Nature of Delaware Blog

By Joe Sebastiani, Ashland Nature Center Manager In these not-so-wintry days with temperatures in the high 60’s, you are the only creature fooled into thinking it is spring.  Plenty of plants, and an abundance of animals are responding as though it is April.  During a walk at Ashland today, with 68 degree heat, I noticed…

By Carrie Scheick, Teen Naturalist Program Leader The Teen Naturalists kicked off 2017 by orienteering at French Creek State Park in Berks County, PA. This 7,339 acre park was logged repeatedly to make charcoal for the Hopewell Furnace, which operated until the late 1800s. The land was sold to the government in the Great Depression, and…

Ian Stewart, Ornithologist Many visitors to Ashland Nature Center have been enjoying our newest attraction – a bird blind! The bird blind overlooks a cluster of bird feeders along Wildflower Brook and is the perfect place to view birds and other wildlife up close. As long as you sit quietly you can watch dozens of…

By: Matt Babbitt, Abbott’s Mill Nature Center Manager Thank you to everyone who joined Delaware Nature Society at both our inaugural Meal at the Mill, on Friday, October 14, and a special return of our Autumn at Abbott’s Festival, on Saturday, October 15, in final celebration of Abbott’s Mill Nature Center’s 35th Anniversary! Guests at…

“DANGER FALLS AHEAD: UNSAFE TO NAVIGATE BEYOND THIS POINT” read a large white sign with bold red typeface. Next to the sign hung a very poignant visual display, in case the written warning wasn’t enough, the mangled remains of a canoe’s bow torn from its hull with seemingly the same ease as holiday wrapping paper.…

Delaware birders are out in full force at this very moment and one of their main targets is migrating warblers. Warblers are small, colorful songbirds which flit actively from tree to tree picking off insects with what the field guides usually describe as thin pointed beaks (also known as ‘bills’). But are warbler beaks really…