Peace Valley Nature Center A facility of Bucks County Department of Parks & Recreation

Volume 31, Issue 3

Fall 2011

Member Information

2

Service Projects & Volunteers

2

Solar Tour 5

September 18 Events ! 10K & Walk, Friends &Family Fun

Insert

Fall Session Teacher Naturalist Training

7

Pre-School Programs 7

Events & Calendar 3-4 Insert

Inside this issue:

Dates to

Remember

NEW EVENT~ Inter-national Vulture Day Activities, Sept. 3; 1:00-2:30 pm

September 18 ~ 10K Race & 2-Mile Walk & Friends & Family Fun Day

September 12 ~ Harvest Moon Hike & Campfire

October 8 ~ Solar Tour

October 16 ~ Spider’s Tea Party

October 21 ~ Gaggles of Ghosts & Ghouls

International Vulture Awareness Finally some respect! Misunderstood and

often the subject of disgust, these creatures are at last getting their rightful recognition. Through international efforts and a multitude of organiza-tions September 3, 2011 is their day. Oh, I know there are days for just about everything, but these guys and gals really need someone to educate folks about their intrinsic worth.

Many of us grew up calling these mag-nificent birds buzzards, but it is just not so. It is believed this misidentification probably dates back to the arrival of the first English colonists because they had no vultures of any type in England, only buzzards. The turkey vulture like it’s namesake, (the wild turkey) has a head that is bald and red.

Vultures are large, carrion-eating birds that are excellent at soaring flight. There are 15 species of Old World Vultures and 7 species of New World Vultures (North & South America).

It was believed up until 1994 that all vul-tures were raptors and members of the order Fal-coniformes. The New World Vultures evolved differently than their Old World counterparts. With many similarities it is a “classic example of con-vergent evolution. (i.e., when the same traits evolve independently in unrelated groups).” (Turkey Vulture Facts). There is still debate over which history from which the New World Vultures derive.

In common all vultures have that look that only a mother could love—the bare head and neck with a thin covering of down. This serves them well as they eat just about the messiest diet around. Dead animals! Sticking your head in the carcass for a meal would be quite messy with feathers on your head. The bacteria would be bountiful, therefore the bald head is a matter of

hygiene. New World

Vultures include tur-key vulture, Cathartes aura; black vulture, Coragyps atratus, California condor, Gymnogups califor-nianus; Andean con-dor, Vutur gryphus; king vulture, Sarco-ramphus papa; and the greater and lesser yel-low-headed vultures, Cathartes melambrotus and Cathartes burrovi-anus.

The most common vultures in our area are the turkey vulture and the black vulture. You can tell the difference in a number of ways. The turkey vulture is the one with the red head (adults) and fly with their wings in a dihedral (shallow V-shape). The undersides of their wings are two-toned, on the leading edge (the front) the color appears black or dark brown, the trailing edge ap-pears silver or whitish. The turkey vulture flaps very infrequently and is a master at using thermals (warm pockets of air) to travel. It is often wobbly in flight but can travel long distances without flap-ping and expending energy by moving thermal to thermal.

The more southern black vulture has a slightly smaller body than its cousin the turkey vulture. It has broad wings with a large whitish patch at the tip. It is short with a black body and square tail. It has a dark bare head. The younger black vultures are less wrinkled. They frequently flap when flying and are not as good at gliding.

Black vultures are more aggressive and tend to travel in groups. One on one the larger tur-key vulture can overpower a black vulture for food, but because black vultures are often in groups they seem to get the upper beak in these situations. Both species eat more than just carrion. They have been observed eating

black vulture in flight

turkey vulture

Continued on p. 2

Page 2 peaceval leynaturecenter.org Volume 31, Issue 3

Dove Tales is a quarterly publication of Peace Valley Nature Center,

a facility of the Bucks County Depart-ment of Parks and Recreation

COUNTY

COMMISSIONERS Charles H. Martin, Chairman

Robert G. Loughery, Vice Chairman Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia, LCSW

STAFF:

Director Naturalist: Craig Olsen

Assistant Naturalist &

Education Director Gail Hill

Assistant Education Director/Volunteer

Coordinator Mary Jo Lisewski

Office Coordinator:

Kathleen Everett

Asst. Bookkeeper: Carolyn Schaupp

Store Manager: Louise Lehman

Naturalist Aides: Heather Mueller Grace Gottschall

FRIENDS OF PEACE VALLEY

NATURE CENTER BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

President: Betsy Moore

Vice-President: Pat Witek Treasurer:

Kevin Cornwall Corresponding Secretary:

Dan Long Directors

Andy Young Robin Folkerts Andrew Young Dan Long John Mihalich

Newsletter Editor: G. Hill and Staff

The Bucks County Department of Parks

and Recreation does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its programs, activities and facilities.

Peace Valley Nature Center

170 Chapman Road Doylestown, PA 18901-5504

215-345-7860 Fax # 215-345-4529

peacevalleynaturecenter.org

Friends of Peace Valley Nature Center Membership Welcome New Members

Donations

Lynn Marshall Dr. William C. Reaman Kathleen Gipson Lynne Colletti Adrienne Gallagher Anne Pritchard Charles Kleeman Hannah Thomas Virginia LaRue Chris & Donna Whitney Christa Ahn-Doettger Lynda Constantine Steve Reed Johnette Tollin Sara Gorr Maureen Schmidt Maria Elliot Family

Sciel Family Foundation Judith Boyles Charles & Dora Olsen L-3 Communications, SPD Technologies Pomona Grange Doylestown Nature Club Red Hat ladies Navmar Applied Sciences in recognition of the community service of Bill Strunk Burke family in honor of Zach Johnson’s graduation Matching Gifts: Law School Admission Council for Wendy Margolis PJM FOR Sandra Johansen Genaurdi’s $183.55

Service Projects & Volunteers Thank you to : Daisy Troop 2624 for planting perennial flowers next to the parking lot. Zack Johnson, of Troop 71 Eagle Scout Project, for completing a trail improvement project on Mini Loop, including removing multiflora rose and planting native shrubs. Josh Platt, of Troop 41 Eagle Scout Project, for completing a new Lenape educational area on the nature center property. Diamond Ridge Day Camp campers and counselors for watering and maintaining new plants and clearing program areas. Many thanks to Giant and Acme, for providing our volunteers with snacks and refreshments by sponsoring volunteer work days.

rotten vegetables, feces, fish, and insects. Predatory behavior in turkey vulture is very rare although they have been known to feed on animals too weak to stand. Black vultures will attack small live prey, or in larger groups may attack lambs or newborn pigs.

Urinate on their legs? Yes, they do! Urohydrosis serves two important purposes. It cools the vulture on warm days (they cannot sweat). The urine contains strong acids from the digestive system that eliminates bacteria from their messy meal they had been stepping in.

Puke? Yes, that too! Vultures have few natural predators and are known to vomit when approached or harassed by predators. They do not “projectile vomit” as some claim. When stressed they will puke, it is believed this behavior evolved as a means of off-loading weight when predators or danger approaches. It is well documented that they gorge themselves at a meal and may have eaten too much to fly. This vomit may be meat just eaten or semi-digested and really foul-smelling. The regurgitated food may be eaten by the predator, who takes the free meal rather than pursuing the vulture.

The “heraldic pose” (spread winged) of the turkey vulture serves many functions they include: warming the body and drying the wings. This is most often seen in the morning, it is believed they do this to warm their body to a certain temperature before they fly (they lower their body temperature at night a few degrees to save energy).

To learn more about these fine birds and their place in our world, come to the International Vulture Day activities September 3, 1:00—-2:30 pm.

Vultures, continued from page 1

As I flew around Lake Galena I looked down to a field with small humans pointing their claws up at me. I was just trying to spot a fish for a midmorning snack and I get an entire audience looking at me in awe. All I can say is with all the gear I have, catching fish is easy. I can see a fish gliding through the water even when I am over one hundred feet above the surface. Diving through the air I grab the fish using my sharp and pow-erful talons. I can lift an animal that weighs around four pounds up to my nest. Sometimes on days when I am feeling lazy, but still have to bring food home for the wife and kids, I’ll get takeout. A nice piece of carrion tastes so good!

If I must say so myself I have a pretty nice aerie (nest). Every year I try and add a little addition on to my nest. I once heard there was an eagle that made a nest 20 feet deep almost 10 feet wide and weighed over 2.5 tons! That is one big nest! I should probably work a little more on the nest so it will be big enough for the three eaglets my wife wants to have. With three young eaglets I’ll be catching fish all day, I just hope there are lots of dead animals around for some easy food!

Although I do not mind humans observing my fish catching prowess, I do enjoy being away from human activities, except I heard of an eagle pair who decided to make its nest right in the middle of New York City. That pair must have dove straight into the water one too many times! Many of my kind long ago were not able to lay healthy eggs because of a chemical humans used. Also, our habitats were being de-

stroyed. Now the population of my fellow eagles is increasing to healthier levels. Maybe someday soon you will see more of my kind around! A few interesting facts about bald eagles: The chemical dichlorodiphenyltrichloro-ethane (DDT) was used as a pesticide and inter-feres with eagles ability to make hard eggshells thus causing the eggs to break during incubation Bald eagles are able to see both forward and to the side at the same time because they have two centers of focus A bald eagle’s talons are ten times more pow-erful than a human’s hand Bald eagle eaglets

are known to exhibit fratricide where a stronger eaglet will kill its weaker sibling to get more food. The parents do not try to stop this practice

Bald eagles have been known to mistake plastic bottles for fish, so continue to pick up your trash and any trash you might see

Information taken from: http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/

Sam Plouffe, 2011 Summer Intern

MYTH- Turkey vultures circling mean there is a dead animal somewhere near there on the ground. Not usually, they are actually giving you a spectacular demonstration of their flight capabilities as they ride the thermal.

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Ah, To Soar—From an Eagles View

peaceval leynaturecenter.org peaceval leynaturecenter.org Page 4

Things to Do At Peace Valley Nature Center Calendar of Events

BIRD WALKS—EVERY SATURDAY MORINING—NO FEE ~ 8:00AM-10:00 Fall Migration! What a great time to get outdoors and go birding. Join birders of the area for an informal and informative walk. All levels of experience welcome. Hone your skills or learn new skills.

SEPTEMBER INTERNATIONAL VULTURE AWARENESS DAY! Saturday Sept. 3—1-2:30 pm NO FEE Activities and information about these misunderstood birds. Learn why their conser-vation is vital to all of us. SINGLES WALKS; September 10, 24 ~ 10:30 am, Join Director Naturalist Craig Olsen as he leads informative walks highlighting and informing you about what is going on around the nature center—bring lunch for after the walk $2 donation suggested

HARVEST MOON WALK & CAMPFIRE Monday September 12, 8:00 pm Inclement weather cancels the event (cloudy or rain—if unsure of event happening—call)

Experience one of the brightest and most spectacular full moons of the year and take a walk in the moonlight, discovering what’s going on. We will return to join together for a warm pleas-ing campfire and enjoy toasty marshmallows! Limited use of flashlights! (Please) $5 ($3 members)

FRIENDS OF THE DOVE 10K & 2 MILE HEALTH WALK Sunday September 18 ~ 9 am (rain or shine)- details available on our website or in newsletter insert

FRIENDS & FAMILY FUN DAY —September 18—10am-4pm All kinds of fun things to do for everyone, including silent auction and children’s ticket auction, Too Good to Toss Sale, Join us!

TEACHER NATURALIST TRAINING Tuesday-Thursday; September 20-22 & 27-29 1:00-3:00 pm—NO FEE (details available in text of newsletter page 7)

KIT CREW & GOSLING GANG—Preschool classes—10:00 –11:30 am Begin Sept. 20 & 21, these programs run for 4 consecutive Tuesdays or Wednesdays, a rain date follows the 4th week. (details in text of newsletter Page 7)

STAR WATCH Thursday September 22 ~ 7:30 pm Join the Bux-Mont Astronomical Association to look at what’s happening in the night sky. Star Watch will be held in the field off Chapman Road. From the parking lot walk towards the bridge and the entrance to the field is on the left before the bridge. Cloudy or rainy weather cancels the event. NO FEE

Things to Do At Peace Valley Nature Center

OCTOBER SUNDAY NATURALIST FORAYS –OCTOBER—2PM NO FEE, Outdoor Adventure for explorers of all ages October 2 ~ Bountiful Bugs Grab the bug boxes and sweep nets and we will

explore the fascinating lives of insects, where they are, who they are and what do they do?

October 9 ~ Fruits, Pods, and Packages: SEEDS We depend on the bounty of plants for our food. Let’s go look for seeds and fruits that the animals of Peace Valley need

October 23 ~ Tree’s Colors and Gifts The beauty and majesty of fall foliage. We shall discover the diversity of this seasonal wonder October 29 ~ Birds in Autumn- Where Are They? Who is staying around for the winter? Where are they going?

SINGLES WALK; October 22~ 10:30 am, Join Director Naturalist Craig Olsen as he leads informative walks highlighting and informing you about what is going on around the nature center—bring lunch for after the walk $2 donation suggested

SPIDER’S TEA PARTY Sunday October 16 ~ 1:30 pm ~ NO FEE Bring along your favorite stuffed pal and join us for tea (juice) and crumpets (snack food). We will listen to some creepy stories and tales read by Mrs. Spider. We will then go out and search for some real spiders and their relatives

GAGGLES OF GHOSTS AND GHOULS Friday October 21, 6:30-9:00 FEE: $5 (members $2) Led by our somewhat Ghoulish teacher naturalists, you will be led on an ee-rie walk through the trails of PVNC. Along the way you may meet some “creatures” that will expose some of the myths about the creepy and fright-ening nature of cats, rats, bats, snakes, ghosts and other things that go bump in the night. After the walk, relax at our warming fire with toasty, gooey marshmallows

Walks are ongoing throughout the evening. No pre-registration necessary Groups are welcome! NOVEMBER

SINGLES WALKS; Nov. 6~ 10:30 am, Join Director Naturalist Craig Olsen as he leads informative walks highlighting and informing you about what is going on around the nature center—bring lunch for after the walk $2 donation suggested

SUNDAY NATURALIST FORAYS –NOVEMBER—2PM NO FEE Outdoor Adventure for explorers of all ages November 7 ~ What’s That? - Who goes there? We shall hike the trails looking for autumn changes. What is happening as the season changes?

Page 5 peaceval leynaturecenter.org Volume 31, Issue 3

Volume 31, Issue 3 peaceval leynaturecenter.org Page 6

Preschool Programs Ages 2-6 years Fun & Educational Outdoor Walk & Activities

ADVANCE REGISTRATION & PAYMENT ARE REQUIRED: To register, send title of program, child’s name, age, parent or accompanying adult’s name, phone number and fee to:

Peace Valley Nature Center ~ 170 N. Chapman Road Doylestown, PA 18901 The fee is not refundable one week prior to the start of the program. Please make checks payable to Friends of PVNC.

Your payment will secure and confirm your registration.

Volume 31, Issue 3

10:00-11:30 am Tuesdays ~ September 20, 27, October 4, 11, Foul Weather Date Oct. 18

Wednesdays ~ September 21, 28, October 5, 12, Foul Weather Date Oct. 19 FEE $55 (members $45) Limit 2 children per adult

peaceval leynaturecenter.org Page 7

Kit Crew Ages 2-3 with caregiver

Class size: 5 Kits Under 2 years, no fee

Snack and a great story! Then we venture outside for a dis-covery walk focusing on the theme of the story. We then return to the

nature center to make an age-appropriate craft to take home.

Search for animals’ homes and hideaways. Discover the fascinating world of worms, learn about a mouse and it’s habitat. Who does live in that tall, tall grass?

Gosling Gang Ages 4-6 with caregiver

Class size: 7 Goslings Under 2 years, no fee

A story, snack and walk on the wild side!

We will investigate the world of insects, spi-ders and such, trees and their leaves. We will explore pond life by dipping into the pond to

discover who lives there. Great Outdoor Adventures!

BABES IN THE WOODS

10:00-11:00 am ~ Ages 8 months to 2 years FEE: $40 (members $30) Class Size: 5 Babes and their caregiver—Tuesdays ~ Sept 20, 27, October 4, 11, Foul Weather

Date Oct. 18 Awaken the senses of your babe with a great outdoor experience. These nature awareness classes focus on age appropriate walks. Led by Teacher Naturalist Jason accompanied by his son Ryan you and your babe will discover some of the wonders of Peace Valley Nature Center. We will be utilizing stroller friendly trails.

Teacher Naturalist Training Tuesday, Wednesday ,Thursday

September 20, 21, 22 & 27, 28, 29 1:00-3:00 pm NO FEE

Do you enjoy the outdoors? Do you enjoy children and learning?

Join us for 6 sessions that will bring environmental education to life.

You will learn techniques and programs for pre-school and ele-mentary students.

Completion of this training and subsequent program observa-tions could lead to a part-time paid teacher-naturalist position.

Information or to Register contact Gail Hill 215.345.7860 ext. 103 or ghill@co.bucks.pa.us

Summer Nature Adventures 2011