science Archives - Cook Forest Conservancy

Firefly Forest Walk

Let’s Explore: Cook Forest Firefly Walk

Over a dozen species of fireflies have been identified in the region. Join scientists and the CFC at twilight to search for several species of fireflies inhabiting Cook Forest’s various ecosystems. This hike may possibly include the wondrous and elusive synchronous firefly, verified to inhabit the forests of the Pennsylvania Wilds only recently. Learn about fireflies, and how to help protect their habitat.

Following an educational presentation, we’ll be walking in the dark over uneven terrain, so bring your flashlights – red-light capable if possible. There will be supplies to make a custom, removable red-light filter, so you can see better at night and disturb wildlife less. Please also wear closed-toe shoes, and have a light jacket and a water bottle along.

This event is FREE and open to all – however, this night hike is not ideal for children younger than middle-school age. Donations will support the CFC and its Dark Sky initiatives. To that end:

>> Please, no photography, including cell phone cameras <<

Both fireflies and our eyes are photo-sensitive, and any white light is disruptive. Help us protect firefly habitat and their mating season by keeping all light to a minimum.

Firefly Forest Walk: 8 pm, Monday, 21 June 2021

in beautiful Cook Forest State Park, Pennsylvania. The firefly walk is likely to last about three hours.

This event is limited to 25 attendees – RSVP is required, either via the Facebook event linked here, or via email to info@cookforestconservancy.org. The firefly walk meeting location and approx. GPS coordinates will be sent to registrants. Thank you!

>> Weather Warning & Rain Date <<

Rain doesn’t deter fireflies, so the event will carry on as scheduled unless thunder & lightning occurs. If there’s a thunderstorm on Monday, we’ll reschedule for 8:00 – 11:00 pm, Wednesday, 23 June 2021, at the same location.

Temperature, however, does affect lighting bug lighting, so cooler temperatures mean less firefly activity. Below about sixty degrees, we may not see any – so hope for a clear, warm, dark night.

NB re: CORONAVIRUS – By attending, participants assume responsibility for any and all risk due to possible exposure to COVID-19. Please DO NOT attend if you have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the last 2 weeks.

This event is a collaboration of the Cook Forest Conservancy; the DCNR of Cook Forest State Park; and Bruce Parkhurst, a very generous firefly specialist.

Ruffed Grouse and Winter

The state bird of Pennsylvania, ruffed grouse is a clever little game bird that’s very well adapted to winter. Ruffed grouse is non-migratory, and even sleeps in self-made snow tunnels when conditions permit. Insulating feathers thicken around its nostrils, and around its legs, as fall temperatures drop.

Most interesting, however, are the pectinations that appear – Professor Julian Avery, Penn State, photographed a ruffed grouse foot “in its winter ‘form’:”

Pectinations - Ruffed Grouse's Winter Feet

“During fall, they grow these pectinations, or comb-like structures, on the outsides of their toes. These modified scales help them tread on snow like a snowshoe does, and will fall off when spring arrives. Adaptations like these enable species to exist in all manner of crazy environments, and they also make a powerful argument for the conservation of biodiversity. Imagine the time and trial by selection it took to reach this solution, that not only helps them find scarce resources, but that is also in sync with the seasons.”
— Julian D. Avery

Pectinate: having narrow parallel projections or divisions suggestive of the teeth of a comb

The pectinations on the winter foot of a ruffed grouse is an extension of the scales, made of cartilage, and not feathers.

Snow Roosting: the Grouse Dive Bombs to Bed

Other adaptations include “snow roosting.” When the snow is deep enough, and loose enough, a ruffed grouse will perch on a branch, choose its spot, and propel itself into the ground. Widening its tunnel by waddling and winging a bit further, the grouse spends its night burning fewer calories and protected from wintry outside air and wind chill. This snow-tunnel strategy also helps hide him from its bevy of predators: goshawks, great horned owls, fox, and fishers. Ruffed grouse are infamous for bursting explosively forth from these snow dens, another way to startle and evade predators, and hikers. Learn more:

Bonasa umbellus

Order: Upland Game Birds – Galliformes (incl. turkeys, grouse, chickens, quails, and pheasants)
Family: Upland Game Birds – Phasianidae (heavy, ground-dwelling birds)
Species: Ruffed Grouse – Bonasa umbellus

Mating ritual: drumming – a rapid beating of wings by the male
A group of grouse is a: covey

Conservation of Ruffed Grouse

Though currently designated a species of “least concern,” ruffed grouse populations have declined steadily for over three decades, primarily due to:

Habitat loss

Ruffed grouse particularly need early successional forest – the phase between field and saplings. Grouse and woodcock were among those species that benefitted from the clear-cutting of Pennsylvanian forests in the 1800s, nesting in the downed treetops and grasses. Ruffed grouse also needs mature forest – for winter shelter and forage.

Climate change

As a species especially adapted to deep winter conditions, ruffed grouse is losing its evolutionary edge as our winters warm. Poor or icy snow cover renders grouse more susceptible to energy depletion, predation, and freezing.

West Nile Virus

This mosquito-transmitted disease is reducing grouse numbers – and the Pennsylvania Game Commission has been tracking its “very high mortality” impact on our local population since its appearance in the early 2000s. Warmer weather and stagnant water benefit mosquitos – save a grouse, eliminate standing water on your property. Read more about West Nile in ruffed grouse:

https://ruffedgrousesociety.org/the-scientific-impact-of-west-nile-on-ruffed-grouse.

Hope for Hemlocks article

The Cook Forest Conservancy obtained permission from the author to link to this informative article, which summarizes the situation, the current science, and the programs and trials underway in the US to control HWA (hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect) on Eastern Hemlocks, as of late 2020. Cook Forest State Park is a priority area for HWA treatment, as both an exemplary old-growth area, and a National Natural Landmark – so our trees are in better shape than most. HWA is currently in the forest, though, and we and all others in hemlock forests must remain informed and vigilant.

Hope for hemlocks: New tactics found to fight deadly pest

by Ad Crable for the Bay Journal, 23 November 2020

The article bluntly sets forth the magnitude of the threat:

“Without intervention, most trees in natural settings will die,” according to [Pennsylvania’s] latest Eastern Hemlock Conservation Plan.

There still are an estimated 124 million hemlock trees greater than five inches in diameter alive in Pennsylvania. But that’s nearly 13 million fewer than in 2004, and the mortality rate has increased fourfold since 1989.

and emphasizes the importance of Eastern hemlock to hundreds of other species, and its unique and irreplaceable niche in the forest ecosystem. For example, Hemlock groves provide cooling, filtering, and erosion control along streambanks, and their survival is essential for the survival of native trout, and the other organisms of Pennsylvania’s cold water streams.

The article succinctly covers the current methods of protecting hemlocks, from injecting chemical pesticides into the soil surrounding tree roots, to releasing varieties of beetles and sliver flies that predate on the HWA. Scientists are studying stands of hemlock which appear resistant to HWA, and working on replicating this characteristic.

Science is working to help the hemlocks find a natural balance – to let the tree adapt to this non-native insect threat, or to bring in predators of HWA to keep its impact on hemlock health manageable – and to keep this valuable and venerable conifer in our forests. Because, as Donald Eggen, forest health supervisor for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry so aptly states:

When you walk through a hemlock forest, you are experiencing a unique habitat that is only found in a hemlock forest.

Moth infected with zombie fungus

zombie moth - insect infected with Cordyceps fungus

Poor Zombie Moth!

This moth has a fungus! Spotted by the CFC on a hike near Cook Trail, this moth was identified by a PA Bureau of Forestry entomologist as likely having been infected with a Cordyceps fungus.

What this means for our hapless moth friend is – ultimately- mind control, followed by death.

“When a Cordyceps fungus attacks a host, the mycelium invades and eventually replaces the host tissue,” which sounds incredibly unpleasant. And apparently, the host/ victim has a slim shot at self-defense once infected, as “entomopathogenic fungi… have many novel strategies to escape or suppress host immune responses.”

More creepily yet, “Cordyceps is known to have the ability to control an insect’s end-of-life wanderings, which it benefits from by increasing the likelihood that its spores are dispersed to new hosts.” This explains our moth’s forced death-march up the tree trunk to a height optimal for re-infection of other critters. Such mind-control behavior can be illustrated in infected ants – see the National Geographic video below.

These fungi are so effective, they’re used as a bio-control agent against forest and farm pests:

Entomopathogenic fungi are the most abundant type of microorganisms that infects insects. […] As the natural pathogens of a variety of insects, entomopathogenic fungi can be environmentally friendly alternatives to chemical insecticides for biological pest control.

Learn more / Sources:

Moth Quietly Meets Demise By Fungus
Entomopathogenic Fungi – (Heavy Science Reading) – CFC’s source is an excerpt from “Insect Immunity,” Liu & Ling, Advances in Insect Physiology, 2017
Wikipedia: Cordyceps

Cordyceps comprise a number of species, and we’re not able to distinguish which might be infecting our Cook Forest moth.

All Cordyceps are members of the Kingdom of Fungi, as follows:

Phylum: Ascomycota
Class: Sordariomycetes
Order: Hypocreales
Family: Cordycipitaceae
Genus: Cordyceps

Etymology: Cordyceps is from the Greek, meaning “club head”

CFC zombie moth - insect infected with Cordyceps fungus — he’s not supposed to be so spiky – that’s the fungus

Green Elfcup Fungus

Tiny Turquoise Mushrooms!

Identified for the CFC by instagram photographer @fungiwoman, Chlorociboria aeruginascens, a/k/a green elfcup, is the fungus behind that gorgeous turquoise wood you’ll find on Pennsylvania trails.

While the stained wood is common, spotting the tiny, 2-5 mm diameter fruitbodies is a rarity. They occur in summer and fall in the Northeast – these were found on 2 Sept 2020, on Cook Trail in Cook Forest State Park, Pennsylvania. Green elfcup prefers hardwoods, particularly oak, and little shards of the fallen wood that has hosted it can be found on trails and amongst the fairy moss, which seems fitting.

Etymology: aeruginascens is Latin meaning “becoming blue-green”

Learn more:

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/chlorociboria_aeruginascens.html
https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/chlorociboria-aeruginascens.php

Chlorociboria aeruginascens

Phylum: Ascomycota
Order: Helotiales
Family: Helotiaceae

“Fourteenth and 15th century Renaissance Italian craftsmen used the wood to provide the green colors in their intricate inlaid intarsia designs” – to see some examples, and read some heavy-duty science, visit this link to a botany page of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Acorns: Science & Mysteries

a Penn State Forest Stewards series article – written by Jim Finley, Professor Emeritus, Forest Resources Management, Center for Private Forests at Penn State.

Oaks are economically important tree species in Pennsylvania and across the East. Acorns, or mast – a word derived from old English which means “forest food,” are important to wildlife. Oak-borne mast production varies from year to year. Much research has sought to predict masting years, when big acorn crops occur, and shed light on what leads to poor years – or early acorn abscission (detachment) – like you may have seen this season.

Oaks separate into two groups, popularly referred to as red and white, and learning to identify the difference between the two groups is easy.

Red oaks – e.g. Northern red oak, pin oak, scarlet oak, and black oak – have small “bristles” on the lobes and tips of their leaves. White oaks – e.g. white oak and rock, or chestnut, oak – lack these bristles, and have rounded leaf lobes. (CFC note: the image above is of a white oak.) There are other differences that are more difficult to recognize, such as acorn structure and wood anatomy.

The Process of Creating an Acorn –
and the Trials of 2020

Both red and white oaks produce female and male flowers on the same tree, unlike ash which has male and female trees. The process of producing an acorn starts late in the growing year when the male flowers form as the tree’s growth slows toward the end of summer. That is the end of the first year (year 1) in the process. Then, in the second year (year 2), as the tree comes out of dormancy, female flowers form in the axil of the leaf stem and the twig and remain dormant. As the spring leaves begin to unfold, the male flowers emerge and are very apparent as rather-long, drooping, greenish-yellow catkins. These appear about two weeks before the much smaller female flowers emerge.

White Oak Acorn Production

For the white oaks, as the male and female flowers emerge in year 2 as described above, pollination and fertilization should happen. The pollen from the male flower, which is wind-disseminated, lands on the style, which is part of the female flower. When this happens, the pollen initiates the development of a pollen tube that transfers male cells into the ovule to complete fertilization and the process of acorn formation should start in earnest. For this to happen, it is ideal to have warm days and cool nights.

If temperatures are not right, fertilization may fail, and the female flowers will abort, which results in low acorn initiation. Alternatively, if temperatures become too hot or drought conditions occur, white oak acorns may abort, which is likely apparent in mid-June to mid- to late-July; perhaps that is the reason for reported early acorn drop this year. The other big threat to white oak acorns is late spring frosts, which also happened this year, and would again remove the fertilized flowers.

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Bats & Moths & Synchronous Fireflies!

UPDATE: Please bear with us 🙂 – the event is now limited to 25 attendees, per PA guidelines on COVID-19 – – RSVP is req’d via 814-744-8407 or cookforestsp@pa.gov, & please bring your masks & respect social distancing ** Please DISREGARD Facebook attendance indicators, as we’re not using that system **
Our apologies, but as this is the first event in the park following its reopening, and as several state entities are cooperating in its production, we just got the word that we need to collect registrations for the event. We appreciate your understanding!

Wielding microphones and sheets and wearing headlamps, bat biologist Amber Nolder and entomologist Tim Tomon will survey bats and moths, educating onlookers as they monitor this aspect of forest health. We’ll begin with some presentations, move into the field, and learn about these important Cook Forest residents. Here’s a recap & gallery from last year’s stellar bat & moth event – but, this year, it’s

Bats & Moths – and then Synchronous Fireflies!

Our annual program has happily added a (hopeful) appearance by the rare and elusive synchronous fireflies! Once the Photinus carolinus & friends have emerged (probably around 10 pm), we’ll walk up nearby Tom’s Run Road a short distance into the darkness, and enjoy their silent light show. Allegheny National Forest & Cook Forest State Park are among the only places to see these little fellows in America – they’re so famous in the Smoky Mountains there’s a lottery to see them!

Since the primary threats to fireflies are habitat loss and light pollution, the “lightning bug” portion of the program will be pitch black, so they can communicate. The dirt road is somewhat uneven – if you have a headlamp or flashlight with a red lamp function, please bring it along for the trek in toward the firefly swamp.

Friday, 19 June 2020 – 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm >>
add event to your google calendar

We’ll be at Shelter #2 off Forest Road in Cook Forest, approx. coordinates: 41.346609, -79.218915, and the google maps code is 8QWJ+JC Cooksburg, Pennsylvania.

This event is free – no registration required. Please bring a coronavirus mask, a light (headlamps with a red or green night-vision filter are best) and a refillable water bottle – we’ll have bat & moth eyemasks for the kids to color. NB re CORONAVIRUS: By attending, participants assume responsibility for any and all risk due to possible exposure to COVID-19. Please DO NOT attend if you have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the last 2 weeks.

This annual event is a collaboration of the Cook Forest Conservancy, the PA Game Commission, the PA Bureau of Forestry, and the DCNR of Cook Forest State Park

Remind yourself about the event via Facebook, and send us any questions:

& here’s a link to stylish 2020 Bats & Moths & Synchronous Fireflies flyer, in gdrive.

Forest Resilience in a Changing Climate

a Penn State Forest Stewards series article – written by Jim Finley, Professor Emeritus, Forest Resources Management, Center for Private Forests at Penn State.

So far for most Pennsylvanians, Winter 2020 has been a non-event. Depending on where you live, temperatures are considerably above normal and snowfall below normal. Individual perspectives might lead to interpreting these two statistics as either positive or negative. No snow equals no shoveling. Warm temperatures equal more time outside. Or, no snow equals no sledding or skiing. Warm temperatures equal more ticks.

Thinking more broadly than personal values or needs; Is this winter’s weather a harbinger of a future driven by climate change? If so, how will Pennsylvania’s forests respond?

For sure, weather is fickle. Mark Twain purportedly said, “Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.” It seems something is happening to the climate and, whether you attribute it to human activities or just unexplainable variation, Pennsylvania’s forests are facing challenges.

Forest Resilience in a Changing Climate

Aldo Leopold, a 20^th century mid-western conservationist, and author of The Sand County Almanac and many other writings about our relationships to the land and natural systems, was a keen observer of change that others seemed to miss. He wrote, “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on the land is quite invisible to laymen . . . in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.” Simply, he was saying that the more one knows about ecology, the more apparent change is and that many will neither see nor believe that it matters. Many resource professionals as well as laypeople are seeing change in many areas of our environment. As Leopold suggests though, many of these changes and linkages may not be obvious to less than “keen observers.”

Disturbance and change are part of natural systems. Resilience is the ability of a system to recover after disturbance, which determines its ability to persist and function over time. The degree and extent of a disturbance logically affects the capacity of a natural system to recover. For example, in a typical winter, forests often experience damage from wind and ice. Most commonly this is local damage and a few trees experience broken limbs and some trees tip over. The ability of the forest to function across a larger landscape continues unabated – some trees benefit from increased light and growing space from the loss of their neighbors – the forest almost ignores the event.

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Forest Resilience in a Changing ClimateRead More »

Woods not Lawns for Water Quality

a Penn State Forest Stewards series article – written by Jim Finley, Professor Emeritus, Forest Resources Management, Center for Private Forests at Penn State.

It’s January and perhaps your thoughts are already turning toward summer activities. For many Pennsylvanians, mowing and maintaining lawns is either a larger or small part of their summer routine. Lawns, as we know them, are part of American culture and history(1). An Internet search on lawn maintenance suggests creating the perfect lawn is a major industry very dependent on labor and chemical inputs.

Annually we spread millions of tons of insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizer around our homes to have the envy of the neighborhood – a perfectly green lawn(2). Interestingly, as interest in organic foods increases, there is a disconnect about using despised chemicals where our children and pets spend quality time. At the same time, water quality suffers as excess nutrients from lawns and agricultural fields are one of the largest sources of non-point pollutants impacting water quality in our streams, rivers, lakes, and the Chesapeake Bay.

Penn State’s Center for Turfgrass Science estimates that Pennsylvanians maintain about 2 million acres of grass (about 7% of the state’s surface area), and 1.4 million acres of this are home lawns (about 5% of the state). About two-thirds of Pennsylvania is in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and contains an estimated one million acres of lawns.

Pennsylvania has set a goal of converting 10,000 acres of these lawns to woodlands or meadows. This seems like a small target and maybe you can help by learning how to convert lawns to woodlands and meadows by participating in a Penn State Extension Winter Workshop series entitled “The Woods in Your Backyard: Learning to Create and Enhance Natural Areas Around Your Home.” This webinar-based education program will use a full-color, 108-page publication by the same title to guide you through the process of developing and implementing projects to enhance your land’s natural resources. Register by Saturday, 18 January 2020 via the link above, or call 877-345-0691.

A principle focus of the workshop series is to learn about what happens to the rain and snow that falls on your land. There is a very strong link between land use and our water resources. Buildings, pavement, lawns, fields – human changes to the landscape – have affected natural water movement and water cycles Water now moves across the land and into streams in different ways and carries with it nutrients and pollutants.

Interestingly, most lawns are very poor at absorbing water – in fact, they are only a little better than pavement! Your lawn, because of grass root structure and soil compaction, can only absorb about 2 inches of water per hour compared to a forest that can handle 14 inches or more in the same time frame. In the ideal scenario, water does not move across the land – instead, it should move into the soil.

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Some Litter Is Necessary

a Penn State Forest Stewards series article – written by Jim Finley, Professor Emeritus, Forest Resources Management, Center for Private Forests at Penn State.

Well once again, Pennsylvania’s forests are a mess – full of litter. Following the annual spectacular display of colors, fallen leaves, twigs, and branches “litter-ly” despoil our forest floors with layers of brown discarded leaves. What a mess!

Depending on your awareness of litter’s value and your aesthetic sensibilities it can result in different appreciation levels. If you are a gardener, you would welcome, collect, compost, and hoard tree leaves. If your taste leans toward green grass lawns, you may abhor fallen leaves. Either way, you will likely gather them up; however, there are some who want to leave them in situ and mow them into increasingly smaller pieces to foster quicker decay hoping they will benefit that lawn.

Forests full of fallen leaves are a gift trees give to themselves. No one rakes or mulches them; nonetheless, they do slowly disappear. Estimates are that a mature hardwood forests produce an estimated 2,000 and 3,000 pounds per acre of litter annually. While most of this (about 70%) is leaves, it also contains twigs and branches, which may be partially decomposed prior to falling. It is amazing that through natural decomposition processes, tons of leaves contribute to forest vitality and health in so many ways.

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Some Litter Is NecessaryRead More »

Betsy the Bat

Betsy is an ambassador for Centre Wildlife Care – she’s non-releasable because she cannot fly, so she educates folks about the wonders and benefits of bats. Bats, the only mammals capable of continued flight, help us humans by consuming their body weight in insects every night. Unfortunately, the little brown bat, previously Pennsylvania’s most populous, was decimated by white nose syndrome, a deadly fungal disease. They’re slowing coming back, but only have one pup per year — so it’s crucial to help every bat you can. Keep neighborhood skies dark, and consider installing a bat house.

If you find a bat this time of year (late fall to winter), please don’t release them; they will die in this type of weather. They should be hibernating in caves. Those that aren’t in caves hibernating are at risk. Centre Wildlife Care can care for them until spring when it is warm.

If you’re in the State College area, call Centre Wildlife Care at 814-692-0004 – or call Wildlife in Need Emergency Response, which operates a state-wide network of trained wildlife capture and transport volunteers, at 877-239-2097.

Please remember to never touch them with your bare hands; use thick gloves and pick them up gently with a towel. Place the bat in a box with soft cloth or paper towels with a lid, and air holes no bigger than a pencil. Keep them in a warm, quiet, dark room away from pets and people until they can be transported to a licensed wildlife rehabilitation centre. And, don’t assume that they can’t escape…if you don’t put a lid on the box and weight or tape it down…they will leave. It happens all the time 🙂

HWA Hemlock Seminar Recap 2019

A solid group attended this year’s Bureau of Forestry seminar on Hemlock Woolly Adelgid – its life cycle, the dangers it poses and the importance of Eastern (Canadian) Hemlock to our biodiversity, and the currently available treatment options – at the Cook Forest State Park office. Following the classroom session, we trekked a short distance along beautiful Birch Trail, where Forestry scientists illustrated the soil injection method of tree inoculation, which will protect the treated trees for an estimated seven years.

As you may know, many of our ecosystems depend upon hemlock to filter our water and contain our streambanks, shade these streams for trout and the aquatic insects they feed upon, clean our air, and create the singular micro-climate that no other tree can reproduce, and on which many species depend.

You can protect your hemlocks at home:

minimize stressors by keeping them watered in droughts and not compacting their soil, and
monitoring them closely for health – watch the crown for thinning, and always check wind-blown limbs for evidence of HWA infestation, as they tend to colonize the top half of the tree.

View the entire photo gallery here – and please join us next year, as we hope to make the HWA Treatment Seminar an annual event! The Cook Forest area hemlock are relatively healthy now, and by keeping Pennsylvanians aware and proactive, we can ensure their survival for the good of the woods, waters, and people of the coming decades 🙂

Bats & Moths 2019 Recap

The turnout at Tom’s Run – seventy people and six bats – is a happy increase over last year for both groups, and it’s important to track bat densities to determine whether they’re rebounding following the decimation caused by White Nose Syndrome. PA Game Commission scientist Amber Nolder said that, “after the devastating losses due to white-nose, there does seem to be some stabilization of affected bat populations. However, it could take over 100 years for complete population recovery (assuming enough bats can continue to survive white-nose and other threats), because of the low reproductive rate of most of these cave hibernating species, which have only one pup per year.“

Moths, which, along with butterflies, make up one of the most diverse orders of insects, also are a large proportion of the diet of birds and bats. Tim Tomon, scientist with the Bureau of Forestry, noted that they can also be useful indicators of plant presence.

You can help bat & moth populations at home:

help keep your skies dark, and
consider hanging PAGC-approved bat houses on your property (visit the “wildlife home plans” or “wood products order form” at Howard Nursery).

View the entire photo gallery here – and please join us next year, as we’re planning to make Bats & Moths night an annual event!

Small-eyed Sphinx Moth

The small-eyed sphinx moth is “especially nocturnal” and prefers birches, poplars, hawthorns, and willow trees. And white sheets.

And also cherry, serviceberry, and grapes, according to insectidentification.org, which names this fellow a member of the Hawk Moth category. Moths are important pollinators, and are under threat from habitat loss – especially the decline of native plant species – and increasing light pollution.

Learn more about these moths, present from April through October, at bugguide.net. Even more info available at butterfliesandmoths.org – learn about all the Lepidoptera!

Order – Butterflies / Moths – Lepidoptera
Family – Sphinx Moths – Sphingidae
Species – Small-eyed Sphinx Moth – Paonias myops

This fellow was spotted at the 2019 CFC Bats & Moths spectacular, along Tom’s Run at CCC shelter #2, in Cook Forest State Park.

Bats & Moths of Cook Forest

Please meet at twilight (8:30) at Shelter #2 to help bat biologist Amber Nolder and insect specialist Tim Tomon during an evening survey of bats and moths along the picturesque Tom’s Run valley. Following an educational presentation, we’ll be catching bats and moths in nets for research purposes.

Bring your flashlights – there will be supplies to make a custom, removable red-light filter, so you can see better at night and disturb wildlife less. We’ll also have bat-mask coloring for the kids.

This event is FREE and open to all – donations will support the CFC and the installation of bat boxes in Cook Forest State Park.

Much thanks to the Pennsylvania Game Commission and DCNR Bureau of Forestry and their scientists, and to the management and rangers of Cook Forest State Park for their accommodation and support!

>> 8:30 – 10:30 pm, Tuesday, 2 July 2019, at Pavilion #2 in beautiful Cook Forest State Park, Pennsylvania. Approx. GPS coordinates = 41°20’50.0″N 79°13’11.2″W — follow Forest Road to near Breezemont – Shelter #2 is across from the Log Cabin

science

Let’s Explore: Cook Forest Firefly Walk

>> Please, no photography, including cell phone cameras <<

Firefly Forest Walk: 8 pm, Monday, 21 June 2021

>> Weather Warning & Rain Date <<

Pectinations - Ruffed Grouse's Winter Feet

Snow Roosting: the Grouse Dive Bombs to Bed

Bonasa umbellus

Conservation of Ruffed Grouse

Habitat loss

Climate change

West Nile Virus

Hope for hemlocks: New tactics found to fight deadly pest

by Ad Crable for the Bay Journal, 23 November 2020

Poor Zombie Moth!

What this means for our hapless moth friend is – ultimately- mind control, followed by death.

Learn more / Sources:

All Cordyceps are members of the Kingdom of Fungi, as follows:

Tiny Turquoise Mushrooms!

Chlorociboria aeruginascens

The Process of Creating an Acorn – and the Trials of 2020

White Oak Acorn Production

Bats & Moths – and then Synchronous Fireflies!

Friday, 19 June 2020 – 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm >>add event to your google calendar

Remind yourself about the event via Facebook, and send us any questions:

Forest Resilience in a Changing Climate

The Process of Creating an Acorn –
and the Trials of 2020

Friday, 19 June 2020 – 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm >>
add event to your google calendar