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Here is a recent picture of an eagle on nest taken by one of our guides, Brett Martin:

Congratulation to Cheryl Kaclik for her winning entry to our spring photo contest.  Her shot of the sunrise on the first day of spring was the top choice, followed closely by the crocus photo submitted by Kim Reese and the sprouting plants submitted by Celeste Waclawik.  Thank you to everyone who entered!

This is to add further information to the previous post from today.

We can expect little opossums in 13 days!

Also, from the annals of history, an early american poem.

Possum 

A poem by Paul Lawrence Dunbar

Ef dey’s anyt’ing dat riles me

An’ jes’ gits me out o’ hitch, Twell I want to tek my coat off, So’s to r’ar an’ t’ar an’ pitch, Hit’s to see some ign’ant white man ‘Mittin’ dat owdacious sin-

W’en he want to cook a possum Tekin’ off de possum’s skin.

W’y dey ain’t no use in talkin’, Hit jes’ hu’ts me to de hea’t Fu’ to see dem foolish people Th’owin’ ‘way de fines’ pa’t.

W’y, dat skin is jes’ ez tendah An’ ez juicy ez kin be;

I knows all erbout de critterHide an’ haih-don’t talk to me!

Possum skin is jes’ lak shoat skin; Jes’ you swinge an’ scrope it down, Tek a good sha’p knife an’ sco’ it, Den you bake it good an’ brown.

Huh-uh! honey, you’s so happy

Dat yo’ thoughts is ‘mos a sin When you’s settin’ dah a-chawin’ On dat possums’s cracklin’ skin.

White folks t’ink dey know ’bout eatin’, An’ I reckon dat dey do

Sometimes git a little idee

Of a middlin’ dish er two;

But dey ain’t a t’ing dey knows of Dat I reckon cain’t be beat

W’en we set down at de table

To a unskun possum’s meat!

Wow!  That about covers it.

This morning as the children were rushing down the driveway to meet the schoolbus, suddenly Melody came busting back in the door out of breath, exclaiming:  “Dad!  Come quick, there’s a ‘possum out here having babies!”  So, like everyone else would, I grabbed my camera and my hat and ran down the driveway.  About halfway down, she pointed into the woods, and said, “There!”  I saw a clump of grey writhing fur, so we headed cross country.

Upon arriving, I learned quickly that it wasn’t just one ‘possum, but two, and they weren’t having babies, but making them!  Still very cool, so I quickly snapped a few photos.  Melody’s remark, captured on video:  “I’ll bet Mr. Henneman would like to see this!”  Mr. Henneman is the 4th grade superstar teacher who all the children love, because he’s so good at showing them exciting things in our world. 

So, here’s the video.  Don’t click on this if you have any heart conditions, shortness of breath, spells of dizziness, etc.

This scene reminded me of the time of year, and I dug out an old article I wrote from back in the day when I was working for DCNR as their Wildlife Biologist.  I hope you enjoy it.

What’s up with the skunks?

By Merlin Benner

So, what’s going on with the skunks?  That’s the number one question I’ve gotten over the last two weeks by those interested in wildlife, and others, who normally wouldn’t even give a hoot over wild animals.  As the wildlife biologist for a large agency, I’ve received emails and calls from across the state, inquiries from friends at church, and the question has been overheard in the early morning conversations at the Diner.  I even had the cashier at the Wal-Mart mention the odor wafting in the front door last Friday night.  Everyone’s talking about it.  Really, I’m serious here, think back over the last two weeks and recall if skunks have entered your conversation or thoughts.  It’s amazing how skunks can bring everyone to attention.  What an amazing animal.

Of course, the first answer I come up with on any species of wildlife that suddenly pops up everywhere, especially in road kills is:  it must be the breeding season.  Well, after two weeks of this, the constant barrage of questions, it was time to come up with a definitive answer.  So this morning I dug through the pile of boxes in front of my bookshelf and hauled out the trusty guide for any mammalogist, Wild Mammals of North America.  Somewhere in the page 650 range (it’s a pretty comprehensive volume) I learned that striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) enjoy a short but intense breeding season in, guess when, . . . late February to early March.  Thank God!  At least this won’t be lasting forever.

This brought up another question, though, so I quickly thumbed through the pages to the account of our only marsupial, the Virginia Opossum.  I have also been noticing a rise in sightings and road kills for this species lately, too, but not as drastic.  Under the reproduction section, I learned some really interesting, to a biologist, anyway, facts on the breeding season that brought up some deeper questions.  It seems that the possum enjoys a longer breeding season, ranging from January through November.  There is an initial period of more intense breeding activity followed by a tapering off.  That makes sense, after having abstained for the month of December.  But, why December?  Are they too busy eating their way out of a turkey carcass pitched out after Thanksgiving?  Or all the remains of home-butchered deer following deer season?  Who knows?  Form a theory and it would make for some good coffee table debates with friends. 

One last question this piece of information brought to mind sort of jumped out at me as I remembered that possums have 50 teeth, more teeth than any other mammal.  The big question:  is the number of teeth in a mammal correlated with the length of the breeding season?  Now this is interesting.  I would love to see a college research paper to test that hypothesis.  How about in people?  I doubt that this would hold up scientifically, but, . . .

See what I mean by deeper questions?  I guess the moral of this story is, as stated by King Solomon, I think, the idle mind is a terrible thing.  Maybe some alternate take home messages could be:  stop while you’re ahead; or don’t dig too deep – you may find something rotten.

So, enjoy the smell of fresh skunk while it lasts, and remember, they’re having fun so leave them alone, this only comes once a year for them.

Well, we made it through the Ridgeway Rendezvous, specializing in chainsaw sculpture.  It was a cold week, at first, but really cool to see so many hardy people willing to come out to the Pennsylvania Wilds in the dead of winter.  And, the chainsaw sculptors were awesome.  This photo is our Nature Quest tent, where we displayed items on our trips and workshops, where we carved walking sticks, stayed warm, etc.

Read on for more coverage!

There’s a great upcoming event in the Pennsylvania Wilds that promises to really be interesting.  Every February, in the depths of winter (and also quite a bit of snow), 25,000 people converge on Ridgeway for the annual Ridgeway Rendezvous.  This festival is hosted by Appalachian Education, Inc., featuring chainsaw sculptors from around the world.  For eight whole days, the sawdust is flying and white pine logs become works of art, often featuring the beautiful wildlife native to the area.  This year’s event is scheduled from February 21-28, with the festival culminating in an art auction on Saturday afternoon.  Throughout the week, Nature Quest has been invited to provide programming on natural history and primitive skills, as well as offer guided elk viewing, nature photography, beginner cross-country skiing, and beginner snowshoeing.

To find out more about the festival, visit their website at:  www.chainsawrendezvous.org.

Thanks to everyone who braved the cold and turned out to make Quest Fest a success.  We had so much fun meeting everyone and learning from the exhibitors.  Ed Wentzler of Lost Arts Trade Company showed us how to start a fire with a fire bow and we all had lots of fun throwing knives and tomahawks.  Doug Firestone from Firestone Forge showed us blacksmithing techniques and demonstrated muzzleloaders.  Deb Shildt from Handmade in the Hills brought her gorgeous yarns and setup her spinning wheel to demonstrate her craft.  Liz Berkowitz from Wild Asaph Outfitters taught winter camping skills and snowshoeing - and many of our guests got to strap on snowshoes or skis and try it firsthand.  Bill May and Bruce Dart took hikes out and Bill amazed us all with his delicious campfire cooking.  Jim Mucci taught us about coyotes and bobcats.  Bill and Bob the draft horses were here to pull the sleigh and some of our riding horses we around for trail rides.  Our elk trek on Sunday was a lot of fun, pictures of the elk are below.

Quest Fest Spring is planned for May 15-16, 2009 - hope to see everyone there!

I’ll always remember this ride as being on one of the coldest days I can ever remember enduring. Yet, dressed for the weather, everyone had a great time. Like I’ve written before, there is no best time to ride. The woods this day proved to be just as beautiful as ever. We tromped through virgin snow surrounded by wandering deer tracks and watched the snow fall from the evergreens as the breeze passed by.

Thanks to our group for being so great. It was a memorable ride.

-Rachel Booz