Moon Lake State Forest

You don't need to go to Georgia to get a visualization of the Walking Dead set. Moon Lake State Forest opened this year and replaced Moon Lake Park of Luzerne County. 

The fields where my daughter played soccer are covered in hip-high grass. There were no vehicles seen for the first few minutes so it was a surreal seen. 

Now here's the amazing thing. For at least a decade Moon Lake Park was packed with campers - from all over the east coast. Despite the traffic, there were beautiful wildflowers throughout the park including pink lady slippers (not pictured), rattlesnake plantain (a favorite orchid!), wintergreen, and black cohosh (which is anything but subtle). 

16 newbies

We had freshman orientation this weekend (yes, long before school begins - no idea why) and I picked up sixteen new advisees. They ranged from the students with all 5s (top score) on five AP exams and a years worth of college credit to a student that asked class "THE 100" was... that was "The 100".  I probably would have made the same mistake when I was a student.

We ask students to take calculus and biology even if they scored 5 on the respective AP exam so I'm not sure why they would take the class. Kinda screwy.

Of the sixteen students, I suspect we'll get a few that don't show up for classes. Keeping with past experience, another three won't persist past the first year and another three will leave bio after their sophomore year because of orgo. This leaves seven students. Two of these should have taken the hint and left bio and these might even be the worst students. Persistence and reality often make uncomfortable and unbalanced partners in a student's brain - reality napping until the last moment. 

Wood thrush nest finding success

We've been searching a ton and finding tons of territories but not having much luck finding nests.

The other day I found a male and female checking out an empty nest in Pinchot State Forest. Yesterday - 3 eggs! That gives us ten nests for the year. Pretty pathetic. Hoping the second clutch will be happening soon and we'll pick up a bunch more. 

Leave to the Canadians to nail it: Rush's Witch Hunt

Rickett's Glen

On Wednesday, I spent two hours looking for Wood Thrush nests at the "Hayfield" of Rickett's Glen State Park while students measured plant growth and looking at ant species. Two hours of heaven despite not finding a nest (two territorial males though). 

The woods that poke into the fields had a beautiful stand of black cherry trees (Sebastian demonstrates below). The other cool things were a wood frog, American toad, and a super thick section of beech trees. 

Wood frog (this species can be frozen solid [after acclimatization] and revived) 

very young toad

Find the wood frog 

One of the beautiful black cherries encountered 

Looks beautiful but suggests overgrazing 

Find the toad! 

Early morning outing: Pinchot State Forest

Since things have really slowed down on the Wood Thrush front, I thought I would go out by myself and just sit and watch an area where I know there are wood thrush. This kinda worked: I found a couple building a nest. So it goes. 

This is where Pine Forest Run meets PA HWY 309. Other birds there included Louisiana Waterthrush (probably nesting), Eastern Phoebe (nesting), Blue Jays, Northern Flicker (or is it Yellow-shafted?), Northern Cardinal, Scarlet Tanager (breeding), Black-and-White Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Veery, Gray Catbird, Downy Woodpecker, American Woodcock, and American Robin. 

Oddly, no Eastern Pewee, cuckoos (seriously, with all the gypsy moths around!), or Great-crested Flycatcher. Or Wood Thrush 

Pinchot State Forest

Yesterday my crew and I spent an exhausting morning looking for wood thrush nest. We explored a section of... well I'm not sure. If you look at Pine Run Road in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, you'll find a large green section that represents a natural area (note that cemeteries show up as green as well). I'm just not sure who owns it. The signs saw Lackawanna State Forest, the Google map suggests Pinchot State Forest or State Game Land 119. So it goes. 

Didn't find any wood thrush nests despite finding several singing males and some females. What was enjoyable was the landscape: steep slopes with several trees that probably were >75 years old (that's old in coal mining country). The part I searched was near PA HWY 309 so there was a human presence more than I normally see. It made for some interesting photos. There also was a large number of American chestnut sprouts.