Tuscarora State Park (28-Sept-2016)

Most of the time when I go to Tuscarora State Park, I stick to the more heavily used areas of the park. For this hike I decided to go to hit some trails that don't see much use. I knew I wouldn't find a lot of trash, but generally once areas like this are cleaned up they tend to stay that way for a long time. I parked at the flying field for remote controlled airplanes and hiked through an old tree farm and around fields, hoping too to see a lot of insects. 

I only picked up a handful of trash on this hike and what I did find was mostly in the pines. These were a couple of the items that flew into this area. A ballon on the left and a small model plane wing on the right. Being close to the flying field I always hope to find a whole plane. So far I have only found one and it was severely damaged and to high in a tree for me to retrieve. 

In the fields I did find insects. This Monarch Caterpillar was one of the first insects I came across. The fields consist of mostly Goldenrod with a few patches of Milkweed. The Goldenrod did not yield many insect finds, the Milkweed however had an assortment of species.

This was the coolest beetle of the day. It is an Eye-Spotted Lady Beetle. It was much larger than most of the Ladybird Beetles I am used to finding.

On the left is a Ladybird Beetle and a Milkweed Beetle. On the right is a Ladybird Beetle Larvae and Aphids. The Aphids feed off of the Milkweed and the Ladybird Beetles feed on the Aphids. 

A Candy Cane Leafhopper. All of the insects so far in this post were found on Milkweed, so if you are out searching for insects to see at this time of year Milkweed would be a good plant to find. 

If you look closely at the center of this photo you may see the White-Tailed Doe that was staring at me. 

On the Goldenrod I only found a couple bees and these Earwigs. 

What a Spider! It is a Marbled Orb Weaver. It too was found around Milkweed.

This was all for trash on this hike. I probably won't visit this area for another year or so. It was a nice hike and I was happy to see a decent diversity in insect species. 

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