Beltzville State Park (8-Feb-2017)

I think I could do a clean-up at Beltzville State Park every day of the year and still not be done there. With so many access points and so much lake shore it seems like a never ending task in this particular park. I made a few stops there for this post all areas that I covered last year and all areas that accumulated more trash since then. I started at the Pine Run Boat Launch where I found the Common Loon above swimming near the launch. 

I then worked my way up the channel towards the bridge for Pohopoco Drive. Found these items at the usual fishing spots. 

Then I drove over to the access right across the street from the launch. This was exceptionally trashy last year. Found less on this trip, but still more than I had hoped. A small flock of American Robins were hanging out around the parking area. 

On the edge of the parking area I found one of my least favorite types of trash, used diapers. I think I have found them at just about every access at Beltzville now. Picked up three on this trip.

The trash from the second stop. Diapers are in the dog bags. 

Made one last stop at the main lot next to the lake by the beach. This time I focused on lake bottom trash. The low level of the lake let me find all of the above trash. I think I am going to miss picking through the mud when the lake level rises.  

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Beach Trash Sort (5-Feb-2017)

Since January 29th I had a car full of beach trash collected at Sandy Hook, part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. I needed to get it sorted out and disposed of. With it being winter the conditions outside weren't optimal for my normal trash sorts and I had to find an indoor location to get this done. A good friend Joe Greco was kind enough to let me use his garage and Tyler Sacks came over to help me go through everything. All of the trash in this post is what Leigh Ann Stratakos and I collected and I wanted to show the wide array of items that end up on our beaches. Please if you go to the beach for your vacation this year, make sure to take out everything you bring with you and if you can take out some other trash while you are there. 

All of these items were collected on just a small stretch of beach. It is just unbelievable how much trash end up in our oceans and on our beaches.

A good number of the items were recyclable. All recyclables were put aside and will be properly disposed of, eventually becoming new products. 

All of the bags, balloons and other thin plastics. With some of these items, even if they are properly disposed of they can find there way back into the environment. Especially thin plastics like these. Bags especially can blow right out of landfills and if you have ever drive around a landfill you will probably see them hanging in trees or in farm fields. I have seen this many times. Using reusable bags when shopping can cut down on this kind of waste. Please help and try to use reusable items. 

With all of this trash we had to do some trash art. While going through the items we put all caps, tampon applicators, disposable utensils, teeth cleaners and cigar ends to the side. This is what we ended up coming up with. 

Not all items made the cut. These are the additional lids and caps. 

Tyler came up with this one for the straws. Please have a heart and go strawless for your next drink. Plastic single use items are a problem and can be detrimental to wildlife. Please do more to reduce your own waste so we can live in a better world. 

I want to thank everyone who helped out. Leigh Ann Stratakos for helping me pick up the trash, Joe Greco for letting me use his garage for the sort and Tyler Sacks who helped me get everything sorted and set up for the photos. Special thanks to Joe too for disposing of the non-recyclable items.  

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Pelagic: Another Out of State Post (4-Feb-2017)

In the early hours of the morning, I and a group of around fifty, boarded the Atlantic Star in Cape May, New Jersey. The trip was organized by See Life Paulagics, which offers pelagic birding trips at different times and at different locations throughout the year. The term pelagic refers to the open ocean, far from the coast and in deep water. Certain bird species specialize in living for most of the year out in the pelagic zone. It was my hope to see at least a few species I had never seen before and this trip didn't disappoint. You may be asking yourself about now, what does this have to do with Taking Out the Trash in Eastern Pennsylvania. The answer is very simple. Even in Pennsylvania we can have an impact on our oceans and the wildlife that lives in them. In Eastern PA the majority of streams and rivers are within the Delaware Watershed. This means any litter in these waterways has the potential to flow down stream to the Delaware and out to the ocean through the Delaware Bay. The actions we take, either good or bad, can have an effect on wildlife that most of us aren't even aware of. With this post I want to share with you the wildlife that I had the opportunity to see on this trip. These species can be added to the reasons why I do the clean-ups. I hope you enjoy these photos and this post. Above is a Great Cormorant that we passed as we exited out to the sea through the jetties.   

Not long after leaving the land behind the sun broke through the horizon and offered us a stunning sight. What a way to start a winter morning! 

Northern Gannets were one of the first species spotted flying over the water. It is also a species that is affected by trash. Northern Gannets collect and use trash in the building of their nests. This can lead to the death of both adults and young that get entangled in items like netting. In North America the only places that this species nest are in Quebec and Newfoundland. You can sometimes see Gannets from the beach, but for a closer look you either have to head far up north or out to sea.

This Greater Black-backed Gull was coming in for some chum at the back of the boat. I have seen this species many times in Pennsylvania. To me its adaptability is pretty amazing. They can survive just as well on the open ocean as the do on the coast or even on a landfill. 

An Iceland Gull spent a good amount of time flying around the back of the boat. This was one of the new species for me! Iceland Gulls can show up inland as well and can sometimes be spotted mixed in with the more common gulls on landfills. In addition to this Iceland and the common gulls, I did see Bonaparte's Gulls and a Black-legged Kittiwake. Even though they were really close I failed to get good photos of those two species. Still really cool to see. 

Short-beaked Common Dolphins were spotted on several occasions throughout the day and in large numbers. Some swam right along the boat and others gave us a show breaching out of the water.

With the naked eye this large cargo vessel just looked like a speck on the horizon. Look at all those cargo containers. Seeing it made me wonder if any of the recyclables I collected over the years were on it and making their way to China. A lot of our recyclables are packaged and shipped this way to other countries where they are processed and turned into new products.  

I think this one is an oil tanker and was the only other large ship that I remember us passing. There were smaller fishing vessels, but in all not a lot of traffic on the water.

For me this was the best bird of the trip! A Common Murre. The guides were great at spotting and pointing out the different species and I still don't know how they were able to see this in the choppy water. I did also get to see more than a few Dovekie, a species I really wanted to check off my list. However, they were in flight and I was unable to get any good shots of them. I also missed a Puffin that like this Murre was just sitting on the water.

In this series of shots you can see how a Northern Gannet dives into the water. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, when a Northern Gannet dives they can go as deep as 72 feet! That is pretty impressive. If you want to learn more about the birds in this post I would recommend checking out Cornell's website allaboutbirds.org.

This series of photos also shows how the common gulls behave when chum is being thrown out. They gather in a flock towards the back of the boat, go after a piece and when they get one, often will sit on the water for a short time before rejoining the flock following the boat.

Just as beautiful as the sunrise that started the day, this sunset finished it as we were nearing land. I had a great day on the water and I hope you enjoyed the photos in this post. The next post is going to be pretty trashy. 

If you would like to know more about pelagic trips please visit paulagics.com The trips are fun, the people all enjoy birds and the guides are fantastic! Also, the species diversity changes with the seasons, the trip listings show you what could possibly be seen on them.  

Tuscarora State Park and State Gamelands (2-Feb-2017)

With random snow showers through the day I chose to just do a hike at Tuscarora State Park. I knew I would not find much trash and I didn't know if everything would be covered in snow by the time I was done. 

A few times during the hike the snow was coming down somewhat heavy. Not much was accumulating on the ground though. I stuck to the trails on the back end of the lake and went along the field edges and through one of the old pine groves. 

The rows make it very clear that this isn't a natural pine forest. Pine tree farms are very common in the area and this grove was probably planted well before the state purchased the land. 

Hiking out I passed by a flock of Cedar Waxwings and American Robins off of the trailside. Several times now I have seen these two species flying together. The interesting thing to me is although they seem to go together as a group the two flocks stay separated. The only thing I can think of is that they may feed off of the same food sources and this separation prevents conflict. Has anyone else observed this or know the answer to why they don't seem to mix in together? 

When I approached passed on the trail the majority of Robins moved further away and the Waxwings stuck around.

One of the American Robins. 

This was it at Tuscarora and it was about as much as I anticipated finding. From there I went to a local gamelands for another short hike and to try to pick up a few more items before heading home. 

This winter the Game Commission has done a lot to this gamelands. It may look bad, but this is part of how they manage their lands for game species. This area will either be left to grow in as grassland habitat or it will be planted with feed crops for game species. The areas that are left to grow as grasslands also benefit non-game species as well providing nice field habitats. If you are wondering why there is no snow, the sun did break through for a short time and was enough to melt the open areas like this. 

Like Tuscarora there wasn't much trash at this location. I enjoy areas like this where I can cover a good amount of ground and not find much. 

See my most updated posts on Facebook: Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA

Owl Creek Reservoir (1-Feb-2017)

Trying to see the Red Crossbills again, I decided to explore a little more of Owl Creek Reservoir. I ended up having no luck seeing Crossbills, but I did find some trash and a couple other critters. 

There didn't seem to be as many Red-Breasted Nuthatches on this visit. This one briefly came out to take a look at me and I did see at least one other. 

Every time I go to Owl Creek I can hear Red Squirrels. Before this hike I don't recall ever seeing one there. This time two showed themselves.  

I collected two small piles of trash. Not sure why styrofoam cups are so popular here. They ended up being the most numerous item of the day.

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Gateway National Recreation Area: Sandy Hook (29-Jan-2017)

Taking a break from clean-ups in Pennsylvania. I decided it would be fun to go pick up some beach trash in our neighboring state, New Jersey. I was joined by fellow trash picker-upper Leigh Ann Stratakos of 3 Moons Studio. We set out to explore and clean up a portion of Sandy Hook, a part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. This area was chosen for two reasons, it was one of the closer beaches and because it is part of our National Park Service. All Americans should help keep our National Parks clean for both wildlife and our future generations to enjoy!   

Walking out to the beach, a Northern Harrier passed by, as it was hunting over the dunes. I have only visited Sandy Hook three times and on each visit I have been amazed at the wildlife that can be seen so close to New York City. 

Just beyond the dunes we ran into a long debris line full of trash and we got to work right away. Thousands of small plastic items mixed in with natural debris. We knew right away that we couldn't pick up everything, but we were going to do our best to at least remove a good portion of what was on this tiny stretch of beach.  

Every tiny piece is a potential hazard for wildlife and we all have to do more to not only clean up what we have already put in the environment, but work towards reducing our waste that gets there. 

Syringes may be the last thing that you think of on your vacation to the beach. Sadly they are something you should be watching out for. In the small section we were picking up in, we removed four syringes. One of which was uncapped with the needle still intact.   

Here Leigh Ann is picking through the debris and getting the plastics removed! Far in the background  you can see the New York City skyline. It was a windy and cold day, but at least the sun was shinning nice and bright down on us as we picked our way down the beach. 

The view of the city from Sandy Hook. 

These are just some of the interesting plastic toys that we found. The two above look like they might be older items. You never really can tell though. Fred looked as though some sort of critter had been chewing on him a little. I wonder if these items spent time out at sea or if they just came down the river.

My favorite trash finds are those in the shape of reptiles and amphibians. Here I found multiple turtles and the much rarer plastic frog.

Leigh Ann got the trophy for her clean-up efforts. Seriously, she found one! 

After taking our bags of trash back to the car we returned to the beach for a short walk to enjoy the sun and see what kinds of birds were around. In this photo a male Long-tailed Duck is coming in for a landing. I believe the Gull in the background is just a Ring-Billed.  

I wasn't sure what this shorebird was when we came across it. It turned out to be a Black-bellied Plover and it was a new bird for me to check off of my life list! 

We made a couple more stops before calling it a day with the clean-up and came close to filling up the back of my car. In a later post you will be able to see all of the trash we collected sorted out. The sort of all of this took about just as long as the clean-up itself.  

In addition to the clean-up, we also took the tour of the Sandy Hook Light, the oldest light house still in operation in the United States. I would highly recommend that if you visit Sandy Hook you stop by the light house for the tour. It is free, but there is limited space and the tours only run at certain times. 

Thank you very much to Leigh Ann for joining me on this beach clean-up! You can check out her Facebook at: 3 Moons Studio. Hopefully we can make another beach visit when it is a little warmer out.   
See my most updated posts on Facebook: Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA