Wildlife in Pennsylvania

I just returned from a week at Scout Camp in Pennsylvania and it was a blast. I thought it would be a great idea to hike out of camp in search of wildlife. I had heard of deer, raccoon, fox, mice, moles, and other four legged creatures. As I set out I had no idea what was in store for me. I was walking up a path about fifteen minutes outside of camp when I encountered one of my great fears in life....a snake. As it turns out it was not just any snake, it was a timber rattlesnake. I learned later that since it was still mid-morning the snake was lethargic and still soaking up warmth for an active afternoon. I chose to retreat back down the path after taking the video posted above.

Another snake!!

Two days after my rattlesnake sighting I was walking out of the campsite and saw a ringneck snake that was about 15 inches long. The irony is that of the 28 scouts and 15 adults who went to Scout camp for the week there were 3 snake sightings, and I saw 2 of them. The third was a black snake seen by my son and four other scouts who were participating in a program called Boots and Paddles which involved 34 miles of kayaking and 24 miles of hiking on the Appalachian Trail in four days.

Two Fawns with Their Mother

I was lucky to look out the window and see the mother deer and her two fawns in the yard. They are so skittish it was difficult to get a close shot, but I'm happy with the video. My son Conner was on the porch with me and when I say, "Don't move" it appears that the deer is listening to me. We tried to go outside but they ran away.

A Fearless Bunny

It appears that the wrens have abandoned their nest. In doing some research it turns out that wrens build many nests most of which end up abandoned.

I did get a good video of a bunny that has been living in the yard since it was born. It has tripled in size but still is very at ease with people.

Day Two With the Birds

The birds have been hard at work and have made a lot of progress. It is a very unusual nest. It was formed by piling pine needles and leaves and then burrowing into the middle and jumping around to make a house-like structure. I like this video because it has a little bit of chirping and shows the mom and the dad. We're thinking of names for them.

I will be trying to get video of the new fawns that like to eat the grass under our trampoline, the raccoons that like to tip over our trash cans, the groundhog family that has lived in the backyard for the past three years and finally this year has a wife and children, and any other wildlife that ambles by.

A Bird's Nest

We have had so many nature sightings this summer at my house I wanted to start blogging about some of them. I have no idea if anyone will be checking the blog or not since my last post was over a month ago.

A pair of birds that look like wrens (I'll need to do a little research about this) have started building a nest in a partially open window in Conner's room. We have decided to let them keep building and will do our best not to disturb them. Our biggest fear is rain coming in the window, but a few well placed towels should take care of it. I'll post more bird videos in the coming days.