We have monthly nature walks (or volunteer days) in Glen Providence Park, year-round! We’ve documented our Spring Cleanups in March and April and our Spring Bird Walk in May – here we recount our other 2016 Nature Walks (and a History Lecture!) through June, including a photo gallery. Join us for some of our upcoming 2016 events – they are always free and open to the public!

January – Tree Mapping

Shannon Davidson and Marcia Tate led us on a beautiful, cold, and fun afternoon tree mapping in the park! Thirteen volunteers added almost 50 trees by the Kirk Lane entrance to the PhillyTreeMap database, including one new species for our Park Tree List.

February – Scroggie Valley History Lecture

There was a great turnout for February’s history presentation about T. Chalkley Palmer and Scroggie Valley (the park’s 19th century name) at the Delaware County Institute of Science (DCIS) – 81 people attended! I had fun working with Roger Mitchell and Walt Cressler on this lecture, and sharing some of what we’ve learned about the the history, flora, and fauna of Glen Providence Park – and about its enthusiastic early fan, T. Chalkley Palmer.

April – Native Plant Walk

Just one week after a crazy spring snow(!), we had a spectacular spring day for our Native Plant Walk – with Black Cherry and Redbud trees in bloom, Mayapples and Trout Lilies emerging, and Flowering Dogwood and Silverbell trees getting ready to blossom. Shannon Davidson and Marcia Tate led us again,  sharing their extensive knowledge about so many interesting plants with enthusiastic (note-taking!) attendees!

June – Herpetology Walk

It was another great herpetology walk with Kyle Loucks of the PA Amphibian & Reptile Survey – the third walk Kyle has led for us! Our early morning attendees found 9 species of reptiles and amphibians, including Dusky Salamander, Northern Watersnake, Pickerel Frog, Green Frog, and Painted Turtle; a tiny American Toad(let); and new for our Park Reptile & Amphibian List, the invasive Yellow-bellied Slider. We also saw iridescent Ebony Jewelwing damselflies by the pond, and heard the distinctive rattling call of a Belted Kingfisher throughout morning.

Thank you to everyone who attended these park events, to DCIS for scheduling our history lecture, and to our wonderful volunteer walk leaders! You can see photos in our gallery below – click on any photo for a closer look.

Join us as we look for reptiles and amphibians in Glen Providence Park! We will be led by Kyle Loucks, the South East Regional Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Amphibian and Reptile Survey (PARS) – a project to gather valuable data for study and conservation of amphibians and reptiles (“herps”). PARS was our 2014 Citizen Science Project – you can see our Park Species List & Photo Gallery, with 18 species so far.

Herpetology Walk!

Saturday, June 11
8:00-10:00am
Rain or shine
* Park entrance at 3rd & West Streets in Media *

Logistics:

• * Please note the location- we are starting at the entrance at 3rd and West Streets in Media. *
• Be prepared for uneven (possibly wet) terrain: wear sturdy shoes that can get wet.
• Free!
• While we welcome leashed dogs to many of our park events, this time we will be looking for sensitive wildlife, so please leave those cuties at home.
• Rain or shine.

5/31 UPDATE: Changed start time from 7:30 to 8:00am.

On this first day of fall, a look back to last year’s autumn beauty in Glen Providence Park! I spent some lovely and serene fall mornings along the trails and at the pond, encountering wildlife and interesting plants. Foliage seems to be starting slightly later each year – it had barely begun changing in early October, and did not peak until the end of the month. Early dustings of snow hinted at the upcoming snowy winter – on November 13, and again on Thanksgiving day!

Some wildlife encounters are more eventful than others… One early November hike took an exciting turn when we came across two White-tailed bucks scuffling over a doe! A few times it seemed they might charge at us. We were startled one morning during our weekly Invasives Removal to come face-to-face with an Eastern Garter Snake in a tree we were liberating from invasive vines. I saw my first Black Squirrel, which I had heard about living in Media, but had never seen. As a melanistic variety of the Eastern Gray Squirrel, individual Black Squirrels can exist wherever Gray Squirrels live.

I always watch for birds, which we continue to document on eBird for our Park Bird List. The park was frequented for a few weeks by a flock of up to 100 Common Grackles – they can be noisy, making odd sounds like rusty gates and like clucking – and they are entertaining to watch! Mallards returned to the pond with their occasional antics, with Winter Wren and Cooper’s Hawk being other birds I managed to photograph… you can view park sightings on eBird for the fall migration months of August through November to see what to expect in the fall!

With all the beautiful foliage, it can be hard to remember to look down, but don’t miss what is on the forest floor! In the past several years I have seen some amazingly varied fungi in the park – I would like to learn much more about them. Clubmosses, Lycopodiopsida, are primitive plants that reproduce through spores. According to wikipedia, the spores were used in Victorian theater to produce flame-effects(!), burning rapidly and brightly, with little heat.

Our monthly events last fall were our fun and rewarding annual planting day for National Public Lands Day in September, an engaging Scavenger Hunt for Kids in October, and a wonderful Geology Walk in November.

You can click on any photo below for a closer look, or scroll through them all! There are more pictures in our facebook albums. You can compare our 2014 autumn to other years in my photojournals for September, October and November 2011, and from Fall 2012 and Fall 2013.

Photos by author.

We have monthly nature walks (or volunteer days) in Glen Providence Park, year-round! We’ve documented our Winter Bird Walk in January and Spring Cleanups in March and April – here we recount our other  2015 Nature Walks through July, including a photo gallery. Make sure to join us for some of our upcoming 2015 events – they are always free and open to the public!

February – Winter Nature & History Walk

Our 80th Anniversary History & Nature Walk may have been our coldest walk yet – in the teens with a cold wind! But we had a wonderful (intrepid!) group, and Marcia Tate and I had great time sharing information about the park. Attendees included a first-time visitor to the park, and a man who had not visited in 25 years. The snow started falling as we were finishing.

May – Spring Nature Walk

Led by Gary Stolz, we saw 28 species of birds including a Solitary Sandpiper(!), 4 species of turtles, a bullfrog, and a (likely pregnant!) Garter Snake, on a lovely spring morning! Many native plants were in bloom including Silverbell, Flowering Dogwood, Redbud, and Black Cherry trees; Trout Lilies, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, yellow violets, and even Trillium! Seventeen people joined our walk, which was part of Transition Town Media’s Happiness Week.

June – Tree Walk

It was a beautiful summer afternoon for a fun and educational tree walk, led by David Hewitt! A wealth of information, David fielded dozens of questions about trees and their identification, as at least 22 adults and children also explored some of the park’s springs, the pond life, damselflies and more. We saw Bluegill (fish) nests in the pond, flying ants emerging from a tree stump, learned how to tell American Sycamores from London Plane Trees, and so much more about trees!

July – Herpetology Walk

Twelve adults and 8 eagle-eyed kids had a delightful (early!) morning learning about and looking for reptiles and amphibians with Kyle Loucks! We found American Toads, Green Frogs, Bullfrogs, Dusky and Red-backed Salamanders, and Snapping and Painted Turtles – along with an amazing variety of fungi. We were able to safely pass the amphibians around for a closer look, before gently returning them to their habitat, in a clean plastic container – any lotion, soap, and even oil on our skin can harm them.

Thank you to everyone who attended these park events, and to our wonderful volunteer walk leaders! You can see photos in our gallery below – click on any photo for a closer look.

Join us as we look for reptiles and amphibians in Glen Providence Park! We will be led by Kyle Loucks, the South East Regional Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Amphibian and Reptile Survey (PARS) – a project to gather valuable data for study and conservation of amphibians and reptiles (“herps”). PARS was our 2014 Citizen Science Project – you can see our Park Species List & Photo Gallery, and read about our herpetology walk with Kyle last summer!

Herpetology Walk!

Saturday, July 11
7:30-9:30am
Rain or shine
* Park entrance at 3rd & West Streets in Media *

Logistics:

• * Please note the location- we are starting at the entrance at Third and West Streets in Media. *
• Be prepared for uneven (possibly wet) terrain: wear sturdy shoes that can get wet.
• Free!
• While we welcome leashed dogs to many of our park events, this time we will be looking for sensitive wildlife, so please leave those cuties at home.
• Rain or shine.

What a lovely, unseasonably cool summer morning for our fun Herpetology Walk in Glen Providence Park on August 9! Kyle Loucks led the more than 20 adults and children who attended our early (7:30am!) morning walk. We saw Two-lined Salamanders, Dusky Salamanders, Pickerel Frogs, a baby Wood Frog, American Toads, and a Northern Water Snake. We were able to safely pass the amphibians around for a closer look, before gently returning them to their habitat, in a clean plastic container – any lotion, soap, and even oil on our skin can harm them. It seemed to be too cool for the numerous turtles that normally bask at the pond – we didn’t see any!

It was a privilege to have Kyle lead us – he is the South East Regional Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Amphibian and Reptile Survey (PARS), and the one who first told us about it! Launched in 2013, PARS is a joint venture between the PA Fish & Boat Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Center for Herpetology and Conservation, to provide them with valuable data for study and conservation of amphibians and reptiles (*”herps”). PARS is our 2014 Citizen Science project – you can see our results so far and a species list and photo gallery!

A tremendous thank you to Kyle Loucks for leading us, and for his work for PARS!

*Herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles, and herps is slang for amphibians and reptiles.

Check out the photos of our Herpetology Walk below!

On June 28, a beautiful early summer day, environmental science and biology teacher Aura Lester delighted an audience of 18 children and adults with fascinating facts about the flora and fauna of Glen Providence Park. Walking down the hill from the entrance to the park, we stopped to identify a few of our native plants including a sassafras tree by its mitten shaped leaves, the spicebush by the fragrance of its bark and poison ivy by its “leaflets three”.

As we walked toward the glen basin, we spotted native Jewelweed, used as an antidote to the itch of poison ivy. Also identified were some unwelcome invasive plants creeping along the stream edge including multiflora rose, Japanese honeysuckle and common privet.

Nearing the pond, Mrs. Lester reminded the children to approach quietly as nature detectives. Standing still observing from the perimeter, a green patina on the shallow, slow moving water came to life as fish darted just below the surface glinting in reflected daylight and turtles were spied sunning on logs, dragonflies flitting above it all at the marshy edges.

We circled the pond to the other side hoping for a glance of our resident muskrat, but  he did not come out of his burrow this time. The children spotted frenzied activity at ground level and then a profusion of tiny frogs began to emerge from the turf. We watched our step from that point on!

Heading back up the hill to the stage area, Aura led the children in a game of dragonfly tag. The theme continued with an entertaining craft making dragon flies out of spring clothes pins. All went home with glitter glue rainbow colored fingers and a hand made reminder of a sunny summer day!

Hearty thanks to our resident biologist Aura Lester and all who attended for an educational and fun filled event.

Check out the photos of the fun below!

Fall is such a beautiful season in Glen Providence Park, and after record rainfall in summer 2013, last autumn was relatively free of extreme weather. I had less time than usual for photo walks in the park, ironically due to taking a 10-week Pennsylvania Master Naturalist course. But we continued to document the park’s plants and animals to create a record that we can refer back to for future comparison, and the walks I did take were usually rewarded with interesting sightings.

There were flurries of fall migration in late September and early October, including some additions to our Park Bird List – bringing us to 103 species by the end of November! Sightings included Magnolia Warbler, Philadelphia Vireo ( species #102), Northern Parula, and Chestnut-sided Warbler (#103!) – as always, thank you to Al Guarente of the Birding Club of Delaware County for confirming our new ID’s.

Some of the smallest discoveries are the most enchanting, including what we called a “star-bellied” fungi, an elegantly fuzzy caterpillar on a native blackberry leaf, and adorable baby Wood Frogs. These aptly named forest-dwelling frogs breed in vernal pools (ephemeral wetlands) – we saw several baby Wood Frogs last October.

That Pennsylvania Master Naturalist course helped me ID species in the park, such as the native and enigmatically-named Hog Peanut vine, Amphicarpaea bracteata. At one of the classes, Rose Tree Park Hawkwatch’s Holly Merker taught us that the Red-tailed Hawk’s “scream” is often used with video footage of Bald Eagles, because its scream is more intimidating than the eagle’s. You can frequently hear the Red-tailed Hawk in the park, as it is our most common hawk species!

Fall brings school classes that use Glen Providence Park as an outdoor classroom. In October, we encountered Penncrest High School 9th grade Environmental Science students conducting their annual pond studies in the park. In November, we helped Media Providence Friends School 5th graders install educational plant tags they had created for our National Public Lands Day plantings. The students were enthusiastic and had fun – what a wonderful service learning project!

In November we had a treat walking through the park with Clifford Butler Lewis, the grandson of park founders George and Eleanor Butler!  It was wonderful to hear his recollections from growing up here. We photographed Cliff by the (now dry) Eleanor Reed Butler waterfall, which was one of the park’s original structures, and was later renovated in 1949 in honor of Cliff’s grandmother. It was Eleanor Butler who specified that Glen Providence Park was to be preserved as a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum!

You can click on any photo below for a closer look, and scroll through them all – and you can also view them on our flickr page! There are more pictures in our facebook albums, and in our Fall 1.1 Acre Project photos. You can compare our 2013 autumn to other years in my photojournals for September, October and November 2011, and from Fall 2012.

[AFG_gallery id=’14’]

Join us as we look for reptiles and amphibians in Glen Providence Park! We will be led by Kyle Loucks, the South East Regional Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Amphibian and Reptile Survey (PARS) – a project to gather valuable data for study and conservation of amphibians and reptiles (“herps”). We are participating in PARS as our 2014 Citizen Science Project – you can read more about PARS and see our Park Species List and photo gallery!

Herpetology Walk

Saturday, August 9
7:30-9:30am
Rain or shine
* Park entrance at 3rd & West Streets in Media *

Logistics:

• * Please note the location- we are starting at the entrance at Third and West Streets in Media. *
• Be prepared for uneven (possibly wet) terrain: wear sturdy shoes that can get wet.
• Free!
• While we welcome leashed dogs to many of our park events, this time we will be looking for sensitive wildlife, so please leave those cuties at home.
• Rain or shine.

For our 2014 Citizen Science project in Glen Providence Park, we are participating in the Pennsylvania Amphibian and Reptile Survey (PARS). Launched in 2013, PARS is a project to determine the distribution and status of all amphibians and reptiles (*”herps”) throughout Pennsylvania. PARS is a joint venture between the PA Fish & Boat Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Center for Herpetology and Conservation, and this project will provide them with valuable data for study and conservation.

According to PARS, very little information about Pennsylvania’s herps has been collected through the years when compared to other groups of organisms, yet herps are important indicators of the health of our natural places. A new study showed that woodland salamanders play a significant role in the global carbon cycle!

Our project:

We started by entering all of our photo-documented herp sightings in Glen Providence Park on the PARS database, with photos back to 2003. We made 143 entries for 2003 through 2013, and we are entering our 2014 sightings. You can view our records and sort them by species or date. The PARS website has a list of all species that can be found in PA.

To protect sensitive reptiles and amphibians, exact locations are only viewable by the PARS reviewers and the PA Fish & Boat Commission – entries are publicly listed by county only. We consulted with PARS, and decided to report our sightings of common species with the user name Friends of Glen Providence Park, but we anonymously report any sensitive species in the park (anything ranging from species of special concern to endangered species).

How you can help:

PARS needs volunteers, from skilled professional scientists to the most amateur naturalist. To participate, sign up on the PARS website, and start entering your sightings – anywhere in Pennsylvania! As the location will not be publicly shown, if you find a species in Glen Providence Park that is not already on our list, please email us with a link to your PARS entry – and we will add it to our species list.

Interested in learning more about herps? Visit the informative PARS website, and join us on our Herpetology Walk with Kyle Loucks on Saturday, August 9. Kyle is the South East Regional Coordinator for PARS, and the person who told us about this project!

See our species list and gallery below – click on any photo for a closer look!  

*Herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles, and herps is slang for amphibians and reptiles.

Glen Providence Park
Amphibian & Reptile Species List

Excluding 2 sensitive species
as of 6-7-2014

Salamanders

Desmognathus fuscus – Northern Dusky Salamander
Eurycea bislineata – Northern Two-lined Salamander
Plethodon cinereus – Eastern Red-backed Salamander

Frogs & Toads

Anaxyrus americanus – Eastern American Toad
Lithobates catesbeianus – American Bullfrog
Lithobates clamitans – Green Frog
Lithobates palustris – Pickerel Frog
Lithobates sylvaticus – Wood Frog

Turtles

Trachemys scripta elegans – Red-eared Slider (invasive)
Chelydra serpentina – Snapping Turtle
Chrysemys picta – Painted Turtle
Sternotherus odoratus – Eastern Musk Turtle

Snakes

Nerodia sipedon – Northern Watersnake
Storeria dekayi – Northern Brownsnake
Thamnophis sirtalis – Eastern Gartersnake

Thank you to Holly Hoffmann for the photo of the Northern Two-lined Salamander, and to Walt Cressler for the photo of the Northern Brownsnake. Remainder of photos by Stephanie Gaboriault.