The Song Birds Are Leaving As The End Of Summer Approaches At The Susquehanna Wetlands.
After my first visit to the Big Pocono State Park in Monroe County on Saturday, I returned to the wetlands along the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County for my Sunday nature hike. I have been hiking in this private nature preserve for about 10 years now. I discovered it after the woodlands near were I grew up were lost to residential and industrial developments. I have always spent my weekends hiking the woodlands near my home. i had to look for new areas to hike after they were lost. I am glad one of them was the Susquehanna Wetlands and Riverlands in Salem Township, about a 40 minute drive from my home. I have come to know and love these trails and the plants and animals that live here. 
It was a cool August morning when I arrived at the wetlands around 7:30 a.m. The sun was shining in the mostly clear skies. As usual, I first stopped at the two ponds near the entrance to the wetlands, hoping to see some wildlife, especially a bald eagle. However, I haven’t seen an eagle in months at the wetlands and I didn’t on Sunday either. There were no herons or hawks, birds I often see here, either. There were some wood ducks but they were on the far side of the ponds. 
I drove to the parking area, and then, as is my routine, I walked down to the banks of the Susquehanna River, one of the oldest rivers on our planet. I have come to love this river. I recalled the first time I ever saw a river, I was around five years old. It was a Sunday and my dad was taking our family on the usual Sunday drive through the farms in the Sugarloaf Valley. He decided to drive us to Berwick and show us the river. I still remember being frightened when we drove across the bridge. Now, over a half century later I cross that same river almost weekly. 
The river was high from the recent rains, and, after watching the flowing waters I hiked into the wetlands and along the Beaver Trail. 
It was a lot quieter in the wetlands, a sad quiet. I didn’t hear the melodic song of the hermit thrushes or Carolina wrens or the cheerful songs of the migratory warblers and vireos or the harsh cries of the red-winged blackbirds. I believe many of the migratory birds had already left the wetlands on their long journey to warmer lands for the Winter, some as far away as the jungles of South America. 
The silence in the wetlands ended when I heard the song of a Baltimore oriole. I hadn’t seen any in this area of the wetlands all Summer. I soon saw a few of the orioles and believe it was a family migrating south through the wetlands. 
I walked toward the Water Fowl Pond, and the blooming purple loosestrife flowers, they are one of the few flowers blooming in the mid Summer in the wetlands, 
some of the others being the many species of goldenrod,
and some ironweed flowers. 
The cattails have produced their brown spikes, 
and many of the grasses have gone to seed. Another sign of the mid Summer was the sounds of the cicadas, which began around 9 a.m as the sun warmed the cool morning air. Soon the wetlands and river lands were filled with their buzzing sounds. 
The were some wood ducks on the Water Fowl Pond but they were too far away to get any photos. 
I did see and photo this great blue heron flying overhead,
and then this hawk, I believe is was a broad winged haw, also flew over the wetlands. 
I began my walk toward the river lands area of the preserve and found this eastern painted turtle on the path. 
I also saw a few green herons,
and eastern phoebes in the wetlands.
However, I didn’t hear of see the many yellow warblers, red-eyed vireos, warbling vireos and other song birds that I have heard and seen since the Spring. As I noted earlier, I think they have already left our area. This is always a sad time of the year for me. I will miss their songs and colorful presence. The many fallen acorns,
and the shriveled bracken ferns were more signs Summer’s end was approaching. 
I continued my hike through the wetlands, 
and saw this green frog and
eastern gray squirrel. 
I also walked past the yellow jacket nest on a fallen tree over the canal. As usual a few tossed rocks, from a safe distance, I hoped, woke up the yellow jackets.
I then left the wetlands and walked down along the access road where I saw some wood ducks on a pond in a wetland. 
As usual I continued my hike into the rover lands and along the trail between Lake Took-A-While and an old canal. 
Here I heard the chattering call of a belted kingfisher that flew across the lake,
and saw a juvenile double-crested cormorant swimming alone on the lake. 
Native coneflowers were blooming along the trail,
as were purple loosestrife flowers which were attracting insects including bees and this cabbage white butterfly. 
I also saw the swarm of cicada killer wasps that nests along the trail,
and this blue dasher dragonfly 
and, I believe, a species of skipper butterfly. 
In the trees along the lake I saw a few American goldfinches, 
and an eastern kingbird. 
The large flock of Canada geese were back on the lake, 
and many of the flock were flapping their wings.
I think it may have been the juveniles exercising their wings for their upcoming migration. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos of the birds I saw on my hike. Susquehanna Wetlands birds August 11 2024. 
I walked to the end of the lake, 
where I usually turn around and hike back to the wetlands.
A few cumulus clouds formed in the blue skies and it was gorgeous day to be outdoors in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I walked back into the wetlands, and I didn’t see any new birds,
but, as I was finishing my five mile hike I saw this whitetail buck ahead of me on the trail. 
We stared at each other until he decided to run into the woods. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos from my my hike in the wetlands and river lands. . Susquehanna Wetlands August 11 2024. 
It was another great hike in the wetlands, although the signs of the approaching Fall remind me to enjoy them, while I can. Soon Fall, and then Fall and then the cold and dark of Winter will come and put to sleep the plants and animals in the wetlands. I will still visit here in the cold but it won’t be the same. Spring and Summer will always be my favorite seasons here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. 
“I thank Heaven every summer’s day of my life, that my lot was humbly cast within the hearing of romping brooks, and beneath the shadow of oaks.” Donald G. Mitchell
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