Counting Bats in Caves!

2nd day of my new job.

"Want to count bats in caves tonight?"

"YEAH!"

R. Joseph Raab County Park, York, PA.

Adit 1:

Pipestrelle covered in twinkling beads of water.

We counted 1 Big Brown Bat and 19 Pipestrelles.

Adit 5 (second cave):

Crawling through a pipe to get into cave 2.

Eastern Pipestrelles sprinkled over the ceiling. They are so tiny! Only 3-3.5 inches long! We counted 134!

We counted 36 little brown bats in the second cave.

Walking back to the cars, we saw gigantic great blue heron tracks in the snow. Same size as our shoe tracks!

Following Tracks...

Spent an hour following a mysterious looking set of tracks this morning. Our conclusion: one busy raccoon!

Five toes with claws...

Ate a bird...

Walked down lots of fallen logs...

Crossed paths with a fox...

And a squirrel...

Made nice tracks crossing log...

Stepped on a sweet gum ball...

Walked around lots of trees...

Visited the beach...

All before her tracks got lost in the water. Busy Raccoon!

Muskrat

Exploring Richard M. Nixon County Park in York this weekend, we heard someone exclaim, "I need a naturalist!". As we hurry over, a woman and two small children stare inquisitively at a large rodent. Merely 15 feet away from us, this muskrat sat minding his own business. He nibbled some wood, went for a swim under the ice, and then cleaned himself for us. As if we weren't even there.

The muskrat is much smaller than a beaver and has a long rat-like tail.

Richard M. Nixon County Park, York, PA

Money Shot!

Green Heron + Leopard Frog

Pickering Creek Audubon Center

Easton, MD

Monarch Caterpillars

Exploring the milkweed...

Lots of monarch caterpillars nibbling...

Ahhh the beauty of evolution... allowing this zebra striped caterpillar to consume the poisonous milky white juices of the milkweed plant causing the toxins to ooze through its squishy body and keep predators at bay!

Predator!

A gorgeous northern water snake finds a meal in the brackish creek.

We discovered her taking shelter between the canoes.  These beautifully unique animals were swimming right next to us, minding their own merry business, as we paddled in just a few moments earlier.  (American eel!)

Green Heron

My favorite heron, the smallest one, fishing at Pickering Creek.

Photo taken from a kayak by Kim Frey

(Click photo to view larger image)