Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge

A big thank you to the members of the Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited who did another great job this past weekend planting additional tree seedlings (donated by PPL) and clearing out a trail for anglers down to the Cherry Creek at the Larsens Lane tract. Thank you for your time and efforts!

The Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge is part of the Lenape National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Check out the article below for more information on the history of the Lenape Tribes and how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with Tribes to reestablish the connection to their homelands: https://medium.com/usfishandw/mending-the-hoop-e9a973470826

The Refuge's outdoor restroom (seen in the photo below) located on the Back Nine trail is now open. It will be cleaned once per week; please use it at your own risk.

The Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) is one of seven woodpecker species commonly seen in Pennsylvania. The smallest of the North American woodpecker species, the Downy Woodpecker is often confused for the Hairy Woodpecker, which is slightly larger and has a slightly longer beak (Photo: downy woodpecker; photo credit: Jim Hudgins/USFWS).

Happy #BatWeek! White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease that affects hibernating bats and is caused by a fungus called Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Sometimes the fungus looks like a white fuzz on bats’ faces, which is how the disease got its name. It attacks the bare skin of bats while they’re hibernating and causes changes in bats that make them become active more than usual and burn up fat they need to survive the winter. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is one of the agencies working to combat white-nose syndrome. Check out the website below to learn more about the fungus and what scientists have learned about it (photo: bat with white nose syndrome roosting in a cave/photo credit: USFWS): https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/

The pickerel frog (Lithobates palustris) is one of 16 frog and toad species found in Pennsylvania. The pickerel frog is sometimes confused with the northern leopard frog; to identify each, the pickerel frog has two rows of squarish spots down the back, but the leopard frog's rounded spots are usually not in well-defined rows. The pickerel frog in the photo below was seen near the Cherry Valley Ridge Trail a few weeks ago (Photo: pickerel frog at the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge; Photo Credit: Jared Green/USFWS).

Happy #BatWeek! The Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalis) is a federally-endangered species that is one of the nine bat species found in Pennsylvania and has historically been found in the Cherry Valley. These bats roost in trees in summer and in caves during the winter. White-nose syndrome has been a major source of the population's decline (photo: Indiana bat in cave/photo credit: Ryan Hagerty/USFWS).

A post-Thanksgiving thank you to our friends at Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, and all the local community members who came out last weekend and in a covid-safe manner planted 1000 native tree seedlings along the riparian corridor of the Cherry Creek on the refuge. The seedlings, which were donated to Brodhead TU by PPL, were planted at the headquarters tract, as well as the Larsens Lane tract. These trees, when full grown, will help stabilize the soil, limit erosion, and provide shade to keep the water temperatures in the Cherry Creek cool just like local trout like it. Thank you all for your time and dedication!

Happy #BatWeek! All nine species of bats found in Pennsylvania feed on insects, meaning they can potentially help make your backyard experience more enjoyable in the summer. Many bats will roost in hollow trees, but you can make a bat house to give them more space. Check out the article below for easy-to-follow instructions, and be sure to pay close attention to the information on where and how high to place your bat box (photo: bat house blueprint/photo credit USFWS). Be a #BatHero: https://www.fws.gov/southeast/wildlife-and-you/bats/

Happy #BatWeek! Every year from October 24th-31st, bats are celebrated across the globe for the valuable roles they play in maintaining healthy ecosystems. Did you know that bats can eat their body weight in insects in one night? Check out the link below to learn how you can help the only flying mammals, 9 of which are found in Pennsylvania (including the silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans) in the photo/photo credit: Dr. R. W. Van Devender): https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/battips.html

Despite their name, the Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) is actually a member of the blackbird family (which includes orioles and cowbirds) and not the lark family. Thank you to Bruce for sharing that he recently spotted two of them on the Refuge (photo: Eastern Meadowlark calling from a snag/photo credit: USFWS).

Have you ever seen a river otter (Lontra canadensis) in the Cherry Creek? These members of the weasel family were once rare in the state of Pennsylvania, but thanks to reintroduction efforts, are much more common across the northern half of the state (photo: river otter head emerging from water/photo credit: Peter Pearsall/USFWS).

Happy National Wildlife Refuge Week! Chances are good that you'll see some wildlife on your visit to the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge, just like Stephanie did last weekend when she came across this woolly bear caterpillar. This fuzzy caterpillar will spend the winter under the leaf litter before becoming a tiger moth next spring, thank you Stephanie for sharing your photo (Photo: woolly bear caterpillar at the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge headquarters tract/photo credit: Stephanie Dello Russo).

Happy National Wildlife Refuge Week! Be sure to come out and enjoy the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge this week now that the fall colors have started to show. Which fall color is your favorite to see on the trees on the Refuge (photo: maple leaf at the Cherry Valley NWR Front Nine Trail/photo credit: USFWS)?

Happy National Wildlife Refuge Week! Be sure to get out and enjoy your local National Wildlife Refuges! The headwaters of the Cherry Creek look great at this time of year along the Cherry Valley Ridge Trail, as seen in the video taken this weekend (video: headwaters of Cherry Creek along the Cherry Valley Ridge Trail).

The Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the only marsupial found in North America, with the females giving birth to young who finish their growth and development in a pouch on their mother's abdomen. A nocturnal and solitary mammal, their response when frightened is to become completely still, which is why they are often only observed as roadkill along the side of the road. This is unfortunate, as opossum consume nearly 95% of the ticks they encounter, with a single opossum capable of eating up to 5,000 ticks in a single season (Photo: opossum/photo credit: USFWS).

The American Pipit (Anthus rubescens) can be seen migrating through Pennsylvania on the way to their wintering grounds in the southern U.S. and Central America after spending the summer in the Arctic to breed. Refuge Visitor Bruce Johnson spotted 8 American Pipits on the Back Nine Trail earlier this week (photo: American Pipit/photo credit: Dave Menke/USFWS).

Leave the leaves! Much like carving pumpkins, raking leaves is a fall tradition for many people. But allowing those leaves to remain on the ground where they fall (or clustering them together in piles at the back of your yard with other woody debris), can have tremendous benefits to wildlife (such as salamanders, box turtles, toads, moths, and butterflies). Plus, it will save you time that you can then spend enjoying out on the Refuge! Read more here from the National Wildlife Federation (photo: marbled salamander in leaf litter/photo credit: NWF) : https://www.nwf.org//2015/OctNov/Gardening/Leave-the-Leaves

Great job Lenape National Wildlife Refuge

In addition to Urban National Wildlife Refuge Day, today is also National Coffee Day. But did you know that your choice of coffee could be impacting migratory bird species? Coffee was traditionally harvested from plants that grew under the tree canopy (commonly called "shade coffee"), which provided great habitat for migratory birds wintering in Central and South America. In recent decades, many farmers have switched over to "sun coffee," which requires an open canopy with little to no tree cover, eliminating migratory bird habitat (photo of coffee plant in Puerto Rico, photo credit:Lilibeth Serrano, USFWS). https://www.fws.gov/northeast/njfieldoffice//shadegrown.pdf