Summer Is Half Over: Photos From My Hikes In Community Park.

It’s hard for me  to believe another Summer is half  over. They go so fast for me  anymore. I did get to enjoy it,  I always do. Summer is my favorite season. I did a lot of hiking ( and a last minute wonderful adventure in Greenland).  I also had a chance for  a few afternoon hikes at the Community Park near my home in Hazle Township, Luzerne County.

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs I first visited Community Park, and threw rocks in Lake Irena , when I was only 4 or 5 years old. My dad would take us there many a Sunday morning. When I got older the visits to Community Park ended. I started exploring the woods and strip mines near my home.  Then, when  I started to drive I visited the many other state parks and forests in our area.  I forgot about Community Park for a few decades. .

About 10 years ago, I re-discovered the beauty of Community Park, and now, try and visit as often as I can.  It is a wonderful little park to exercise and enjoy the beauty of nature. This Summer I had the opportunity to take a  afternoon hikes in the park. Of course,  I took my camera and took some photos of the beauty of nature I observed, and which  I enjoy sharing here in my blog and on social media. This blog will include photos of the floors, fauna and beautiful scenery I  saw on my hikes.   My first hike was actually in Spring, a day before the first day of Summer.   It was a beautiful June day, walking around Lake Ireana as seen in the above photos. There were a few of our State Flowers the mountain laurel still blooming in the woods along the lake.

I returned a few more times, some days it the skies were clear, and on others  cloudy.

I would walk around the lake,   which took me through a mixed hardwood and pine woodlands,

past a shallow wetland

then over bridge that entered the lake. I would then walk into the surrounding woodlands, past a baseball field and on an old abandoned road near the local airport. My usual hike was about 3 miles.

 When I took my first hike in late June  and the  wildflowers of  Spring had finished  blooming.  There are not as many wildflowers blooming in the heat of Summer, but the pickerelweed   is one of them and blooms all along the shores of the lake. It also attracts many insects which I will share photos of later in the blog.

St. John’s Wort flowers also began to bloom in late June.  

The native milkweed plants, which later in the Summer would also attract many butterflies and other insects, were just beginning to flower. 

Native narrow-leaf  blue grass,

and invasive oxeye daisies  bloomed in the woodlands near the lake.

Later, in July,  native water lilies bloomed on the lake,

and native self- heal flowers were see in the woodlands.

Hay-scented,

bracken and

cinnamon ferns grew on the trail along the lake and n the woodlands.

In July, after the rains mushrooms began to  grow in the woodlands,  including blushers,

and yellow patches, different   species of amanita mushrooms.  Many other mushrooms grew in the woodlands including a few bolete and chanterelle mushrooms  which are edible. 

Ghost or Indian pipes could be seen growing in the woodlands  along the lake and in the surrounding woods. These white plants look like fungi but are actually flowering plants related to  blueberries and mountain laurel.

Finally, later in July the grasses and sedge appeared along the lake, this is a bladder sedge. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos of the mushrooms and plants I saw on my hikes. Community Park. mushrooms and plants Summer 2025.

When there are wildflowers there are insects and I saw a few on my hikes, including common whitetail dragonflies,

chalked fronted corporal dragonflies,

 unicorn club tail dragonflies,

 and a spangled  skimmer dragonfly. .

I  also saw many butterflies seen on my hikes, mostly when the milkweed flowers bloomed. .  Sadly I only say two of these beautiful butteries that live exclusively on milkweed plants, the monarch butterfly.  I used to see dozens of them visiting the flowering milkweed plants. Now they are endangered because of lose of habitat here and in Mexico where they migrate in the Winter.

There were dozens of great spangled fritillary butterflies visiting the milkweed flowers,

quite  a few spicebush swallowtail butterflies,

and a few Canadian tiger swallowtail butterflies.

I also saw a few little wood satyr,

black dash skipper,

a red spotted admiral butterflies

and, on my  last hike this wild indigo dusky wing and

this silver spotted skipper butterfly.

The milkweed flowers were gone and the plants  have produced their distinctive  pods. Here I found milkweed bugs but no monarch butterfly caterpillars .  I am no expert, and so rely on my iNaturalist app for identification.  Please feel free to correct my if I misidentify a bird, insect or plant.   Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos of the butterflies and insects I saw on my hikes. Community Park. insects Summer 2025.

I did not see many birds on my Summer hikes. Many of the migratory song birds moved on  and the ducks and geese weren’t around either. I did see a few eastern towhees

and common yellowthroats in the wetlands along the lake.

  There were always chipping sparrows near the parking lot, this is an adult,

 and this a juvenile.

I was saw  a few birds in the surrounding woodlands including red-eyed vireos,

ovenbirds,

a few downy woodpeckers,

and a white breasted nuthatch.

On  one hike I saw a great blue heron in the pickerelweed, searching for insects and frogs ,

, and watched it fly across the lake,

allowing me to get some nice photos.

And on that same day I was lucky to see  a bald eagle soar high over the lake.  I have seen a few eagles on my hikes but they are usually early in the Spring when the lake is stocked with fish during fishing season.  This wasn’t the best photos, built, it is a always a great experience to see our National symbol.

There were also the usual painted and  red slider turtles on the logs in  the lake. There were less of them seen as the waters warmed and the turtles didn;t need to baste in the warm rays of the sun as they do in Spring.

It was the opposite for the frogs,

I began to see  lot of bullfrogs,

and a few  pickerel frog  along the shores of Lake Irena as the Summer progressed .

And, I saw a few furry critters on my hike too, including white tail deer, feeding on leaves along the lake,

 this gray squirrels, one of many I saw scurrying around the lake and in the picnic areas, looking  for scraps of food,  and

eastern chipmunks.  Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos of the birds  and critters I saw on my hikes. Community Park. birds and  critters  Summer 2025. 

I enjoyed my hikes in the park. In addition to the natural beauty I was able to observe  I enjoyed my  encounters with the other local residents also visiting the park. some were just out for exercise, others fishing, others meeting friends, and many, like me enjoying the beauty of nature. 

In the six weeks I took these photos I saw the mountain laurel fade,  the pickerelweed and milkweed blooms,  saw the return of the butterflies, dragonflies, annual cicadas, and other insects, saw a few deer fawns in the woods, and watched added another lovely  Summer to the many I have enjoyed in my life.

God willing I will see a few more Summers, and continue to visit Community park and share some of the beauty I find. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos from  my  Summer hikes. Community Park.  Summer 2025.

“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”– William Shakespeare

“On the shore of nature’s magic, I dreamed summer knew no end.” -— Angie Weiland-Crosby