Our first phenology workshop for K-12 teachers was held on July 8^th at the LGNC.  Nine teachers joined with Dan, Diane, Meredith Wright (Phenology Project Intern) and Corey Husic (LGNC Intern) for this event.  Topics included an introduction to phenology and its history, the relationships between phenology and climate change, a discussion of citizen science and the Eastern PA Phenology Project, and resources available to teachers and students.   The presentations were followed by a work session in which teachers brainstormed about how they can incorporate phenology into their curriculum and how the different schools participating might collaborate.  The workshop was scheduled to run from 9:00 a.m. until noon but there were so many ideas being shared that the group worked until 1:30!

The workshop was supported by a PA DEP grant, and completed in partnership with the Audubon TogetherGreen Fellows Program and with the Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape Initiative.  Funding was provided in part from the PA DEP grant, D. Husic’s TogetherGreen Fellowship, and a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, Environmental Stewardship Fund, administered by Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Inc.

The next phenology workshop and programming related to conservation of the Kittatinny Ridge will occur during the Migration Fest at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center scheduled for September 16-18, 2011.

 

This morning at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, a group went in search of insects near the Kittatinny Ponds. The five observers focused on butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies, but also looked at any insects they could find.

Damselflies:

Elegant Spreadwing
Swamp Spreadwing
Variable Dancer
Powdered Dancer
Blue-fronted Dancer
Stream Bluet
Azure Bluet
Fragile Forktail
Eastern Forktail

Dragonflies:

Common Green Darner
Black-shouldered Spinyleg
Lancet Clubtail
Common Baskettail
Eastern Pondhawk
Spangled Skimmer
Slaty Skimmer
Widow Skimmer
Twelve-spotted Skimmer
Blue Dasher
Common Whitetail
Meadowhawk sp.
Black Saddlebags

Butterflies:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Orange Sulphur
Great Spangled Fritillary
Pearl Crescent
Red Admiral
Wild Indigo Duskywing
Crossline Skipper
Northern Broken-Dash
Little Glassywing
Delaware Skipper

Other insects:

Carolina Locust (Dissosteira carolina)
Sidewalk Tiger Beetle (Cicindela punctulata)
Asian Multicolored Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis)
Margined Leatherwing (Soldier Beetle) (Chauliognathus marginatus)
Red Milkweed Beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus)
Banded Longhorn (Typocerus velutinus)
Antlion (Brachynemurus sp.)
Long-legged Fly
Beefly

On Saturday June 19, Dan Kunkle and members of the Lehigh Gap Naturalists Club participated in the Monroe-Carbon Butterfly Count.  Throughout the morning, the following species and numbers were observed at the Nature Center:

1 Black Swallowtail
1 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
13 Spicebush Swallowtail
73 Cabbage Whites
3 Clouded Sulphur
5 Orange Sulphur
1 Gray Hairstreak
9 Summer Azure
1 Great Spangeled Fritillary
5 Red Admiral
6 Silver-spotted Skipper
7 Least Skipper
2 European Skipper
1 Tawny-edged Skipper
2 Little Glassywing
2 Delaware Skipper
1 Common Roadside Skipper

Total numbers from the survey, which included two additional nearby survey areas led by Corey Husic and Arlene Koch were:

1 Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)
3 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
22 Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)
89 Cabbage White (Pieris rapae)
16 Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice)
7 Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme)
1 Striped Hairstreak (Satyrium liparops)
1 Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus)
5 Eastern Tailed-Blue (Cupido comyntas)
10 Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta)
34 Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)
1 Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia)
6 Milbert’s Tortoiseshell (Aglais milberti)
8 Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
1 Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis)
2 Northern Pearly Eye (Enodia anthedon)
7 Little Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela)
5 Common Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)
7 Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)
1 Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades)
15 Least Skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor)
51 European Skipper (Thymelicus lineola)
1 Tawny-edged Skipper (Polites themistocles)
2 Crossline Skipper (Polites origenes)
4 Northern Broken-Dash (Wallengrenia egeremet)
42 Little Glassywing (Pompeius verna)
2 Delaware Skipper (Anatrytone logan)
2 Hobomok Skipper (Poanes hobomok)
1 Dun Skipper (Euphyes vestris)
1 Common Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes vialis)

On this year’s Whip-poor-will Hike, the participants got rained on, but heard at least seven Whip-poor-wills. Several of these nocturnal birds were heard very close to the trail.

On May 8th, a group of Lehigh Gap Nature Center members set out to survey the birds of the refuge. Several of the volunteers started counting well before sunrise and heard 17 Whip-poor-wills. As the sun rose, an impressive dawn chorus of American Robins and Wood Thrushes began. Throughout the morning, two groups scoured the refuge; one focused on the ridge top, while the other group birded along the river. Several species of warblers were found on the property, including an impressive 51 Prairie Warblers and a Louisiana Waterthrush. The final birds were seen in a small raptor kettle that included Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks as well as three Bald Eagles. When the survey ended around noon, the group had found 887 individual birds representing 77 species.

Great Blue Heron 2
Canada Goose 8
Wood Duck 7
Mallard 5
Common Merganser 11
Turkey Vulture 8
Bald Eagle 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Wild Turkey 2
Killdeer 1
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Rock Dove 8
Mourning Dove 23
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 3
Whip-poor-will 17
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 5
Northern Flicker 5
Eastern Wood-Pewee 4
Eastern Phoebe 6
Great Crested Flycatcher 10
Eastern Kingbird 5
Tree Swallow 20
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 6
Barn Swallow 1
Blue Jay 57
American Crow 18
Black-capped Chickadee 8
Tufted Titmouse 13
Carolina Wren 3
House Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Eastern Bluebird 8
Swainson’s Thrush 1
Wood Thrush 9
American Robin 60
Gray Catbird 30
Northern Mockingbird 3
Brown Thrasher 1
Cedar Waxwing 2
European Starling 2
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Warbling Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 30
Northern Parula 6
Yellow Warbler 21
Magnolia Warbler 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Prairie Warbler 51
Blackpoll Warbler 9
Black-and-white Warbler 39
American Redstart 12
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Ovenbird 39
Louisiana Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 18
Canada Warbler 1
Scarlet Tanager 8
Northern Cardinal 16
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 3
Indigo Bunting 30
Eastern Towhee 43
Chipping Sparrow 5
Field Sparrow 18
Song Sparrow 25
White-throated Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 26
Common Grackle 9
Brown-headed Cowbird 7
Orchard Oriole 2
Baltimore Oriole 35
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 31

On May 23, 2010, Corey Husic led a bird walk at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, sponsored by both the LGNC and the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society. Below are the 61 species that they found:

Wood Duck 6
Mallard 1
Common Merganser 1
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Bald Eagle 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
Mourning Dove 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Eastern Phoebe 4
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
Eastern Kingbird 6
Warbling Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 10
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 8
Fish Crow 1
Tree Swallow 20
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 6
Black-capped Chickadee 12
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 1
House Wren 2
Eastern Bluebird 4
Wood Thrush 1
American Robin 7
Gray Catbird 15
Northern Mockingbird 1
Brown Thrasher 1
Cedar Waxwing 20
Yellow Warbler 15
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Magnolia Warbler 3
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Prairie Warbler 3
Blackpoll Warbler 10
Black-and-white Warbler 3
American Redstart 6
Worm-eating Warbler 2
Ovenbird 1
NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH 1
Common Yellowthroat 6
WILSON’S WARBLER 1
Canada Warbler 3
Scarlet Tanager 1
Eastern Towhee 5
Chipping Sparrow 2
Field Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 5
Indigo Bunting 10
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Common Grackle 4
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
Orchard Oriole 3
Baltimore Oriole 25
American Goldfinch 50

Here are some photos of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s annual Holiday Open House, where visitors made natural wreaths and bird feeders:

The 48th Annual Bake Oven Knob Hawk Count will take place daily from August 15 – November 29.

Join us on the lookout at Bake Oven Knob (Directions) to help with the annual autumn hawk count as a volunteer counter or spotter, to learn about the raptors, their ecology and migrations, or just enjoy the view and the spectacle of the hawk flight.  The lookout is staffed daily by our research intern or by LGNC volunteers.

The groundbreaking for the addition to the Visitor and Education Building took place on Friday, July 25.  (photos by Corey Husic)