May Photojournal

Jun 7, 2012 by Stephanie

Just call it our Birding Big Month!  With the expert help of the Birding Club of Delaware County, we added 15 species to our Glen Providence Park Bird List for a total of 94 species, with 73 spotted during our 2012 Birding Big Year!  This was largely thanks to the Spring warbler migration, with new species including the beautiful Black-throated Blue Warbler; and the Scarlet Tanager, Great Crested Flycatcher and Warbling Vireo.

Right on cue on May 1, we first heard the ethereal call of the Wood Thrush, back from wintering in Central America.  Due to its unique vocal chords, it essentially sings two songs at once!  We are lucky that this species, whose population has dropped 56% since the 1960’s, actually nests in our park!  Other nesting birds included a frequently sited pair of Pileated Woodpeckers, and a pair of Song Sparrows often serenaded visitors to the pond- near our Earth Day Plantings!

Romance was not limited to the birds- while Geocaching along the Shingle Mill Trail, a (human) couple got engaged in the park!  The Geocaching log reads, “My boyfriend proposed when we found the geocache!!”  Congratulations!

The park certainly provided a lovely setting: by mid-May, the Mountain Laurel was in bloom– along the Mountain Laurel Trail, of course!  While much of it seems to be too shaded to bloom, there were plenty of its lovely flowers and intriguing buds to admire.  By the end of the month, the elegant White Water Lilies started to bloom in the pond– they should bloom through August, so we have plenty of time to enjoy them!

Friends of Glen Providence Park stayed active in the park- we helped CRC Watersheds with their 15th Annual Streams Cleanup.  We continued our tree mapping on Philly Tree Map with the addition of 33 trees around the pond.  And Media Providence Friends School fourth graders added wonderful markers to the trees we planted for Earth Day!

The month ended on a magical note when, on the last night of the month, we spotted our first fireflies of the year! 

 

Click on any photo below for a closer look.  You can view more photos in our past photojournals and in our Facebook Albums: including Wildlife, Scenery, and History.