A Bear, A Hummingbird, Butterflies And A Few Cool Birds At The Greater Hazleton Rails To Trails

Forecasts of cloudy and rainy weather here in Northeastern Pennsylvania the last two weekends kept me close to home.  I hiked the  local Greater Hazleton  Rails to Trails near my home in Luzerne County on  both weekends.  I was luck, I missed the rain on both of my hikes. .   It was cloudy and wet on my first hike and I wasn’t sure if I should take my camera.  I did  started my  hike on the  remote eastern parking lot at the end of the 6 mile trail. 

I walked under the  dripping wet leaves of  dense mixed oak/ maple woodlands . Usually I hear many song birds as I begin my hike on this side of the trail. But it was quiet on this wet and cool morning. I walked down to a small pond where I had seen beavers  on previous hikes. There were no beaver, and there were no birds either. I was surprised since I usually see a few eastern phoebes, catbirds and towhees here. 

I did see this eastern chipmunk on this dreary morning ,

and did find some green high bush blueberries . In my younger days I’d be picking ten quarts of these delicious berries every day. 

There were also  Indian pipe or ghost pipe plants growing on the wet  ground. They are not fungi but actually flowers that don’t produce chlorophyll. 

I continued my walk through the dense woodlands and came to the old coal mining reclamation area. The trail follows the borders of the forest  here along reclamation area for about a half mile.   There are may of one of my favorite trees, the pitch pine in this area of the trail 

Here I saw a few birds, a pair of brown headed cowbirds, 

a field sparrow, 

a pine warbler 

and a gray catbird. 

There were also a few species of mushrooms growing along the small stream near the trail, A few two colored boletes

 and this chestnut bolete.

Daises also were blooming along the trail,

as was this pretty   blue flax  flower. It is the only place I have seen one in our area. 

The  rain never came and the skies cleared as I walked into the strip mine reclamation area. In the Spring I saw dozens of migrating song birds in this area. On this Sunday I only saw this prairie warbler. I am not sure where all of the birds were, but my theory is that the wet weather kept the insects from flying because their wings were wet. Insect are a large part of the song birds diet . So no insect no bird  out searching for them is my theory anyway. 

I continued my hike over the new bridge over the active railroad track. This railroad brought in the many generation of immigrant miners to the Hazleton area over for over a 100 years. 

This bridge replaced the old bridge built as part of the Delaware, Susquehanna and Schuylkill  Railroad in the 1890’s. 

On the other side of the bridge the trail continues through some old strip mined areas., and, for  a short distance,  on the old access road to the beryllium processing plant. This site was declared hazardous and was demolished a few years ago. 

The trail follows  the abandoned Delaware, Susquehanna and Schuylkill Railroad right of way. and it enters the pine and heath barrens.  I  have posted  many previous blogs on the trail and it’s history. They can  they can be found using the search tool on the  bottom of this page.

I began my hike back when I reached the pine barrens.

There was still little wildlife or bird activity occurring in the woodlands on my return hike . . I saw a few black-capped chickadees, 

a hermit thrush 

a few  prairie warblers. This was   far fewer birds then on my previous hikes, 

I  finished my five mile hike and I was  glad I brought my camera along on my hike. I avoided the rain, and   although I didn’t see any bears, snakes and only a few birds, it was another nice hike on this great trail. 

On the following Saturday  rain was again in the forecast.  So ,once   again I  decided to hike on the  Greater Hazleton Rails to  Trails. And, once  again I took a chance and brought  my camera along on my hike. It was a mostly sunny and warm when I arrived but there were thunderstorms in the forecast, The rays of the  sun filtered through the trees as I began my hike. Like the week before,  there wasn’t a lot of bird song or bird activity in the woods along the trail. 

However  I did see a few birds including a couple of great crested flycatchers

that were fluttering  in the trees tops in the morning sun. 

I followed the trail out into the mine reclamation area and here I saw a  couple indigo buntings,

these beautifully colored birds have a beautiful song too. 

As I was photographing the indigo bunting, I was surprised and delighted to see a female ruby throated humming bird flying , or hovering , through the branches, and luckily for me , it  perched on one of the branches. ,

long enough for me to get some photos. This is not common. I love seeing this tiny birds that seem to be constantly in motion. And I love capturing photos of them on those rare occurrences  they perch on a branch.  These birds migrate from Central America where they spend the Winters.  It’s hard to believe they are capable of traveling this great distance. Like all migratory birds, they amaze me.

Like my previous hike a week earlier, I didn’t see much birds activity on my  walk to the pine and heath barrens, and, like the week before I ended my hike here. On the way back I stopped at the  “lake’  that formed in an abandoned stripe mine. It is a nice view. A lot of folks let their dogs swim here. 

I continued my hike back I saw a few more birds, a blue headed vireo, 

a field sparrow 

and a male eastern towhee.    Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website were more photos of the birds I saw on my hike are displayed. Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails birds July 2-9 2023. 

I didn’t see any more birds birds on my return  hike, but I did  see a bear!.  It quickly walked across the trail far ahead of me in the mine reclamation area.. Unfortunately too quickly for me to get a photo. It was a large bear so I am guessing it was a male , and not the female with cubs that has been seen out here. I walked into the area it crossed the trail but it was gone. It was a brief encounter but always a wonderful experience to see these large residents of our woodlands, 

The July sun warmed it up and,  when I came to a patch of milkweed that was in bloom I found the flowers covered with butterflies, most were Aphrodite fritillary butterflies, 

and a few great spangled fritillary butterflies, 

some spicebush swallowtail butterflies , 

a pearl crescent butterfly and 

a few little glassywing skimmer butterflies. 

What was missing were the monarch butterflies. There would be hundreds of them fluttering above the milkweed flowers. There number had dwindled from loss of habitat, both here and in the hills in Mexico where they migrate  for the Winter. There was hope, I saw one monarch butterfly caterpillar in the dozens of milkweed flowers. It was better than none. Here is a link to a gallery with some more photos of the many butterflies I saw on my hikes. Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails butterflies July 2-9 2023. 

I finished my five mile hike and  once again, avoided the rain.  And,  once again, it was a  nice hike with some cool sightings of the bear, birds and butterflies.  There is always something to see  on a hike to  our  local Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails. Here is a link to some more photos from my five mile hikes on the trail. Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails July 2 -9 2023. 

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. Nathaniel Hawthorne

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