The evening of June 12th in southeastern Pennsylvania was lovely with warm sunlight, cool, dry breezes and green vegetation everywhere. I took a drive in rural, northwest Chester County to enjoy its beautiful scenery and whatever wildlife was visible.
That part of Chester County has many fields of tall grass, deciduous woodlots and crack-willow-lined streams. And there are several built ponds and natural wetlands in that area as well. All these habitats, natural and human-made, make good wildlife habitats in a quiet, lovely countryside.
Summer cold fronts, one of which dominated the weather that evening, with their pleasant and comfortable temperatures and humidity, are the nicest weather we can expect to get here. It was a real joy to be out that evening in the combination of pretty scenery and delightful weather.
As I slowly, blissfully drove along peaceful, country roads with almost no traffic, the sweet scent of honeysuckle blossoms permeated the gentle breezes. I saw some of those vines, with their many white or beige flowers, climbing trees here and there along rural roads.
As I drove along and watched for interesting plants and animals, I saw several kinds of farmland birds. Most notably, they included a pair of eastern bluebirds perched on a fence, several barn swallows skimming fast and low over fields after flying insects to eat, a couple woodpeckers, called flickers, in flight and a male orchard oriole in flight.
I also saw a few kinds of mammals along the way, including three wood chucks, three white-tailed deer, a gray squirrel and an eastern chipmunk. Northwest Chester County is a good area for these mammals, and others, because of its abundant sheltering vegetation.
Each chuck was consuming plants along a hedgerow, here and there, near the road I was on. One even sat up to look at me in my car. But at the least sign of danger, each of those big rodents would dive into the thickets of its hedgerow to seek cover.
The deer were a couple of hundred yards back from where I saw them, but with binoculars I noticed they were two does and one big buck with half-grown antlers in velvet. That buck was about half again as big as the female deer. And all of them were in their red, summer fur coats. Each doe probably had twin fawns hidden somewhere nearby.
The squirrel ran across the road when I saw it and farther down that road the chipmunk apparently was gathering seeds on the shoulder of that road. I stopped to see that cute, little chippy better, but he dashed into roadside vegetation in an instant. I thought "good for him"!
I stopped briefly at a small, built pond that closely paralleled a rural road I was on. A couple wary painted turtles slid off half-submerged limbs and into the water to hide. I heard a few green frogs croaking as I watched the tight circles made by several shiny-black, swirling whirligig beetles on the water's surface, looking for all the world like they were tiny motor boats.
Next, I went to a series of ponds and marshes where cattails, bull lilies, pickerel-weed and crack willows dominate the wetlands and shores of the ponds. Several male red-winged blackbirds sang from wind-swayed cattails and willows while their females went about the business of feeding their young. The striking males are jet-black with red shoulder patches to impress the ladies and discourage would-be rivals. The camouflaged females are dark-brown, streaked with black.
I also heard a few male bull frogs moaning from those ponds and wetlands. Their calls, and those of male green frogs, attract females of their respective species to them for spawning in the water. And, I am sure, those love songs alert herons, mink and raccoons of the frogs' presence.
Surprisingly, I heard the fluttering trills of a half dozen or more gray tree frogs in trees along the road I was on, across the road of that series of ponds and wetlands. That suggested to me that those little amphibians might lead dangerous lives when ready to spawn. But there were puddles in a field of young corn plants on their side of the road. However, I'm afraid that if they spawned in those pools in the fields, their larvae would not have the couple of months it takes for those tadpoles to develop into froglets and leave the water equipped with legs and lungs to live on land. Those adult gray tree frogs were in a dilemma because of our transportation.
The sun set and the western sky was a lovely, soft pink and orange, with pink-tinted clouds. And as the sky and countryside got darker, a few creatures were suddenly visible in the twilight, including many fireflies, four adult cottontail rabbits on and along a rural road and a couple of flying bats silhouetted beautifully against the fading sunset. The flashes of cold light from firefly abdomens were enchanting as always. The rabbits hopped casually off the road as I slowly drove by them. And the bats were fascinating to watch swooping and diving after the innumerable flying insects. The small, flying insects I saw in my car headlights were so numerous that they looked like a bowl of thick insect soup.
I experienced pretty and interesting wildlife, in a beautiful countryside, during wonderful weather at a lovely time of year. What greater joy could I ask God for?
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