Katie Says: Soar with the swallows

Last weekend, my boyfriend and I visited one of our favorite places: Lorimer Park. Lorimer borders Fox Chase Farm, and as one walks the border of the park, you can look onto the rolling green hills of the farm. That day, the hills were being visited by a host of bird species all looking for their dinner: American robins, American bluebirds, European starlings, red-winged blackbirds and three species of swallows.

I love all bird species, but I especially love swallows. I have always said that if ever I were to be reincarnated, it is a swallow that I would want to come back as. I just love the effortless way they swoop, glide and zoom over the landscape, sometimes seeming to enjoy flying for the sheer fun of it. These swallows were flying over one of the highest hills of un-mown grass in order to collect insects that were bravely (or foolishly!) rising from the safety of the grass to land on the canopy of the nearby trees.

For a while, Quentin and I focused our binoculars on individual swallows to watch them fly. There were barn swallows, with their deeply-forked tail; tree swallows, with blue backs and white bellies; and cliff swallows, which look very similar to barn swallows, but lack the forked tail. Let me tell you, focusing your binoculars on an individual swallow is a great way to keep your skills with a pair of binoculars tuned—you constantly have to rock the focus to keep them in your sights! We then decided to try something new, and focused instead on individual insects rising from the grass. It wasn’t long before the insect that I was following would disappear behind the blur of a swooping swallow. Swallows are such good flyers that not only do they feed on the wing, but they drink and bathe as well, swooping to the water’s surface to get a drink or just beneath the surface for a bath, a literal “quick dip.”

Sometimes it’s fun to analyze the “hows” of nature and sometimes we ponder the “whys,” but sometimes…it’s just nice to stop and watch the swallows. Have a question or a story of your own to share? Post a comment below; it’s free and you don’t have to create an account!

Katie Says: What is the Pennsylvania state insect?

I’ll give you a hint through a song lyric: “You would not believe your eyes if ten million _____ lit up the world as I fell asleep.” Did you guess? This is the first phrase from Owl City’s “Fireflies,” a song that quickly became a sensation after its release in 2009. The song plays on a familiar childhood memory of chasing and catching fireflies in our backyards and maybe even putting a few in a jar to watch their soothing nightlight as we fell asleep. It’s no wonder then, that the firefly (or lightning bug) became the official Pennsylvania state insect in 1974. We may all know the firefly for its greenish-yellow glow, but there’s much more to this insect than blinks the eye!

Despite their name, these insects are actually a species of beetle that can be found on every continent except Antarctica. There are over 2,000 species of fireflies worldwide and an astounding 175 species here in the United States alone! Although not all adult fireflies produce light, all species of eggs and larvae glow as a way of warning potential predators that they taste bad. The adults that do produce light do so in order to find not only a mate, but sometimes…dinner! Some fireflies have been known to copy the flashing patterns of other species in order to eat them!

Even the chemistry behind a firefly’s flash is amazing. Unlike bioluminescent animals which simply glow, the firefly’s ability to turn its light on and off (i.e., blink) is a rare find in nature. And the energy used to produce the light? In a normal incandescent light bulb, 10 percent of the energy that goes into the bulb is used to produce light, and the rest is emitted as heat. With fireflies, an astounding 90 percent of the energy goes into producing the light! Talk about the ultimate Energy Star appliance!

I was thrilled last week to have spotted my first firefly of the season in my own backyard! Have you spotted your first yet? Have a question or a story of your own to share? Post a comment below; it’s free and you don’t have to create an account!

Katie Says: What a great find!

Yesterday, on a cold and rainy Monday, 40 kindergarteners came to visit Briar Bush for a nature hike. Determined not to submit to the gloomy weather, the junior hikers came prepared in rain jackets, hooded sweatshirts and big smiles. As I began my hike with my small group, we stopped to look at natural wonders along the way: an uprooted tree, new leaves on trees and flowers in bloom. Then we hit the nature hike jackpot: an eastern box turtle!

This little gal wasn’t fazed by the weather at all! Cold or not, she was determined to find something tasty to eat. Much to my amusement, her beak was covered in slimy, gooey mushroom paste. Nearby, a cluster of mushrooms bore signs that looked suspiciously like box turtle bite marks… Besides mushrooms, box turtles love to eat earthworms and other invertebrates and the occasional “salad,” all of which can be found in abundance at Briar Bush.

I carefully picked up the box turtle, explaining to the children that because she was a wild box turtle and not a pet, that we would only look at her for a little bit before letting her go on her way. Understandably nervous, the box turtle hid in her shell, closing up the front using the hinge on her plastron (the bottom of her shell). It’s this ability to close their shells completely like a box that gives the box turtle its name (not because the turtles are known to sparring matches, as most children are disappointed to learn). It’s also the plastron of a turtle that will tell you if you are looking at a male or female; females’ plastrons are flat, while the plastron of a male is concave.

Having given everyone a chance to see this spectacular wildlife find, I carefully placed the box turtle back in her leafy hunting grounds. The children told the box turtle that she need not be afraid of us, and wished her well. The next time you are hiking the trails of Briar Bush, be sure to keep your eyes open for our friend, the eastern box turtle! Have a question or a story of your own to share? Post a comment below; it’s free and you don’t have to create an account!

Whole Foods 5% Day

Briar Bush educators and volunteers will be at the Jenkintown Whole Foods celebrating Earth Day! Please come support us by shopping - 5% of the total sales from Thursday, April 22 at the Jenkintown Whole Foods will be donated to Briar Bush Nature Center. We will have some of our famous critters outside and lots of information inside. Whole Foods will also be having a cooking demonstration in the evening. The BBNC environmental educators will be having lunch at the cafe from noon to 1 p.m. so if you would like to meet the education team and learn more about our great programs, stop by!

Katie Says: Celebrate with Briar Bush!

April is a busy month here at Briar Bush! Not only do we see an increase in visitors as the spring weather arrives, but there are two big environmental celebrations in April: Earth Day and Arbor Day. This Thursday, April 22, is the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day! In celebration, keep your eyes open for Briar Bush Nature Center to be making appearances all over the area, from the Philadelphia Zoo, to Whole Foods in Jenkintown, and Earth Day and other outdoor festivals all over Montgomery County.

Not too far behind, April 30 is Arbor Day, a day established to encourage everyone to plant and care for trees. Earth Day may be celebrating its 40^th anniversary, but Arbor Day is celebrating its 138^th! To celebrate Arbor Day, come and take a walk on the trails at Briar Bush. Many trees can now be identified by their fresh, green leaves and some, like the dogwood and redbud, are covered in magnificent flowers. If you’d like to learn more about trees, then be sure to register for my next family program, “Dendrologist for a Day” this Sunday, April 25! As you’ve probably guessed, dendrologists are scientists who study trees and in this Sunday’s program we’ll be getting up close and hands-on with the trees of Briar Bush. We’ll be taking the same kinds of measurements using the same kind of equipment dendrologists do! This is a great program to attend if you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at environmental science or if you’d like to learn how to identify some of the common trees of Pennsylvania.

In “It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown!” Sally was asked by her teacher what Arbor Day was. Having not done her homework, Sally replied; “That’s the day that all the ships come into the ‘arbor!” Whether you spend it on a ship in the ‘arbor or on the trails at Briar Bush, be sure to celebrate the outdoors this month! Have a question or a story of your own to share? Post a comment below; it’s free and you don’t have to create an account!

Katie Says: Spring is full of surprises!

This weekend I decided to install a container pond in my backyard. A container pond is a simple, inexpensive way to add water to your backyard using just a flower pot and some native aquatic vegetation. (For more information on container ponds, be sure to attend my family program “Take the Park Home with You! Creating Backyard Wildlife Habitats” in May!) As I dug the hole for my pond, I discovered the tunnel of a burrowing animal, complete with a store of seeds and birdseed from my neighbor’s yard. I dug a bit further and happened across a nest of leaves and shredded plastic. “I must have found an animal’s old hibernation burrow!” I thought to myself. I began to pull out the leaves and found quite the surprise…six newborns!

Now I admit that although I am a wildlife biologist, I had no idea what mammal species these squirmy pink things were. It was quite possible that they were rats and not the chipmunks I initially thought they were, but all I knew is that charismatic species or not, I rudely unearthed these little guys from their safe home beneath the soil. In the spring, Briar Bush and other nature centers are flooded with all kinds of calls when people find baby wildlife much in the way that I did and do not know what to do. Is it best to put them back and rebuild the nest? Now that I have disturbed the nest, will the mother abandon it and the babies need to go to a wildlife rehabilitator? I called the experts at Schuylkill Wildlife Rehab Clinic and AARK Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Center to be sure. They confirmed that in most cases, the best thing to do is to rebuild the nest and let nature take care of the rest.

So, I carefully put the leaves and as much of the stored food as possible back into the nest, and put a piece of cardboard to act as the wall that I had removed before filling in the hole. I then chose a new location for my pond, knowing that someday soon it may serve as a source of water for the young sleeping in their nest just beneath my feet. Have a question or a story of your own to share? Post a comment below; it’s free and you don’t have to create an account!

New critters!

Over the past couple of weeks, Briar Bush has welcomed two new critters to our family of animals who live in the museum and are used for educational programs. Be sure to stop in (remember, we're FREE!) and say hello to "Bubbles" and "Boo," two adorable little domestic rats. These little critters are happy in their new home and have already made their program debuts!