Turtles In November? A Warm And Sunny November Day At The PPL Wetlands.

We  had a Spring-like day here  today in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Temperatures neared 70 degrees with abundant,  but weak,  late Fall sunshine. I headed to one of my favorite hiking areas, the PPL Wetlands and Riverlands.

The temperature was warm but there is no mistaking it is late Fall, as almost all of the trees have shed their leaves now exposing the naked beauty of the limbs and branches. 

The few remaining leaves added some beauty to the now brown landscape, glimmering in the bright sunlight. 

And the warmer weather brought some of the birds to life, as there were a lot more fluttering about the trees than there have been the past few weeks. I saw this flicker high in the tree tops looking to pry some insects out of the tree bark. 

And there were a lot of sparrows shuffling in the leafless undergrowth, including this, I believe , is a white -throated sparrow. 

This, and I am not good at sparrows I think is a chipping sparrow,

And I am not sure of what kind of sparrow, if it is a sparrow, this fellow is. It looks like he was feeding on the last of the duckweed. 

I also saw plenty of these friendly birds, the black capped chickadees, that remain here throughout the coldest of Winters. 

As I walked along the canals I thought I heard a kerplunking sound, but decided it couldn’t be a turtle this late in the year, But sure enough I soon spotted a number of turtles talking advantage of the late sunshine and warm weather to bask on logs and the shore of the canals. I never have seen turtles this late in the season before. 

I was also surprised to see a number of insects flying about including a few dragonflies. Again this is very late in the season for insect activity and I have never seen dragonflies in November before. bit there is a first time for everything, and after a number of tries I was finally able to get a photograph of one. 

It was a lovely day to enjoy last beauty of Fall in the wetlands, knowing this weather won’t last, and as I type a cold front is passing through our area and there is ice and snow on my deck. I was glad we had this one last warm day. I am sure the turtles and dragonflies will be gone tomorrow, but, it is only four months until Spring and the entire cycle starts again.

And I  will be waiting anxiously too watch in unfold yet again.Here is a link to some more photographs from my hike today https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-page-2/nggallery/photographs-page-two-blog/PPL-Wetlands-November-19-2016-

It is a delightful pastime to sit in the pleasant sunshine of autumn, and gazing from this little spot of free earth over such a landscape, let the imagination luxuriate amid the thrilling associations of the scene! ~H.T. Tuckerman