trail while your guide helps identify some of the trees growing along the trail. All participants will receive a copy of the “Common Trees of Pennsylvania” booklet, produced by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Be prepared with appropriate dress and footwear for a 3-mile walk along the wooded trail. Children, adults and families are welcome to attend this free program and registrations are not necessary.
Dealing With Human-Wildlife Conflict ~ Saturday, October 1, 1:30 – 3 p.m.
Presenter: Kathy Uhler, Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
Whether it’s bears eating the garbage, raccoons in the attic, skunks under the deck or groundhogs eating the flowers, wildlife problems can be serious, frustrating or expensive. Professional wildlife educator Kathy Uhler has more than 30 years of experience working with wildlife and educating people, and will provide each attendee with preventions, products and resources to protect property from creatures causing conflict or damage. Live animals will accompany her presentation. This program will educate, enlighten, entertain, and, most of all, provide humane practical solutions to common wildlife conflicts. Registrations are not necessary.
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August 25, 2011 at 8:00 am (birds, mammals, Montour Preserve, native plants, nature, observations, outdoors, Pennsylvania, plants, seasons, wildlife)
Clusters of dark purple grapes hang hidden below large green leaves. These wild grapes are ripening and disappearing as they do so. Some tumble to the ground, pried loose by a gust of wind. Others are gobbled up by a wide variety of hungry birds, raccoons, opossums, skunks and red foxes. There are few plants that feed as many different species of animals as wild grapes.
Ripening wild grapes
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April 15, 2011 at 1:11 pm (Activities, conservation, education, energy, Hiking, insects, Lake Wallenpaupack, mammals, music, native plants, nature, outdoors, plants)
Tags: conservation, Earth Day, environment, Lake Wallenpaupack
Rain or shine … join us at the 13th annual Pike-Wayne Earth Day Festival at PPL’s Wallenpaupack Environmental Learning Center on Saturday, April 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free and fun for all ages!
Reduce, reuse and recycle!
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April 5, 2011 at 12:36 pm (mammals, Martins Creek, wildlife)
Tags: Martins Creek, nuisance wildlife, Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
Whether it’s bears eating the garbage, raccoons in the attic, skunks under the deck or groundhogs eating the flowers, wildlife problems can be serious, frustrating or expensive. Learn how to deal with the human-wildlife conflict from 6-7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 16, at PPL’s Martins Creek Environmental Preserve.
Professional wildlife educator Kathy Uhler has more than 30 years of experience working with wildlife and educating people, and will provide each attendee with preventions, products and resources to protect property from creatures causing conflict or damage. This program will educate, enlighten, entertain, and, most of all, provide humane practical solutions to common wildlife conflicts.
For directions, visit www.pplpreserves.com, click on “Martins Creek” then select “Directions.” Registration is required. For more information, contact PPL at 570-542-2886 or pplpreserves@pplweb.com.
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February 12, 2010 at 3:37 pm (mammals, Susquehanna Riverlands, wildlife)
Get up close and personal with the skulls of many of our planet’s wilder residents during this program from 1:30-3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, at PPL’s Susquehanna Riverlands.
Dr. James Montgomery, environmental studies director of Ecology III, will share his expertise with us in this compelling program. We’ll learn some of the differences between the skulls of a meat-eating animal compared with a plant-eater, whether a skull can indicate the health of an animal when it was alive and how skulls show us the adaptations that help an animal compete in its environment.
This free program will take place at the Susquehanna Energy Information Center.
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January 4, 2010 at 11:03 am (Lake Wallenpaupack, mammals, observations, weather)
Tags: animal tracks
The few inches of white, fluffy stuff that fell around Lake Wallenpaupack last week provided some wonderful opportunities for the local critters to play in the snow. We saw evidence that someone was romping around in the snow, probably looking for a hidden cache of food. Any guesses on this local mammal, based on the tracks they left? Our guess is a gray squirrel, known to hide food under ground in the fall and eventually find it later in the winter.
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December 2, 2009 at 11:57 am (mammals, nature, observations, Pennsylvania, Susquehanna Riverlands, wildlife)
Tags: beavers, wetlands
There are beavers living in the Susquehanna Wetlands Nature Area, but we almost never see them. Avidly hunted by humans for centuries for their luxurious fur, beavers have learned the hard way to be shy and elusive. And with their keen senses of hearing and smell, beavers can detect the heavy footfalls and exotic scents of a casual human hiker long before they get close. Combined with their nocturnal lifestyle, this makes beavers a rare sight, even for people who spend a lot of time outdoors. More often, we are left with the signs that they have passed by.
A sure sign that they are in the area is trees like these that have been girdled by beavers in search of food. Contrary to popular belief, beavers never eat fish. They are strict vegetarians, feeding mostly on tender shoots, cattails and their favorite: the soft bark of young trees. Even if they are not felling trees to make dams, they will often chew the bark around the base of the tree as a tasty snack. Sometimes they will keep going into the heartwood of the tree because beavers, like all rodents, must frequently gnaw to keep their continuously-growing teeth worn down.
As you might expect, this is not a particularly healthy turn of events for the tree.
When I take kids through the wetlands and we see a beaver-chewed tree, they are often struck by how much it looks exactly like what they thought it would look like: the shape of the chew is almost exactly as it is depicted in cartoons!
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July 13, 2009 at 3:42 pm (Activities, education, mammals, programs, Susquehanna Riverlands)
Tags: animal senses, free programs
Learn how animals use their sense of smell during a program 6:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 21, at the McBride Memorial Library in Berwick. This program is part of a free summer series sponsored by PPL’s Susquehanna Riverlands.
Join us for a discussion on how animal senses differ from ours and how they use their senses to find food, locate others of their kind and stay alive. Geared toward children ages 5-8, this program features a short lesson followed by a fun activity or craft.
Because space is limited, preregistration is required. To register, call McBride Memorial Library at 570-752-2241. Parents of children with severe allergies are strongly cautioned.
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April 15, 2009 at 8:10 am (Activities, education, mammals, Martins Creek, programs, wildlife)
Tags: folklore, natural history, wolves
The wolf — a species that stirs emotions in humans, inspires folklore and myths, fear and love, good science and bad. Learn about the natural history of wolves at a program from 1:30-3 p.m. Saturday, April 25, at PPL’s Martins Creek Environmental Preserve.
Join Hope Anwyll and Tom Nelson of the Pennsylvania Raptor & Wildlife Association as they sort fact from fiction and show us the true wolf — a forgotten friend of the Earth.
The program, which is free and great for all ages, will take place at the Lower Mount Bethel Welcome Center, 7701 Martins Creek-Belvidere Highway, Bangor, Pa., which is adjacent to the Riverton-Belvidere Bridge. Registration is required.
For more information, registration and directions, contact PPL at 570-251-6196 or pplpreserves@pplweb.com.
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