No Bears, But A Few Birds, Insects And A Fish Eating River Otter At The Susquehanna Wetlands In Luzerne County

I returned to my favorite nature hiking trails in the Susquehanna Wetlands in Luzerne County last Saturday.   Not only to see the wood ducks, birds, insects and other critters that live there.  This time I was also looking for bears.  I had found a lot of bear scat on my previous hikes in the wetlands.  And on my hike last week  some local residents told me there were 3 bears in the area.

It was sunny and cool when I  arrived at the wetlands  early Saturday morning. I stopped at the two green duck weed and algae covered  ponds near the entrance  and watched as a pair of wood ducks and a great blue heron flew off as I approached. 

I was surprised to see couple of migratory birds still in the trees near the ponds. I thought they had left on their journey south.   I had seen a few America redstarts here during the Summer and this male may have been one of them.

I didn’t see many black and white warblers in the wetlands during the Spring and Summer but I saw  this one.It  may have been just passing through on it’s way south.

I was also greeted with the cheerful sound of a  few Carolina wrens. They will remain here throughout our long, cold  and dark Winter.

I drove to the parking lot and followed my usual routine of walking down to the ancient Susquehanna River, one of the oldest on the planet.  It is my favorite river and one of the three rivers we are blessed to live near here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The others are the Lehigh and the Schuylkill.

As I was walking into the wetlands I saw a few juvenile American goldfinch near the trail head.  Like the Carolina wren they will remain here in the Winter.

While watching the goldfinches I again surprised to see this migratory bird, an ovenbird.  These small warblers are very common in the deep hardwood forests. I always see and hear them on my Summer hikes. I never see them in the wetlands, and, like the black and white warbler, I believe it was already on it’s way to Florida or the Caribbean Islands where it will spend the Winter.

I walked into the wetlands and under the canopy of leaves from the large  oak, red maple and sycamore trees. There was a   heavy dew on the grass on the trail.  I wore sneakers and they were soaked.

I walked along the green duck weed covered canal,

and past the ponds in the wetlands.

Unlike the Spring and early Summer , where there are dozens of wildflowers blooming along the trial, only a few wildflowers now bloomed,  including the native goldenrod,

and the invasive purple loosestrife.  Both of these wildflowers attract bees, wasps and butterflies but there was no insect activity in cool morning air on the dew covered flowers.

I walked over to the Water Fowl ponds,

where I again saw  the large flocks of wood ducks gathered on the one pond. Like last week the young ducklings swam on the  pond,

while the parents watched perched on logs in the water.

I also saw a green heron perched on a log.  In most years here are quite a few of these birds in the wetlands, but this was one of the few I saw this year. They will soon be migrating  to Florida and the Caribbean.

After watching the wood ducks and green heron I walked to the other pond, there were no wood ducks,

but  here,  but I did  saw few gray catbirds,

an eastern phoebe

and a northern flicker. All three of these birds will soon leave the wetlands for the Winter .

While at this pond I heard some splashing in the other ponds, I quickly walked over to the pond, and saw this large river otter,

feeding on a fish. It was on the other side of  the pond and I wasn’t sure what it was eating until I edited the photos at home.  I am guessing it is a male. I am hoping the female  and her offspring return this year. I usually only see them in the Fall and early Winter.  Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos of the  river otter. Susquehanna Wetlands. river otter August 15 2026.

As I began my  walk to the river lands area of  the private nature preserve,  the still strong August sun warmed up the wetlands, and I heard the first cicadas.

I also saw a few insects,  including this eastern pondhawk dragonfly and,

a monarch butterfly.  I saw a few monarch butterflies on this  hike.  Many were flying and fluttering through the wetlands and they may the first of the late Summer monarchs to migrate to Mexico for the Winter. The eerier generations, including the ones that migrated north from Mexico in the  Spring only live for 4 to 6 weeks and do not migrate . Only the late Summer generation makes the long  journey. Sadly I see fewer  of these beautiful insects because of loss of habitat here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

I love walking through the lush green wetlands in  the Summer months. It is so full of life. It reminds me of another place I love  to hike and explore, the Florida Everglades.  There is so much to see on every hike. I feel like a  child again and could walk and explore these places all day.

There were  late Summer wildflowers blooming along the trail including the beautiful, native New York ironweed flowers. Sadly ,  seeing these beautiful flowers remind me of the shorter days, cooler nights and the ending of my beloved Summer and warm weather.

The brown and shriveled bracken ferns were another reminder.

 I don’t look forward to  the Fall and Winter anymore. But there is one thing I love about late Summer , the appearance of mushrooms. I love foraging for wild edible mushrooms. I have been doing so since my dad thought me to identify “red tops” or aspen scaber bolete mushrooms at  a very young age. We would hoard these mushrooms and eat them fried with onions.  We would also  dry some for out traditional Polish mushroom soup at the Holy Supper on Christmas Eve. There were  red tops in the wetlands but I did see these edible puffballs

a few boletes I couldn’t identify and

this amanita mushroom, I believe it is a blusher.

As I walked along the trail I heard the unmistakable and loud call of a red bellied woodpecker. Then I heard another. I encountered a family of these woodpecker’s,

who must have just fledged and left there nest.

The juveniles seemed to want to return. I watched the woodpecker’s flying around their nest in a tree for a while,

then walked back down to the Susquehanna River.

Here I saw these double crested cormorants perched on a log in the river. I often see eagles, hawks and kingfishers perched on branches here.

I followed the trail under the ancient oaks growing along the river bank,

to the new trails  in the former farm fields and meadows in the wetlands,

Many black walnut trees, often planted along farm fields grew here,

and many black walnuts were strewn on the ground beneath the trees.

There were also many nuts under a butternut hickory tree , another sign of the end of Summer.

There were now many  native early goldenrod and invasive cutleaf  teasel flowers blooming in the fields,

and a few butterflies were now visiting these flowers,  mostly spice bush swallow tails,

and a few spotted skipper butterflies.

I left  their farm fields and walked into the river lands,

and along Lake Took-A-While.

There were only a few folks walking along the alike and fishing along it’s sure.   I was surprised since it was a beautiful morning and the waters of the lake reflected the clear blue skies.

As always I hoped to see a bald eagle, a belted kingfisher, an osprey or some other birds on the lake. There were none of these more exotic birds, just four  Canada geese. The large flocks of geese were gone, probably feeding in the  surrounding farm fields. I wondered why these four  geese remained and soon  solved the mystery .  As I approached two of the geese waddled quickly away from me, while to limped away slowly. It seemed two of the geese were hurt and their mates remained with them on the lake. Canada geese  mate for life.

I walked along the lake seeing dozens of  dragonflies darting, hovering and resting on plants along the lake, including Halloween  pennant,

 widow skimmer and

blue dasher  dragonflies.

There were a few cicada killer wasps still darting above their  nest on the ground along the trail.

There were some more late Summer wildflowers blooming along  and near the lake including native common  evening primrose,

jewelweed ,

and slender yellow woodsorrel.

And where there are wildflowers there are  insects, I saw  a clouded yellow butterfly 

and a red-spotterd admiral butterfly fluttering along the lake.   Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos of the  birds, insects and other critters I saw on my 5 mile hike. . Susquehanna Wetlands.  birds, insects, critters  August 15 2026.

I walked about a mile along  the lake,

and began my walk back to the river lands.  It was almost noon and the cicadas were now very active.  Their high pitched droning sounds filled the river lands and wetlands on my return walk. .

Along the way I found this stinkhorn fungus growing along the trail.

I finished my 5 mile hike around noon, just in time to makeit home,  shower, change and make it to my great-niece Cora’s 3rd birthday party. I didn’t see any bears but once again my visit to the wetlands allowed me to observe the beauty of nature, including  the wonderful sighting of the river otter. I’ll be back soon, hoping to see the bears but knowing if I don’t it will still be another great experience enjoying the beauty that can be found here along the ancient Susquehanna River.   Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos  from my five mile hike. . Susquehanna Wetlands.  August 15 2026.

August… brings katydids, elderberries, blackberry pie, and goldenrod… August is just another thirty-one days of concentrated Summer, but it certainly gets one in condition to appreciate Fall when it comes. Good old August — we’ll take it, and some of us will like it. ~Hal Borland