Green Lane Park (24-Sept-2016)

This trip did not start out as a clean-up. I went with a friend Joe Greco to a couple sites around Montgomery County looking for birds. When we got to one of the stops at Green Lane Park I realized I had an opportunity to work on cleaning up an area that is normally underwater. In a previous post I mentioned that there were a few items at this spot that I wanted to remove, but couldn't due to boating restriction. On this trip this portion of the lake was dry and I was able to walk out to them. I spent some time searching for a TV I had spotted when looking for Ibis the last time I was here and it was nowhere to be found. I hope that someone else removed it from the lakebed. I looked for other trash while Joe scanned the horizon with his spotting scope for birds. 

Cans were the number one item. To me getting all of the trash out of this area that I could was important. When the water is low birds utilize these mud flats for feeding and this particular site sometimes sees some rare avian visitors.

Joe out on the mud flat with his scope. By the time I got to where he was he had a Merlin in the scope perched on the far side of the lake. It was too far for me to get a photo of it.

I was not prepared for a clean-up and didn't have any bags on me. This was everything I was able to collect. I used the bags and containers I found to pack out the cans. There is much more out there, most of which is still inaccessible because it is on the edges where the mud hadn't hardened yet. 

As we were driving between locations we spotted this American Kestrel perched atop a pole. I was able to snap this before it flew off. 

This Fritillary Butterfly was resting on one of the hiking trails we took at a location just out of Green Lane Park. It is common to see wing damage at this time of year and it could be from birds that were trying to turn the butterfly into a snack. 

I see bucks from time to time, never though, have I found one just laying in the woods. This one was only about thirty feet off of the trail and just watched us for awhile before getting up and running off. This may also have been the largest buck I have seen, certainly the largest rack. 

These vultures were along the roadside in a small group. On the left is a Black Vulture and on the right a Turkey Vulture. In all we did not find that many birds, I was happy to get out to at least some of the trash I couldn't get to on previous trips.

You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash

Like this project? Like it on Facebook: Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA