Rattlesnakes, Mountain Laurel And Song Birds In Carbon County
After returning from an exciting and exhausting adventure in northern Canada last Thursday, I decided to Tank Hollow in Carbon County on Saturday and look for rattlesnakes again. I also wanted to see if our State Flower, the mountain laurel was in bloom. It was partly cloudy and cool when I arrived at State Game Lands 141 in Carbon County. This time I found the gate to the access road was closed, which meant I would have to hike the almost two miles to the Tank Hollow Overlook.
I didn’t mind. It was a nice hike through a mixed hardwood/ pine woodland with some clearings and fields. It is a great migratory song bird habitat,
and I saw a lot of song birds on this cool morning, the first being this beautiful male scarlet tanager. It was singing it’s cheerful song on a branch above the trail. 
In a nearby field I saw, lower to the ground this field sparrow with a caterpillar it captured 
.
A black and white warbler ,
a prairie warbler were also fluttering in the branches near the field.
I continued my hike on the access road to the game lands. 
and observed some of the flowers now blooming including the common clover,
Philadelphia fleabane,
meadow buttercups,
and one of my Spring and Summer favorites the oxeye daisy.
And I did see the first mountain laurel flowers of the season. There were patches of these beautiful flowers blooming along the access road,
but most still had not bloomed. It looked like it would be another week before they reached their peak. It looked like a good year too. Some year are better than others and , in a good year, their bloom transforms the forests of Pennsylvania into a magical world of flowers ranging on color from white to pink. 
Also beginning to bloom was another species of laurel, the smaller and less showy sheep laurel. It is more widespread that the mountain laurel and will bloom for a much longer period. I often see sheep laurel searching for huckleberries and mushrooms in July and even early August. 
And, in some areas like recently timbered or burned woodlands, they can create a beautiful landscape, as I found here in these game lands. 
The Game Commission did some controlled burning in areas along the trail. There was also a lush growth of eastern hay scented ferns growing in these areas. After the first frost in the fall these ferns will fill the air with a sweet fragrance. I love the smell when I am out searching for wild edible mushrooms. 
The controlled burning, as I noted earlier, is a great habitat for song birds and I saw a lot of eastern towhees rustling near the ground and singing in the branches of the trees,.
And I saw one of the more colorful birds that sing in our woodlands, the rose-breasted grosbeak. This is a male. 
The access road continued and now descended a ridge. The woodlands were denser and older here. 
I followed the access road for about another 1/4 mile and came to the trail to the Tank Hollow Overlook. 
The trail continues through a lush growth of ferns including bracken ferns ,
and cinnamon ferns.
The trail also continues through a lush growth of mountain laurel, which as I noted above is about a week from it’s peak. 
It was still a beautiful hike with just the first of the mountain laurel beginning to bloom. It is a magical place to be when they are in full bloom.
I also saw some birds that live in these deeper woods, including an eastern wood peewee, 
a red-eyed vireo.
As I was approaching the Tank Hollow Overlook I saw this pretty, and friendly black throated green warbler. 
It was hoping from branch to branch feeding on caterpillars and other insects Here I encountered Michelle, a brave woman, who was also looking to photograph rattlesnakes. 
We walked to the Overlook together, and after taking in the magnificent view of the Lehigh River and Blue Mountain. 
On our way back to the access road we saw these two timber rattlesnakes stretched out under a rock ledge. I won’t give the exact location since I have been told some cruel folks actually would harm this beautiful creatures.
These beautiful creatures are often misunderstood. They play a vital role in our eco-system. And, they will not attack if left alone. They will warn you if they feel you are getting to close. One of the two we saw did, and rattled it’s tail as a warning as it crawled under the rock ledge. 
The other one didn’t mind our company and allowed us to take plenty of photos. 
Timber rattlesnakes have the slanted eyes and triangular head common to most venomous snakes. The glands that produce their deadly venom are located here. 
The rattlesnakes tail consists of segments. They grow one to two segments a year so this one was 4 to 8 years old, I think. I am no expert. The sound they make is more of a hissing or buzzing and not a rattle. Here is a link to a video I uploaded to my YouTube channel with one of the rattlers and the warning sound it made with it’s rattlers. https://youtube.com/shorts/C_o2dQ7PCvI
We watched, and photographed the rattlesnake, and after about 15 minutes , the first snake crawled back out from under the ledge,
and slowly intertwined itself with the other snake. 
I am not sure if they were preparing to mate or just trying to stay warm on this cool June morning. We watched the two snakes for awhile I was hoping they would do engage in some rattlesnake activity, but they didn’t. My new friend Michelle had enough photos and left. 
I remined and watched the two snakes for another half hour. The he snakes remained inactive so I finally decided to leave them alone too . I truly enjoyed this encounter with these deadly but non aggressive creatures. I continued my hike hoping to see more. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos of the rattlesnakes. Tank Hollow Carbon County rattlesnakes. June 10 2023. 
It was now near noon and the sun had warmed the cool morning air. There was a lot less bird song and activity now. However I did see this northern flicker on my hike back up to the access road. 
I followed the access road for about a half mile. I , unfortunately, didn’t see and more rattlesnakes.
I saw another scarlet tanager singing in the tree and 
this black throated blue warbler. This bird likes to stay high in the treetops and it was very hard to get this and a few other photos. 
I started my hike back to my Jeep and met a couple who were just at the Tank Hollow Overlook. They told me two rattlesnakes were still there and was joined by a brown colored snake. I thought it may be a copperhead, another one of Pennsylvania’s three venomous snakes. Of course, I had to hike back to the Overlook to investigate. When I got there I saw only one of the timber rattlesnakes, now mostly hidden under the rock ledge, but I also saw this beautiful eastern milk snake. 
It was a good day for snake hunting. 
I had added an extra mile. on to my hike but I got a photo of the eastern milk snake. Back on the access road I meet a few families hiking to the Overlook and warned them of the rattlesnakes. None of the hikers seemed discouraged by their presence. 
On my hike back I saw a few more birds in the area of the controlled burning, including a gray catbird, 
an ovenbird, 
a black-capped chickadee, 
and this common yellowthroat. Here is a link to a gallery with some more photos of the many birds I saw on my hike. Tank Hollow Carbon County birds June 10 2023. 
I finished my six mile hike much later than I originally planned.. I had a lot laundry, grocery shopping and chores to do after my 10 day adventure in Canada, But it was absolutely worth the delay. I enjoyed my opportunity to observe the rattlesnakes and the milk snake and many birds I saw on my hike. And the beauty of the mountain laurel made this a great hike back in the woods of Northeastern Pennsylvania. I love it here. Here is a link to a gallery with more photos from my six mile hike. Tank Hollow Carbon County hike June 10 2023. 
I have known silence: the cold earthy silence at the bottom of a newly dug well; the implacable stony silence of a deep cave; the hot, drugged midday silence when everything is hypnotized and stilled into silence by the eye of the sun;… I have heard summer cicadas cry so that the sound seems stitched into your bones. I have heard tree frogs in an orchestration as complicated as Bach singing in a forest lit by a million emerald fireflies. I have heard the Keas calling over grey glaciers that groaned to themselves like old people as they inched their way to the sea. I have heard the hoarse street vendor cries of the mating Fur seals as they sang to their sleek golden wives, the crisp staccato admonishment of the Rattlesnake, the cobweb squeak of the Bat and the belling roar of the Red deer knee-deep in purple heather. Gerald Malcom Durrell
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