29 June 2024

Early this week a group of us drove north to go birding at Heart’s Content, Beaver Meadows and Piney Tract in Warren, Forest and Clarion counties. For two days the weather was pleasantly cool and the sky was gorgeous. Here are a few things we saw this week.

• Beaver Meadows Recreation Area near Marienville, PA
• Allegheny River as seen from Rt 62 south of East Hickory
• Old growth hemlocks at Heart’s Content
• A fallen tree completely covered by moss. It was cut because it blocked the path when it fell long ago.
• Looking through the trees at Heart’s Content
• A view of Piney Tract, SGL 330
• The Wall of Rocks at the Microtel parking lot in Clarion

The next day we visited a very different habitat: the grasslands at Piney Tract, SGL 330. This scene is close to where we saw the clay-colored sparrow I wrote about on 25 June.

The Wall of Rocks:

We stayed at the Microtel in Clarion (nice and new) where I was fascinated by the Wall of Rocks that formed one side of the parking lot. It looked impressive at dusk, lit by streetlamps.

The next morning it was not so fascinating. It looks this way because the excavated hillside is too steep to mow. It is landscaped with large stones.