Tuscarora State Park (30-Sept-2015)

Overcast day again with a small amount of rain sprinkled in. Decided to go back to Tuscarora State Park and take Penny on some trails I haven't been on in awhile. I collected about as much trash as I expected at the first site and decided to take two more short walks around highly trafficked areas of the park.

Had to watch out for juvenile American Toads that seemed to be everywhere. They were under the size of a quarter, most likely from this years eggs. It is starting to get colder, but keep in mind amphibians are still out there. Watch your step.

By a stream within the park I came across this Two-lined Salamander. Like the American Toad, it is a common species which I have mentioned before. Always nice to see though.

Largest piece of trash by the stream. This corrugated piece of plastic was originally used to protect a newly planted tree from predation. Most likely the tree did not make it and it ended up blowing into the stream. This is one product that really should be made from biodegradable materials.

The largest amphibian of the day. A Green Frog.

Penny on the trail. She still has no interest in picking up trash, but really wanted to go after every squirrel and chipmunk we passed by. This is new, she ignored them before and was only interested in larger creatures.

I found two acorn caps upside down and next to each other and for some reason had to use leaves to make an owl out of it. I would like to point out that you can make little surprises like this on trails and  they do not harm anything as long as you only use already fallen materials. Making rock piles is uncool because you are disturbing habitat and spray painting things is extremely uncool because you are the only one who wants to see your image there. So if you feel you need to leave something behind, use leafs and acorn caps.

I was photographing a grouping of fungus right below this when I noticed something in this tree. You may have to click on the photo and enlarge it to see. There is a Redback Salamander in the knot in the tree. I found it odd, it was about two feet up, not covered by anything and it was windy. Generally under windy conditions Redbacks and amphibians in general tend to find cover and I have never seen a Redback in a tree before. 

Some brighter colors in the cove with the boat launch. The dam is to the far right.

An interesting fungus on a log underneath a small Hemlock.

Was happy to only find this tiny bit of trash on the right side of the launch cove. The area is not only used by boaters, but the end of the cove is a popular fishing site.

I can tell you that this is a bug. It does not have wings, this means it is a juvenile. Juvenile coloration and even body shape can vary from the adult so I can not even begin to look up what species it might be.

A view from the opposite side of the boat launch cove as the last foliage photo. Wonder what it is going to look like in another week.

The right side of the launch cove I have cleaned up several times this year and at least one time not long ago. Still I ended up with this. Always more fishing line in this area it seems.

If you enjoy this blog and the work I am doing to clean up Eastern PA and would like to see me continue into 2016 you can contribute at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash

Tuscarora State Park (29-Sept-2015)

Since it is getting cooler out and with a chance of rain both yesterday and today I decided to stay off the water. Yesterday I ended up not going out at all and today I went with a small local clean-up at Tuscarora State Park. The main picnic season has just about wrapped up, so I hit the area around the beach where most people like to go during the summer.  

The leafs seem to be turning quickly now. Just a couple weeks ago there was no color here, but green, in the canopy. 

There are a lot of trash cans in the park and there is pretty much one at every exit from the trails to the parking lot. Yet, still people come to the park, enjoy the great outdoors and just leave their trash next to the lakeside or on the trails. I would really like to know how we can change this. There has to be something that can be done to get people to care just a little bit. 

More fishing line. Some of what I found today wrapped in trees was really perplexing as to how it could have actually been done on accident. I have to start to remember to bring a pocket knife with me. With the braided line it would make getting it untangled much easier.

Looking up the lake to its source. It did rain for a short period, never came down to heavy though.

Cans, bottles and fishing items were about it today. Except for...

This is still there. Sitting not far from the beach. I still refuse to dispose of these. It is nice to know that there a parents out there that are so lazy that they choose to put others children at risk instead of disposing of a diaper properly. Goose waste isn't the only thing that can promote the growth of E. coli. If you know irresponsible people with babies, please inform them that there so many diapers in our State Parks that is unsafe to take their children there. This may reduce those who leave diapers in our parks.

If you like this blog and would like to see it continue into 2016 you can make a contribution at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash

Lehigh Valley Greenways Festival (26-Sept-2015)

This past Saturday I put up a small display at the Lehigh Valley Greenways Festival, held at Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center. I spent the day talking about this blog with passers by and selling native plants to help support the Northampton County Junior Conservation School. The attendance was not that great, but enough people did go by to make the day worth it. I did meet one other person who works on cleaning up Beltzville and they were extremely happy to see that others are doing the same and so was I. 

                                      

Volunteers from the Conservation School ran a small concession stand. Sadly because of the poor attendance the Conservation School did not make any money off of the event and the demographic of attendees did not work out well for student recruitment to the school for next year. I think a lot of people did show up to the event, it was just how the vendors were spaced out that led to the lack of attendance by the ed center itself.

One of the educators from Jacobsburg pointed this out to me. It is a Monarch chrysalis. Very soon the adult Monarch will emerge and start heading south. I was a bit surprised to see this. Around my area most of the adults have already emerged and can be seen flying around and hitting the last flowers in bloom before they start their long journey.

A Great Day!

This was it for trash and so little made this a great day. I hiked an access road today with Penny. It is open to traffic, so there can be a lot of garbage on its sides. This would be a pretty boring post if that was it. The lack of trash gave me time to look for wildlife and this is a good time of year to see certain insects and arachnids. Here is what I found today.

The first insect find of the hike. A Wooly Bear Caterpillar. (Pyrrharctia isabella) I know I have seen thousands of these. I don't think I have ever seen the moth that these become. Have you? Ever wonder? I never did until today. Look up the scientific name and see what they become.

These are Milkweed Bugs on a Milkweed seed pod. The larger one at the lower end of the seed pod with black patches is an adult, the rest are immatures. Did you know that a bug is an insect, but not every insect is a bug? So what's the difference? Bugs are insects of the Order Hemiptera. All have piercing/sucking mouthparts, like a straw for a mouth. Some use this specialized mouth for feeding exclusively on plants, tapping into either the xylem or phloem. Others use it for sucking out the insides of living things, mostly smaller insects. I have seen Giant Water Bugs feeding on small Pickerel Frogs. Bugs also have Hemelytra. This is a forewing that is half solid, half membranous, but there are some bugs that do not have this. Cicadas have membranous forewings and are one of the exceptions. Probably more than you wanted to know about bugs.

This is a Marbled Orb Weaver. I think I posted a photo of one of these earlier this week. This shot I know is a different angle and shows the awesome patterning and coloration. There were many of these out and about today.

Lots of Sawfly larvae today. These are in the Order Hymenoptera and are closely related to bees and wasps.

Is that a half dead leaf? Nope! It is a moth caterpillar. More specifically, a Lacecapped Caterpillar which will eventually become a Streaked Prominent Moth. (Oligocentria lignicolor)

There are a couple species that look similar to this caterpillar. I think this is a White-Headed Prominent Moth Caterpillar. There were many of these today.

A better look at a Lacecapped Caterpillar.

Not sure what this caterpillar is. I do see these often. If I find out what this is I will update the post later. UPDATE: This has been identified as a Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar.  

The largest insect find of the day. This is a Polyphemus Moth Caterpillar. (Antheraea polyphemus) If you take a good look at the photo on the right, I think you too would agree that it has a face only an entomologist would love.  

Another Orb Weaver that had fashioned itself a home out of a leaf.

This is a Sulfur Butterfly. I think the species is Colias eurytheme, but I am not positive. Sulfurs are very common, but are not the easiest to photograph.

A Spread Winged Damselfly. I do not know the species. Generally you can tell a Damselfly from a Dragonfly by the way they hold their wings at rest. In most cases Damselflies will hold their wings strait up and Dragonflies hold theirs out to their sides. This type of Damselfly is an exception to the rule and at rest hold their wings out like Dragonflies.  

Like the Milkweed Bugs this is another insect that is commonly found on Milkweed at this time of year. This is a Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar. (Euchaetes egle) Milkweed really does provide for many hosts. This caterpillar and Monarch caterpillars feed on the leafs and Milkweed Bugs and Aphids tap into the plants veins to feed.

Another fuzzy caterpillar that I have not the slightest idea of what it is. For this one too I will try to figure it out and update the post later.

A Yellownecked Caterpillar. (Datana ministra) Generally there is a different common name for the moth that the caterpillars become, in this case it is just the Yellownecked Caterpillar Moth. 

This caterpillar is called a Wavy-Lined Heterocampa. (Heterocampa biundata) This was the last new find of the day.

I know I did not take out much trash today, but I hope that this post was still interesting. As the days start getting colder I will not be going out on the river as much and I think I will have more posts like this. Some days walking trails and access roads I do come across large trash piles, but there will be many days like today where there will be more wildlife than trash. Those are really the best days and I wish everyday could be like that.

If you like what I am doing and enjoy the posts you can make a contribution at gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash to help me continue this project through 2016.

Schuylkill River (23-Sept-2015)

I was going to have another easy day today, but it is the first day of fall. So to celebrate I went out and  took six more bags of plastics off of the banks of the Schuylkill River. Had a couple good finds today and multiple unwanted finds. The most interesting thing I found today was a message in a bottle. This was the first one I have found on any river. This is what it said:

"HI our names are C. W. and M. C. todays date is September 21 2012. We are writing just for fun. We live in Pennsylvania and our number is _________. Call us if you get this note. Madison is 9 and I am 11. We are cousins. Please Call Us if you get this note.  By the way we are girls. If you want to add me on Facebook just type C. W. There is a pic of me in big sunglasses. Bye. To: Anyone From: M. C, C. W."

Of course I omitted the names and the phone number. They are the reason I am not putting up an actual photo of the letter. It was also very hard to read, the writing was severely faded.

This time I went down river from the dock. More of the same, once again, for this location. Lots of bottles and lots of other trash. I am starting to come to the realization I will not get to the non-recyclables at this site this year. It will require more planning and getting organizations like the PFBC to work with me on trash removal.

Immediately I started finding needles. These two photos and one of the below were all in the shot above. Again, I made sure every step was a safe one.

I found a total of six today. There were also loose caps, so I know there are more and they are so nicely uncapped. I don't know weather it was just because I was really watching my steps or if it was the article I read the other night on micro plastics. Today I noticed just how much is already out there.  Once micro plastics are in our environment it is impossible to remove them. If you haven't heard of this issue yet, look it up. It is amazing what we are using micro plastics for.

More and more and more. Sometimes it just feels like it never ends. All the while I was working on taking this mess out of there a motor boat was flying back and forth up and down the river. There were several times where I just stopped, watched it and thought to myself, yeah, I would rather be doing that. I don't even like motor boats.

And more. 

And more.

This section of bank I have to return to. I did not remove all of the bottles, but I did fill six bags. I should be able to clear this bank of recyclables this year, but I probably won't be back this week.

Hard paddle back. Little easier than the last trip up river. This time the wind was in my favor and it was not as far. The floating bags did take on a lot of water though. 

Cookie Monster!!! Yes, by the end of the trip I was talking to it and I was talking back to myself in my best Cookie Monster voice. Why not? 

If you like what I am doing and want to see much more trash taken out of our natural lands and rivers next year, you can contribute at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash