LOCATION: Jones Run/Doyles River, South District, Shenandoah National Park

GEOLOGY: Mainly Catoctin Greenstone with some younger Weverton Sandstone along the ridgetop Appalachian Trail.

ITINERARY: This was an Audubon Naturalist Society hike. We hiked the 6.5 mile loop from the Jones Run trail head, with our maps and equipment  , down to the intersection with the Doyles River trail, returning by the Browns Gap Road and the Appalachian Trail.

HIGHLIGHTS: The largest pool on Doyles River, near the confluence with the Jones Run, contained a spawning pair of brook trout. Appropriate to the largest pool, this pair was likely the largest fish in Doyles River; both appearing to be at least a foot long. The brightly orange-colored male was extremely actively guarding the female, aggressively charging a smaller male that also inhabited the pool. The muted-colored female rested below the protective male, and, about every five minutes, would turn on her side and vigorously wiggle, presumably releasing her eggs into the two-foot diameter depression, made by her fanning the bottom with her tail.

One witch hazel was being used by twenty or more walking stick insects involved with their fall mating. Two smaller males were attached to a large female, with one male appearing to have the advantage in its position. This is the third fall mass grouping of walking sticks I’ve observed over the past dozen or so years.

The walking fern, found just before crossing the Jones Run, was a surprise. Just above the walking fern were three very large yellow poplar; two along the trail, and a third across the stream, along with some large (and dying) hemlock.

A number of chestnut trees were found near the southern end of the hike; one being too large for me to enclose within my hands.

BOTANY: The Weverton formation, being a quartzite, had a high number of ericaceous plants, including deciduous azaleas, deerberry, low blueberry, black huckleberry, minnie-bush and mountain laurel.

Canopy: On the drier south-facing slopes, the dominant trees included oaks (chestnut, northern red, scarlet) and pignut hickory. Pitch, Virginia and table mountain pines joined chestnut oak on the driest slopes (high slope with southern exposures). Moist, north-facing slopes (or along streams) included linden, sugar maple, white ash, and hemlock. Other canopy trees included yellow poplar, black cherry, black locust, white oak, blackgum, red maple, and hickories (mockernut, shagbark, and bitternut).

Subcanopy: Black birch, persimmon, sassafras, striped maple, flowering dogwood, and ailanthus in drier areas; hop hornbeam, slippery elm, and pawpaw in wetter areas. Others include hackberry, bird cherry, red bud, box elder and cucumber magnolia. A few yellow birch were found in the wettest areas.

Shrub Layer: Spice bush dominated the wet areas, with witch hazel common throughout well-drained areas. In addition to the ericaceous shrubs mentioned above, wild hydrangea, viburnums (blackhaw and maple-leaf), common elderberry, ninebark, were all with fruit. Others included American hazelnut.

Herbaceous Layer: Asters in bloom include wavy-edged, calico, wood, heath and heart-leaved. Foliage of large-leaved asters were also found. Goldenrods include bluestem and zig-zag. Other herbaceous plants in bloom included quickweed and common yarrow. Plants in fruit included dolls eye, milkweed, whorled coreopsis, black snakeroot, wood betony, false spikenard, blue cohosh, Jack-in-the-pulpit, garlic mustard, woodland sunflower, jumpseed, mullein, beefsteak, false Solomon’s seal, common burdock and naked fruit tick trefoil. Other plants in foliage included tall white lettuce, turtlehead, wild stonecrop, common chickweed, early blue violet, ginger, stinging nettles, wood nettles, tall coneflower, round-leaved hepatica.

Ground cover and vines: Blackberries, raspberries, Virginia creeper, poison ivy, partridgeberry, oriental bittersweet (heavily adorning the native shrubs along Brown’s Gap Road), round-leaved greenbriar, and Virgin’s bower.

Ferns and fern allies: Hay-scented (already turning brown), New York, maidenhair, marginal, carthusiana, intermedia, polypody, broad beech, ebony spleenwort, christmas and fragile. Two ferns, with a preference for basic pH soils were found. They were the walking fern and maidenhair spleenwort. No clubmosses were found.

Amphibians: Red-backed salamanders were found. During brief rainshower, a gray treefrog was heard.

Birds:  Turkey vulture, raven, white-capped chickadee, tufted titmouse and hairy woodpecker were seen or heard.  

Edible puffballs, horn of plenty (a chanterelle), and honey mushrooms were found.  Birch polypore and turkeytail were also found.

 

DATE: July 10 – 16, 2004

LOCATION: Adirondack State Park, NY

HIGHLIGHTS: The botany at the summits is especially unique and always rewarding. The blooming twinflower (Linnaeus borealis) on the summit of Mt Marcy was beautiful, as were the blooming starflower, northern white violet and Canada mayflower (well past bloom at lower elevations). The alpine heaths above the 4000’ level were great, with Labrador tea, small cranberry and pale laurel in bloom. Other alpine heaths included rhodora, sheep laurel, bog bilberry, snowberry, and sour-top blueberry (V. myrtilloides). Three-toothed cinquefoil, alpine goldenrod (S. cutleri) and mountain sandwort were in bloom at the summits. Fir clubmoss and black crowberry were also found at the summits, along with Bigelow’s sedge and Deer’s hair (Alpine bulrush).

The Braun’s holly fern was a major highlight for this trip. Finding 17 ferns over the five days was a highlight. Also, three horsetails and five clubmosses were not bad, either.

Three life list birds heard were ruby-crowned kinglet, Swainson’s thrush, and blackpoll.

Saw a few mink; along the shoreline of Lake Champlain and in the Ausable Mountain Reserve. Also, heard coyotes two nights at our cottage.

HIKE ITINERARY: This was a week of day hikes based from Karen Brown’s summer base at the Windward Retreat in Westport, NY, along Lake Champlain. Three day hikes will be discussed here. They are Mount Marcy, Algonquin Mountain, and Cascades Mountain.

This is the highest mountain in the Adirondack at 5344 feet. Marcy is located in the middle of the High Peaks Region. Of three options, we took the shortest approach, starting at Heart Lake and following the Van Hoevenberg Trail. This is a 15.6 mi hike that takes an average of 9 hours. The start is from the parking area at Heart Lake. Follow the Van Hoevenberg Trail up to Mt. Marcy by its North face. The return is along its South side by the Marcy Trail along the Feldspar Brook, then Lake Arnold Trail up to Avalanche Camp and finally Avalanche Pass Trail up to Marcy Dam. From there, joining the Van Hoevenberg Trail for the return to Heart Lake. Many people chose to shorten this distance by camping at Marcy Dam. This will cut 4.4 miles from the distance. Marcy Dam is a backcountry camping area.

This is the second highest mountain in the Adirondacks at 5114 feet. It's also one of the three most popular ones with Cascade Mtn and Giant Mtn. We chose to make a long loop starting at Heart Lake, ascending Algonquin Peak, then descending a ridiculously steep, wet, and slippery bedrock trail to Avalanche Lake, Avalanche Pass and Marcy Dam. This difficult hike was a total of 11.4 mi. We chose not to include Iroquois Peak, which would add another two miles to the total.

This is perhaps the easiest hike among the 47 peaks over 4,000 feet. It’s number 36 of the 47 peaks at 4098. A one mile spur trail will also allow you to ‘bag’ Porter Mtn (4059), number 38 of the peaks, from this trail near the summit. Cascade Mt. has a 360° view from its large rocky top. There is a magnificent view to the North of the entire Lake Placid Valley. You can make out the two Olympic ski jumps with your naked eyes on a tolerably clear day. The 4.5 mile entire hike is in a wooded habitat except for the last 100 yards, which is on bare rock.

A low elevation hike along the West River Trail in the Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR), starting at the Ausable Club was made. We hiked about four miles up to the Lower Ausable Lake, passing a falls and beaver dam and returned by the service road.

Species found here, and not found elsewhere (or included below) include northern red oak, white pine, slippery elm, hop hornbeam, gray birch, trembling aspen, hornbeam, American fly honeysuckle (L. Canadensis), sweetgale, Braun’s holly fern, ostrich and Christmas fern, fringed loosestrife, swamp candles, colts foot, Virginia creeper, common milkweed, Indian tobacco (L. inflata), partridge berry (in bloom), slender toothwort and wood anemone foliage, Large coralroot (of course, in bloom!), enchanted nightshade (in bloom), white doll’s eye, large leaved aster foliage, common hawkweed, virgin’s bower, and, along a beaver dam and wetland area: great St. Johnswort, blue vervain, monkey flower, rough bedstraw, purple fringed orchid, common cinquefoil, wild mint, fringed loosestrife, cow parsnip foliage, deptford pink, early goldenrod, oxeye daisy, sweetgale, Cornus ammomum, spikenard, northern bugleweed, royal fern, and wood horsetail (E sylvaticum). Also saw blackburnian warblers, phoebe and chipping sparrows.

And, the last morning, we visited the Adirondack Park Visitor Interpretive Center in Newcomb, NY, hiking the Rich Lake and Peninsula trails. Additional items saw/heard were yellow warblers, greenish-flowered pyrola (P. virens), helleborine (in bud), swamp horsetail (E. fluviatile), swamp milkweed (in bloom), marsh skullcap (in bloom).

GEOLOGY: The formation of the Adirondacks is NOT the result of the Appalachian Orogeny; the mountain-forming event that occurred 250 million years ago from the tectonic plate impact of Africa with North America, forming the Appalachians, from Nova Scotia to Georgia. Taken from a hiking guide discussion:

"Geologically, the Adirondacks are part of the Canadian Shield, a vast terrain of ancient Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock that underlies about half of Canada and constitutes the nucleus of the North American continent.  In the U.S., the Shield bedrock mostly lies concealed under younger Paleozoic sedimentary rock strata, but it is well exposed in a few regions, among them the Adirondacks.  The Adirondacks are visibly connected across the Thousand Islands to the Grenville Province of the eastern side of the Shield, which is around one billion years old.  Upward doming of the Adirondack mass in the past few million years--a process that is still going on--is responsible for the erosional stripping of the younger rock cover and exposure of the ancient bedrock.  The rocks here are mainly gneisses of a wide range of composition.  One of the more interesting and geologically puzzling rocks is the enormous anorthosite mass that makes up nearly all of the High Peaks region.  A nearly monomineralic rock composed of plagioclase feldspar, this peculiar rock was apparently formed at depths as great as fifteen miles below the surface.  It is nearly identical to some of the rocks brought back from the moon. 

The present Adirondack landscape is geologically young, a product of erosion initiated by the ongoing doming.  The stream-carved topography has been extensively modified by the sculpturing of glaciers which, on at least four widely separated occasions during the Ice Age, completely covered the mountains."

BOTANY: The noticeable lack of exotic invasives, which have so impacted our regional forests, is refreshing. Balsam fir are common, as are hemlocks. Never saw a garlic mustard throughout the whole trip, nor any ailanthus.

Canopy: Red spruce, balsam fir dominate. Red and sugar maple were dominant deciduous trees. Others included black birch, black cherry, beech, white ash, basswood, white birch (in burned areas), yellow birch (not many), white cedar (along streambanks and open slopes), heartleaf birch and mountain birch (B. cordifolia and B. minor) at higher elevations,

Subcanopy: Striped maple dominated the subcanopy. Mountain maple was also common. Others included paper birch, alternate dogwood, and pin cherry.

Shrub Layer: Definitely, the dominant shrub is the hobblebush, Viburnum alnifolium. Heaths were impressive, with alpine species on the summits. Others included wild raisin (V. cassinoides), squashberry viburnum (V. edule),early and mountain shadbush (A. laevis, A. bartramiana), mountain alder (A. crispa), mountain bush-honeysuckle, skunk and bristly black currants, red-stemmed dogwood, mountain holly (Nemopanthus mucronatus), sheep laurel and meadowsweet (both in bloom along Avalanche Lake), beaked hazelnut, red elderberry, northern mountainash (Sorbus decora), and black chokeberry.

Herbaceous Layer: Herbs were profuse with Canada mayflower, Bluebead (Clintonia borealis), bunchberry (C. Canadensis), goldthread (Coptis groenlandica) and some starflower. All but goldthread were in bloom at highest elevations. Also enjoyed the pyrolas. Shinleaf, one-sided and greenish flowered pyrola were in bloom.

Other flowers in bloom included tall meadow rue, wood sorrel, mountain and white avens, orange hawkweed (H. aurantiacum), twisted stem (at Algonkian summit), harebell (C. rotundifolia), balsam ragwort, heal-all, orange-spotted jewelweed, common speedwell, yarrow, tall buttercup, Indian pipes, northern white violet, Indian cucumber root, bluets, and dogbane. At the sunny trail head of Cascades were bladder campion, flowering raspberry, meadow rue and cow vetch in bloom. 

Other plants in fruit included starflower, bunchberry (lower elevations), pink lady slipper, twisted stem, sessile bellwort, foamflower, sweet cicely, wild sarsaparilla, Canada violet, false Solomon’s seal, red doll’s eye, 

Plants in foliage only included whorled aster, wild lettuce, false hellebore, rough-stemmed goldenrod foliage (S. rugosa), Indian cucumber root, trillium, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and wood nettle.

Ground cover and vines: Assorted blackberries, raspberries and wineberries. Field bindweed in bloom.

Ferns and fern allies: Large areas of oak fern and broad beech were found. Other ferns included bracken, sensitive, intermedia, cinnamon, interrupted, royal, hay-scented, New York, lady, mountain, spinulose, Braun’s holly fern, Christmas, ostrich and polypody. Lycopodiums included L. obscurum, annotinum, lucidulum, clavatum, and selago. Equisetum arvense, fluviatile and sylvaticum were found.

Amphibians: Green frog.

                    Reptiles: Found two garter snakes at Marcy Dam.

Birds: A few high elevation birds were life listers for me. These were ruby-crowned kinglet, Swainson’s thrush, and blackpoll. The Swainson’s thrush were fairly common at lower elevations. Hermit thrush were also commonly heard/ along with the veery and wood thrush. Others included robin, blue-headed and red-eyed vireo, black-capped chickadee, winter wren, towhee, cedar waxwing, ovenbird, black throated blue and green warblers, white-throated sparrow, chestnut-sided warbler, golden-crowned kinglet, catbird, turkey vulture, crow, raven, red-breasted nuthatch, great blue heron and a family of common merganser with eleven young. Saw a number of Blackburnian warblers, phoebe and chipping sparrows at the Ausable Club.

Mammals: Red squirrels were common, along with chipmunks. Others included mink, deer and hearing coyotes.

LOCATION: Pond Run – Half-Moon Lookout, great North Mountain, VA/WV. (Hike #12 in PATC Circuit Hikes in VA, WV, MD, AND PA.)

HIGHLIGHTS: In clearing near Old Mailpath trailhead, a dozen or so common milkweed had about forty great spangled fritillaries and several silver-spotted skippers. Good circuit hike for ferns and birds. Excellent view from Half-Moon Lookout. Service berries were in edible fruit, as were early blueberries. Lots of Indian Pipes along Pond Run. Hike along Half-Moon Lookout had Bristly sarsasparilla, found in stone foundation at Half-Moon Lookout, wild indigo, deciduous holly, broad-leaved spirea, bear oak, goats rue.

Allegheny mound ants near ridge tops.

Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium) is dominant in sunny openings, along with various knotweeds (Polygonums).

HIKE ITINERARY: This is a 11.6 mile loop with a 1.1 mile spur trail to Half Moon Peak for a total hike of 13.8 miles. New bog walkways have been installed at the top of Pond Run Trail and the beginning of the Tuscarora Trail with considerable trail disturbance along the Tuscarora Trail from Half Moon Peak Trail east beyond the Racer Camp Hollow Trail head (widened for construction vehicular traffic).

The trail intersection of Racer Camp Hollow Trail and the Tuscarora Trail (and Little Sluice Mountain) is not well marked. The Racer Camp Hollow Trail is NOT a 90 degree left turn as shown on the map, but rather a much more abrupt left hand turn, downhill, at about a 135 degree turn. The 90 degree left turn keeps you on the Tuscarora Trail.

The next intersection with Old Mailpath Trail on the left is also not well marked, but found below the field on left. Note entry of Old Mailpath Trail on right just prior to field and trail on left.

GEOLOGY: Cambrian Weverton sandstone; circa 550 mya.

TRAIL JOURNAL: Following the guidebook, we started at the Pond Run trailhead and did the loop counter-clockwise. The trail starts through a wet narrow ravine of dying hemlock with a variety of deciduous trees and a rich ground layer of ferns and herbaceous growth. A moderately steep ascent takes you up to the Tuscarora Trail (Half-Moon Trail), where three wooden bog boardwalks have recently been put in (fall of 2003?). Half-Moon Lookout trail is a major vegetation change, being dry, ridgetop heath habitat. In addition to heath, includes wild indigo, iris foliage, Major trail grading has been done to (apparently) allow equipment/machines to construct these minor bog crossings. The extent of damage to the vegetation and subsequent erosion along the broad, exposed vehicular path is tremendously inappropriate to the minor convenience brought with the boardwalks. Some explanation is necessary. Ridgeline vegetation is strongly ericaceous, including mountain laurel, various blueberries, Minnie-bush, huckleberries, teaberries and trailing arbutus.

Trailhead for descent of Racer Camp Hollow Trail is NOT clear. No sign is present, and even blazes are not easy to decipher (or find!).

Canopy: In the coves, hemlock, basswood, white ash, black birch, tulip tree and red oak are common, with the drier slopes and ridge tops dominated by chestnut oak, blackgum, service berry (in fruit), red maple, pignut hickory, bear oak and red oak. Others found include white pine, Virginia pine, table mountain pine (at Half-Moon Lookout), pitch pine, beech, and a few eastern red cedar in old fields.

Subcanopy: Subcanopy was not well defined, with the secondary forest being about 60 years or so old. Subcanopy was mainly sassafras, witch-hazel and striped maple. Others included cucumber magnolia (in Pond Run), yellow birch (along Racers Run, along with false hellebore and cinnamon ferns), ironwood, black locust, and American chestnut (in bloom).

Shrub Layer: As noted with the subcanopy, shrubs are also minimal in lower elevations, including spice bush and wild hydrangea (in bloom). Higher, drier habitats were densely populated with heath members; specifically mountain laurel, blueberries (V. vacillans, angustifolium, stamineum), black huckleberry, Minnie-bush (Menziesia pilosa), and pinxter-bloom azalea in more protected, wetter habitats. Broad-leaved spirea and deciduous holly at Half-Moon Lookout. Hercules club also found on trail.

Herbaceous Layer: In bloom included: Impatiens capensis, bluets, long-leaved Houstonia, bristly sarsasparilla, Indian cucumber root, Enchanted nightshade, honewort, white avens, yellow stargrass, blue-eyed grass, rattlesnake weed; wild indigo and goats rue (at Half-Moon Lookout); black medic, black-eyed susans, milkweed and crown vetch (in field habitat); fly poison, spiked lobelia, yellow oxalis, heal-all, deptford pink, whorled loosestrife, mullein, and whorled coreopsis. In fruit included false and true Solomon’s seal, Canada violet, and aborted buttercup. Others in foliage included whorled aster, false hellebore, dwarf cinquefoil, starflower, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, bedstraws, horsebalm, clearwing, white snakeroot, coltsfoot, golden ragwort, and northern bugleweed.

Ground cover and vines: Spotted wintergreen in bloom, smilax, blackberries, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, wild yamroot (D. quaternata), partridgeberry, grapes, hog peanut, Canada mayflower, and trailing arbutus.

Ferns and fern allies: Lots of hay-scented and New York ferns, cinnamon and interrupted, lady, Christmas, wood, intermedia, spinulose, broad beech, ebony spleenwort, bracken (on dry ridges), rock polypody, and one population of silvery spleenwort and oak ferns. Only one area of Lycopodium digitatum along the Old Mail route trail was found. One wet spring had Equisetum arvense (Common horsetails).

Amphibians: Several American toads were found. Two ponds near the ridgetops included red-spotted newts and many frogs of unknown species.

                    Reptiles: No snakes! How disappointing.

Birds: The ridgetop bird of the trip was the eastern towhee. A surprising mix of warblers included both the black-throated blue and green warblers, a chestnut-sided, yellowthroat, several prairie, a northern parula, and a cerulean. Others included Acadian and Great-crested flycatcher, red-eyed and blue-headed vireos, ovenbird, wood thrush, scarlet tanager, tufted titmouse, wood peewee, white throated nuthatch, yellow-billed cuckoo, raven, American crow, accipiter hawk (sharpie?), bluejay, and Indigo bunting.

Mammals: Gray squirrel was about it!

Invertebrates: Butterflies included red-spotted purple, great spangled fritillaries, silver-spotted skippers, orange sulphurs, question mark, common wood nymph, and cabbage whites.

 

LOCATION: Tea Creek Backcountry, Monongahela National Forest

HIGHLIGHTS: Being a northern coniferous forest, a number of species were noteworthy. One of my favorites is rosybells. Red-breasted nuthatch. On the first day, we passed through an area around 4100’ with a beech canopy, with a groundcover of trout lily, mayflower, clintonia Canada mayflower and mountain wood fern.

The Bear Pen Ridge Trail was unique in habitat. It was densely populated with red spruce, mountain laurel, mountain ash and mountain holly. Gaulthera hispidis, snowberry; a northern groundcover, was noteworthy; found with the red spruce and blackpoll warbler (recognized by voice) on the Bear Pen Ridge Trail.

Near the end of the second day, on North Face Trail, we came across many old artifacts of logging operation kitchen and sleeping quarters. Many plates, silver ware, stove parts, shed sections were found with cot springs still in place. Stove said "Iron City Stove and Foundry Company, Bristol, VA". Another part said "Champion blower and Forge Company, Lancaster PA. Another stove named Grand Camper. 25 large horse shoes were found in one area.

On Tea Creek Trail, just before Bear Pen Ridge trail, dwarf larkspur was found in bud.

HIKE ITINERARY: Starting at the Tea Creek Campground, we hiked up the Tea Creek Trail and camped at the right fork trail. Second day was a day hike, doing a loop trail and staying at the same camp site. We went up right fork trail, west on the tea creek mountain trail and back on the north face trail. Third day was up the Tea Creek trail, dropped off backpacks at Bear Pen Ridge trail and hiked up Tea Creek to shelter (where red pines were found) and back to Gauley-Tea connector to Gauley Mountain trail and back down bear pen ridge trail; picked up backpacks and went on boundary trail to trail head on Bannock Shoals Run and up Saddle Loop until we left the old road. Fourth day was up to Turkey Point trail and connector back to Tea Creek Campground.

Canopy: Black cherry, horsechestnut, beech, black birch, sugar maple, red oak, hemlock, cottonwood, red maple, white ash, big-toothed aspen, tulip tree, red pines, and red spruce.

Subcanopy: Striped maple, river birch, cucumber magnolia, shadbush, witch-hazel, quaking aspen, sweet cherry, and alternate-leaved dogwood. A few apple trees were in bloom.

Shrub Layer: In bloom: mountain ash, bladdernut, red elderberry and fire cherry. Others included hawthorn, Viburnum cassinoides, rosebay rhododendron, Hercules Club, gooseberry, choke cherry, mountain laurel, mountain holly.

Herbaceous Layer: In flower: foamflower, swamp buttercup, golden ragwort, blue cohosh, tassle rue (in bud), violets (Canada, blue, marsh, smooth yellow, and sweet white), great chickweed, Trillium erectum (wake robin), painted trillium, hooked crowsfoot, Phlox divaricata, wild geranium, bishop’s cap, Solomon’s seal, dwarf ginseng, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, golden saxifrage, Canada mayflower, yellow oxalis, ginger, white dolls eye, swamp saxifrage, Pennsylvania bittercress, wood anemone, bluebead clintonia, common toothwort, May apple, spring beauty, perfoliate bellwort, bower’s root, and Indian cucumber root. Non-blooming includes lady’s thumb, wood betony, wild bleeding heart, skunk cabbage, black cohosh, Virginia waterleaf, false hellebore, white lettuce, ramps, angelica, clintonia, tall meadowrue, common cinquefoil, rough-stemmed goldenrod, coltsfoot, mayflower, trout lily, pink lady slipper, halberd-leaved violet, large-leaved violet, squirrel corn, and northern bugleweed.

Ground cover and vines: Multiflora rose, grape, poison ivy, bindweed, wild yam, dutchman’s pipevine.

Ferns and fern allies: New York, hay-scented, marginal, cinnamon, broad beech, mountain, Christmas, intermedia, sensitive, silvery spleenwort, rock polypody, bracken. Lycopodiums include L. digitatum, L. obscurum, L. annotinum, L. clavatum. Also, Equisetum arvense. Fraser’s sedge in bloom!

Amphibians: Red-backed salamander and spring peepers heard.

Reptiles: Northern ringneck snake found.

Birds: Warblers included Northern Parula, black-throated blue, black-throated green, black and white, yellow rumped blackpoll. Others included Louisiana waterthrush, scarlet tanager, robin, winter wren, wood peewee, northern junco, red-breasted nuthatch, golden-crowned kinglet, chipping sparrow, chimney swifts, raven, blue jay, wood thrush, red-eyed vireo, and a barred owl.