Mark Nale
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Nature’s Ways: The Hearty Christmas Fern
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One of our most common fern species is the Christmas fern. While it never grows to the level of profusion of hay-scented fern, it does occur in all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) grow in fountain-like clumps of dark green fronds that stand from 1 to 2 feet tall. Their stocking-shaped leaflets…
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Nature’s Ways: The Striking Winterberry Holly
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Few autumn sights are more striking than the early morning sun illuminating the scarlet berries and golden foliage of winterberry holly. Almost everyone knows the American holly that is used for holiday decorations, but few are familiar with the more common Pennsylvania hollies. In addition to American holly (Ilex opaca), several other species of this…
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Nature’s Ways: The Mourning Dove — Game Bird and Bird Feeder Visitor
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One of the 10 most common birds in the United States is the mourning dove. Its prolific breeding rate allows it to keep up with the harvest of millions of birds annually by hunters and poor winter survival in some areas. It breeds throughout Pennsylvania and all of the lower 48 states, in southern Canada…
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20 Years of Antler Restrictions Have Changed Deer Harvest
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It has been two decades since stricter antler restrictions were put in place across Pennsylvania. The results have been dramatic, but even so, there are still hunters who do not appreciate what has happened. I started hunting when the only antler restriction required at least one spike to be three inches or longer, or an…
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Nature’s Ways: The Cedar Waxwing — the Berry Eater
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The cedar waxwing, Bombycilla cedrorum, is one of the last Pennsylvania birds to begin nesting each year, but they nest slightly earlier than the goldfinch. As spring comes to a close, many pairs are building their first nests, and they often nest again in July or August. Waxwings get their name from the unique reddish-orange…
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Fall Hunting Seasons Unfold in Pennsylvania
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Over the past few years, Pennsylvania’s hunters have experienced many changes in season start dates, lengths and regulations. Seasons and bag limits for the fall are usually discussed and voted on at the commission’s January meeting. Due to vacancies on the Board of Game Commissioners, there was no quorum in January, so therefore official votes…
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Nature’s Ways: Butterfly Weed — An Orange Sentinel
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The rich orange flowers of butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) seem to call out “here I am” to any passerby. This attractive flower is blooming now. Butterfly weed is a big nectar producer and is therefore aptly named. The bright-colored blossoms of this native wildflower attract many species of butterflies to sip its nectar and sometimes…
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Nature’s Ways: The Long-Lived Wood Turtle
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The adult orange-legged turtle first entered my life during the spring of 2008, when it showed up at our newly built koi pond. After several visits, I noticed that it was missing its left front foot. So, we nicknamed it Stumpy. Stumpy’s orange legs and a unique wood-like shell are the trademarks of our common…
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Nature’s Ways: The Killdeer — an Inland Representative of a Common Shorebird Family
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One of our noisiest birds is the killdeer (Charadris vociferus). If you are unfamiliar with this inland version of the “shorebird” plover family, listen carefully, for an excited killdeer repeats its name “kill-deer,” “kill-deer,” over and over — up to 80 times per minute. Even its species name, vociferus, attests to its noisy nature. Killdeer…
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It’s Trout Time: Lines Cast Statewide on Saturday Morning
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The opening day of Pennsylvania’s trout season is this weekend. Yes, you read correctly — fishing for stocked trout begins at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Pre-season trout stocking is complete in Centre County, with the last area streams — Pine Creek and White Deer Creek — stocked by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission on…