The Migratory Birds Are Back!! My Second Hike In Bethlehem Authority Watershed In Carbon County

It was only my second visit to the  Bethlehem Authority  Watershed in Carbon County on Friday morning.  The City of Bethlehem  and the Bethlehem Water Authority own  over 22,000 square acres of woodland in the watershed and most of this land is open to the public. The Authority, in 2011, entered into a conservation easement with The Nature Conservancy to preserve  and maintain this beautiful tract of wilderness. This time I  hiked on trails  the Hell Hollow Road  near the northern shore of the Penn Forest Reservoir one of the two reservoirs that provide water for the City of Bethlehem. The reservoirs are located in Carbon County north of Beltzville State Park.

I parked along the Hell Hollow  Road about a 1/2 mile east of the intersection with Hatchery Road. I  decided to hike on  a trail/ fire road named the  Pinoak Run Road on Google maps. 

It was a sunny and seasonably cool April morning with temperatures in the low 40’s, perfect hiking weather. As soon as I began my hike on the trail I heard the familiar call   of an eastern towhee. I love hearing their songs and calls in our woodlands in the Spring and Summer. They were very common in the woods near my child home in Hazle Township, Luzerne County.  The migrate to the southern United States and return to breed in the Spring. It was good to see they are back.

I continued up a ridge on the well maintained  grass and dirt road that took me through a oak and pitch pine woodland. I love the pitch pine trees. They  also remind me of the woods near home that we hiked many days from dawn to dusk as a child.

The trail was at an elevation of about 1000 feet and there was almost no signs of  wildflowers  or  plants appearing along the trail.  The bare trees looked like  it was January and not mid April.

The only green  along the trail were the  the pitch pine trees and   many of our State wildflowers, the mountain laurel,

which will be blooming at the end of May and in June.

Teaberry leaves,

fan club moss,

and flat branched tree club moss or Princess pine growing along the trail were the only green plants I would see for most of   my 5 mile hike.

I was hearing some pine warblers and northern flickers in the three tops, both migratory birds, but I didn’t see them, I did see,  and was able to photograph,  some of the year long resident birds in our area, including a white breasted nuthatch and

black capped chickadees,

and a ruby crowned kinglet. These birds remain here and I see them  on my hikes on the coldest Winter days.

I also saw a few American robins. These birds are short distance migrants but often remain  along rivers and reservoirs during mild Winters.

I kept hearing the pine warblers in the  trees and  I was finally able to photograph a pair that came down to sing above the trail .  These pretty birds are also short distance migrants spending the Winter in the southern United States.

I also saw this eastern phoebe along the trail. It wasn’t  singing but was perched on a tree branch and catching flies near the ground. It is one of the first migratory birds to return in the Spring.  It migrates to the southern United State and  northern Mexico in the Winter.

As I continued on my hike I saw another of my favorite Spring time travelers, a black and white warbler.  These birds also travel to Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands in the Winter. I have seen them there on my travels and also them on the shores of St John’s Bay in Canada. I love seeing the return of  the migratory birds in Spring.

The trail continued on upward for about a mile where it split near a ridge, I followed the right or east trail along the bottom of the ridge. I was hoping to see some deer, bear or other mammal s here in these deep woods but I only saw a pair od chipmunks on my hike.

I came to Hell Creek a fast running stream and heard the song of another welcome migratory bird,

a Louisiana water thrush. These birds travel to Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands in the Winter. I enjoyed seeing them on my visits to Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

I walked on the trail along the ridge for about a mile. Here there were less pitch pine trees, and a few beech trees could be find in the still mostly oak forest. There was still no sign of buds on the trees along the trail.

There were now large  rhododendrons bushes growing along the road. They  which will bloom in late June. I  hope to get back here to see them. It is a great place to hike. It was very quiet. Many of the trails I hike, in the Susquehanna Wetlands, the D & L trails, and some of the State Parks are near highways and  I  can here the sound of traffic on hikes. Not here,  there were no major highways nearby and it was a peaceful walk.   I would only see two  woman walking their dogs on my five mile hike.

The trail came to another intersection. One trail led up a ridge and the other back to the road.   I followed the trail back to Hell Hollow Road.  It took me through another mostly oak woodland.

Along the road was this large rock. It looked like a monument and was placed here for some reason.

I didn’t see any more birds  on the trail but I did hear a pileated woodpecker in the distance. I soon   saw this tree that must have just been  visited by one of these large woodpeckers,

the  holes in the pine were fresh and sap oozed from the trees.  The woodpecker must have been  here earlier in the morning.

 The sun continued to shine and warmed up the chilly morning air. It was a great day to enjoy this beautiful trail which is open to the public thanks to the Bethlehem Authority.  I hiked back down to Hell Hollow  Road, which I crossed and followed a trail down to another Cross Run another stream that flowed into the Penn Forest Reservoir, and provides the City of Bethlehem with water.

There was a small wetland here, along the stream.

and I saw some signs of Spring, other than the migratory birds. I saw lush green skunk cabbage.

and green false hellebore, both native plants.

Coltsfoot flowers were blooming in the open wetlands and one attracted a small wasp, sure signs of Spring.

There were also some  birds near the wetlands, including a few more eastern phoebes,

swamp sparrows,

 a flock of dark eyed juncos.

 and this blue gray gnatcatcher. I love seeing those small migratory birds return from their Winter homes in Florida and Mexico. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web site with some more photos of the birds I saw on my five mile hike. Penn Forest Reservoir Bethlehem Authority  birds. April 18 2025.

I followed the stream toward the reservoir, but came to the fence that surrounds the perimeter of both  the Penn Forest and Wild Creek reservoirs.

I walked back ip to Hell  Hollow Road and began walking along the stone and gravel road toward my  Jeep.  Although it was a County road I only saw  one truck drive past me on the mile walk back to my Jeep. It is almost like walking on a trail in a State Park. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of bird activity, just a few  black-capped chickadees, however,

there was another sign of Spring I had seen walking on the trails, the appearance of  small moths and butterflies.  There were dozens of them but I wasn’t able to photograph and of the quick moving small ones but this eastern comma butterfly  landed on the trail allowing me  to  get a photo.

I walked pass this monument along side the road. It was dedicated  to a beloved  person.  The words “gone but not forgotten were carved in the wooden cross. CJ was gone, but seeing the necklaces and other mementos left on the cross, was not forgotten.

The road took me closer to the reservoir and I could see the Blue Mountain in the distance to the south.

It was almost noon when I ended my five mile hike.  It was great to see the migratory birds returning to our woodlands and to explore these new trails. As I said it was only my second hike in the lands of the Bethlehem Water Authority but I knew for sure there would be many more hikes except exploring this beautiful wilderness. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web site with some more photos from  my five mile hike on the trail near Hell Hollow Road. . Penn Forest Reservoir Bethlehem Authority  birds. April 18 2025.

 

“Spring would not be spring without bird songs, any more than it would be spring without buds and flowers, and I only wish that besides protecting the songsters, the birds of the grove, the orchard, the garden and the meadow, we could also protect birds of the sea shore and of the wilderness. . . ” Theodore Roosevelt