Even In Bleak November Community Park Is A Great Place To Visit

November is not one of my favorite months, The leaves have all fallen from the trees, the song birds have migrated south, the frogs and insects have disappeared, the days are getting shorter and it’s usually cold. But even in this dreary month you can find some beauty outdoors if you keep your eyes peeled and look. I did that on a few hikes at our local Community Park near my home in Hazle Township, Luzerne County this past week.   I have posted quite a few blogs about  this small but beautiful park and you can search them in the archives or using the search tool on my blog. 

It was a few weeks since I last hiked in the park, before my recent trip to Panama. I returned last Sunday since I had a family event  late in the morning and wanted to stay close to home. I am glad I did. It was a cool sunny morning when I arrived at the park.   The first thing I noticed was the parking lot was paved, a much needed improvement. I parked and walked under the now bare oak trees and past the large M-60 tank part of a Veterans Memorial at the park’s entrance. 

A locomotive that hauled coal  in a nearby anthracite coal mine was also on display near the park’s entrance.

The park was a lot quieter now then in the Spring and Summer months. There is usually the sound of children playing in the playground also near the entrance. Temperatures were in the 30’s and there were no children playing here on this cool November morning. In fact the park was empty,  

except for a few  folks fishing along the shores of Lake Irena.

I walked around the lake on the well maintained trail,

as the November sunshine filtered through the now leafless oak and maple trees. Hemlock and pitch pines grew at the north  end of the lake.

This is were a stream enters the lake. As I approached the stream I saw the trail  was flooded. A stream of water flowed over the trail, and I soon found out why.

The beavers that live in a lodge on the lake built a dam across the stream, overflowing the wetlands and causing the flooding. I looked but the  beavers weren’t around. 

I continued my walk  around the lake and  then followed a trail into  the  nearby woodlands. Again is was quiet. The song birds I hear in the Summer migrated south. The weak November sun shone through the bare trees.

The ferns, so lush and green in the Spring, were shriveled up and brown. 

The trail was covered in fallen leaves. I walked out about a mile on an old abandoned road that once led to the Babe Rith Baseball field. 

I only saw one wildflower, a spotted knapweed flower that survived the frost and freezes.

Their were many milkweed pods along the trail, their seeds ready to scatter in the next strong wind. 

I walked back to the lake and this time I saw a few critters, this gray squirrel with a acorn snack. 

This great blue heron wading  along the shores of the lake.

Nearby I thought there  was a pair of mallard ducks on the lake,  but, later, when I edited the photos I realized they weren’t mallard. My nephew and brother identified them as   American black ducks.  I haven’t seen black ducks on Lake Irena before. 

The great blue heron and ducks flew off as I approached to get better photos. 

While approaching the ducks and heron I saw this, probably the last dragonfly I will see until next Spring. I believe it is an autumn meadowhawk dragonfly. 

It was now late Sunday morning  and I had to end my hike. just when the wildlife was becoming more active. As I was leaving the park I saw a few white-breasted nuthatches near the entrance. 

I retuned to the park on Friday afternoon. It was overcast when I arrived but,

after I had taken a couple  walks  around the lake the clouds gradually dissipated and  I enjoyed more brilliant November sunshine. 

And I saw some more wildlife, a flock of about a dozen Canada geese near  the lake, 

and I saw another great blue heron. I watched it fly over the lake and land on a log near the north shore. 

When I came to beaver dam near the bridge over the stream that feeds the lake I saw that someone breached the beaver dam.  The flooding on the trail had subsided. 

I only  saw a few more critters on my three mile hike including a few more squirrels, 

and this black capped chickadee.

The November sun was already low in the southwestern sky when I left the park.

I returned to the park a third time, early Saturday morning. My great niece Cora was being baptized at 10 a.m. so it was going to a quick hike a few times around the lake. 

In addition to the beautiful scenery  I once again saw some wildlife on my hike including a tufted titmouse, 

a white-throated sparrow,

a pair of bufflehead ducks. 

and this gray squirrel enjoying an acorn for breakfast. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos of the  wildlife I saw on my hike. Community Park wildlife November 5 to 11 2023. 

As I walked around the lake I noticed the trail was flooded again. Sure enough the beavers were busy. They repaired the breach in the dam overnight. I didn’t think they were nocturnal animals. 

I finished my quick three mile hike enjoying the beauty of Community Park and Lake Irena. I’d rather be hiking in the Spring or Summer but I was still able to see some wildlife here even in bleak November. I won’t be hiking  in the park as much in the Winter, especially when the snow and ice arrive, but I hope to get out here a few more times before then, and share the beauty of nature I find.   Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos from  my hike. Community Park  November 5 to 11 2023. 

Upon our heads
The oak leaves fall
Like silent benedictions
Closing Autumn’s gorgeous ritual…
~Marjorie Allen Seiffert, “November Afternoon,” 

 

 

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