After a long, cold, snowy winter, 2014 brought a later spring than usual in Glen Providence Park – it snowed as late as St. Patrick’s Day. Early spring ephemeral flowers bloomed in the park about 4 days later than in 2013, which had been 17 days later than the very warm Spring of 2012!

Spring bird sightings brought our Park Bird List up to 112 species with additions including Wild Turkey(!), Worm-eating Warbler, Cooper’s and Broad-winged Hawks, and a Mother’s Day Yellow-throated Vireo! We observed a Pileated Woodpecker over several days as it bored a series of holes in a tree, and watched a pair of Tufted Titmouse take deliveries of moss to their nest. Exciting sightings at the pond were remarkably-patterned Wood Ducks, and Solitary Sandpipers!

For our third year, we tracked the timing of the emergence in the park of both emphemeral Bloodroot flowers and American Toads. Each year, the toads have emerged at the pond 5-6 days after the Bloodroot buds appeared on the western hill, or 4-5 days after the full Bloodroot flowers. In 2014, the Bloodroot buds appeared on April 7, and the toads 5 days later on April 12 – the same day as the 60th Anniversary Great Media Easter Egg Hunt! You can read a father’s charming account of taking his daughters to the Egg Hunt and to see the toads at the pond. For more on “phenology,” the study of timing in nature, see our Spring 2013 photojournal.

In Summer, Delaware County Parks & Recreation did substantial work in the park, with emergency streambank repairs by the pond, and repairs to the historical stage from a fallen 110-year-old White Ash. We watched fly fishing lessons at the pond by Delco Manning Trout Unlimited and Sporting Gentleman, enjoyed our third year of summer concerts in the park, and we celebrated our 3rd Anniversary!

Click on any photo below for a closer look, or scroll through them all. You can compare our 2014 spring and summer to other years in my photojournals, starting in August 2011. And many of these photos have more detailed captions in our Facebook albums. 

On June 28, a beautiful early summer day, environmental science and biology teacher Aura Lester delighted an audience of 18 children and adults with fascinating facts about the flora and fauna of Glen Providence Park. Walking down the hill from the entrance to the park, we stopped to identify a few of our native plants including a sassafras tree by its mitten shaped leaves, the spicebush by the fragrance of its bark and poison ivy by its “leaflets three”.

As we walked toward the glen basin, we spotted native Jewelweed, used as an antidote to the itch of poison ivy. Also identified were some unwelcome invasive plants creeping along the stream edge including multiflora rose, Japanese honeysuckle and common privet.

Nearing the pond, Mrs. Lester reminded the children to approach quietly as nature detectives. Standing still observing from the perimeter, a green patina on the shallow, slow moving water came to life as fish darted just below the surface glinting in reflected daylight and turtles were spied sunning on logs, dragonflies flitting above it all at the marshy edges.

We circled the pond to the other side hoping for a glance of our resident muskrat, but  he did not come out of his burrow this time. The children spotted frenzied activity at ground level and then a profusion of tiny frogs began to emerge from the turf. We watched our step from that point on!

Heading back up the hill to the stage area, Aura led the children in a game of dragonfly tag. The theme continued with an entertaining craft making dragon flies out of spring clothes pins. All went home with glitter glue rainbow colored fingers and a hand made reminder of a sunny summer day!

Hearty thanks to our resident biologist Aura Lester and all who attended for an educational and fun filled event.

Check out the photos of the fun below!

Fall is such a beautiful season in Glen Providence Park, and after record rainfall in summer 2013, last autumn was relatively free of extreme weather. I had less time than usual for photo walks in the park, ironically due to taking a 10-week Pennsylvania Master Naturalist course. But we continued to document the park’s plants and animals to create a record that we can refer back to for future comparison, and the walks I did take were usually rewarded with interesting sightings.

There were flurries of fall migration in late September and early October, including some additions to our Park Bird List – bringing us to 103 species by the end of November! Sightings included Magnolia Warbler, Philadelphia Vireo ( species #102), Northern Parula, and Chestnut-sided Warbler (#103!) – as always, thank you to Al Guarente of the Birding Club of Delaware County for confirming our new ID’s.

Some of the smallest discoveries are the most enchanting, including what we called a “star-bellied” fungi, an elegantly fuzzy caterpillar on a native blackberry leaf, and adorable baby Wood Frogs. These aptly named forest-dwelling frogs breed in vernal pools (ephemeral wetlands) – we saw several baby Wood Frogs last October.

That Pennsylvania Master Naturalist course helped me ID species in the park, such as the native and enigmatically-named Hog Peanut vine, Amphicarpaea bracteata. At one of the classes, Rose Tree Park Hawkwatch’s Holly Merker taught us that the Red-tailed Hawk’s “scream” is often used with video footage of Bald Eagles, because its scream is more intimidating than the eagle’s. You can frequently hear the Red-tailed Hawk in the park, as it is our most common hawk species!

Fall brings school classes that use Glen Providence Park as an outdoor classroom. In October, we encountered Penncrest High School 9th grade Environmental Science students conducting their annual pond studies in the park. In November, we helped Media Providence Friends School 5th graders install educational plant tags they had created for our National Public Lands Day plantings. The students were enthusiastic and had fun – what a wonderful service learning project!

In November we had a treat walking through the park with Clifford Butler Lewis, the grandson of park founders George and Eleanor Butler!  It was wonderful to hear his recollections from growing up here. We photographed Cliff by the (now dry) Eleanor Reed Butler waterfall, which was one of the park’s original structures, and was later renovated in 1949 in honor of Cliff’s grandmother. It was Eleanor Butler who specified that Glen Providence Park was to be preserved as a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum!

You can click on any photo below for a closer look, and scroll through them all – and you can also view them on our flickr page! There are more pictures in our facebook albums, and in our Fall 1.1 Acre Project photos. You can compare our 2013 autumn to other years in my photojournals for September, October and November 2011, and from Fall 2012.

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In 2013, we kept a photojournal to document the planned construction area in Glen Providence Park for Broomall’s Dam at 3rd Street. According to the project engineers, 1.11 acres will become a construction zone, with approximately .64 acres of the park buried with earthfill for the new, larger dam.

The 1.1 Acre is a serene part of Glen Providence Park, which includes the Third Street entrance and waterfall, wetlands, a stretch of Broomall’s Run, elegant native flowers, the remnant of a historical footbridge, natural springs that were once a source of drinking water, and of course wildlife.

Plant & Wildlife

Through the year, we watched birds bathing and drinking in the springs, White-tailed deer taking refuge, intriguing insects such as the Ebony Jewelwing and an iridescent golden spider, Pickerel frogs, and endearing baby Wood frogs. We followed the progression of flowering native Wild Ginger, False Solomons Seal, white violets, Trout Lily, and Jack-in-the-Pulpit.  Native Spicebush and American Witch Hazel are abundant, along with ever-elegant ferns. Of course the intriguing Skunk Cabbage is prolific in the wetlands! The 1.1 Acre has 76 trees of 18 species including American Sycamore, Sassafras, American Hornbeam (aka Ironwood), and notably the lovely and Pennsylvania-rare Umbrella Magnolia.

Historical features

We located the source of the historical springs that were once a source of drinking water for the park, and that once fed the Eleanor Reed Butler waterfall by the pond. The masonry structures within the 1.1 Acre show the elegance of the park’s original structures built by the Works Progress Administration, and of the now-deteriorating 1883 dam. The remnants of the original footbridge, described in the 1941 Nature Guide as “an arched rustic bridge which commands a beautiful view of the Falls” that led to a fernery and the drinking spring, would be buried under the planned replacement dam.

Delineating the 1.1 Acre

Throughout the year, we regularly took photographs from the same vantage point near the dam overlooking the acre, giving us a series of 1.1 Acre Vista photos through the seasons. In late April, dozens of volunteers helped us create a human chain along the perimeter of the 1.1 Acre, to visualize its boundaries. While it was a week too late for a clear view due to freshly emerged foliage, you can get a sense of the scope of the construction area in some of those photos below.

We still don’t know the timing of the Third Street Project, but it will be incredibly sad to see the destruction of the 1.1 Acre. It’s a serene part of the park – we encourage you to visit it while it is intact!

Photos & more information

• Below is a sampling of photos from the year – click on any photo for a closer look.
• Our Introduction to the 1.1 Acre Project includes an explanation of the boundary, our tree map of the construction area, and historical photographs.
• You can read the installments of our 1.1 Acre Project photojournal, including the one about the historical springs.
• And you can scroll through all of the photos in one place on flickr.

To minimize destruction to the 1.1 Acre, Friends of Glen Providence Park supports dam removal, stream restoration and a local discussion of an environmentally-sensitive bridge between Media Borough and Upper Providence.

December 2020 update: We will be updating our website to enable our Flickr galleries to again display here. Until then, you can view our Year in the 1.1 Acre photos on Flickr. 

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Summer is fast approaching, it’s time to catch up with last summer’s photojournal of Glen Providence Park! It’s interesting to look back at what plants and wildlife are prevalent through the seasons and years. Here’s a sampling of what can be seen as the thermostat rises…

Last summer we had record rainfall, with the wettest July on record! It was second in total rainfall only to August 2011, which had brought us Hurricane Irene. Torrential rain in July both dislodged the pond intake, eliminating flow to the pond, and moved the boardwalk in the wetlands on the Shingle Mill Trail over several feet. We and County Parks were able to stabilize the pond intake (with repeated rock-moving!), but the boardwalk is still displaced.

All that rain had the plants growing fast – making the park especially lush, and keeping our Invasive Plant Removal crew busy! Blooms were a little late after a cool Spring – the Mountain Laurel along its eponymous trail was in bloom in the first week of June, while the native Rhododendron along the Ice House Trail bloomed later than usual, in the last week of June.

In summer, the pond is abuzz with life including damselflies, dragonflies, butterflies, and bees. Children (and adults!) love watching turtles and frogs at the pond, and fishing is a common activity. For those who look closely, there is much more to discover in the park – including fungi, which are amazingly varied and can be surprisingly elegant.

You can click on any photo below for a closer look, and scroll through them all – and you can also view them on our flickr page!  There are more pictures in our facebook albums, and in our Summer 1.1 Acre Project photos. You can compare our 2013 Summer to other years in my photojournals for June and July 2012, and my first photojournal from August 2011.  

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We continued to visit Glen Providence Park’s 1.1 Acre construction area for Broomall’s Dam during the hot and unusually(!) wet summer- it broke the 2011 record for Philadelphia’s rainiest summer on record! All that rain made the plants in the park particularly lush, as you can see in the 1.1 Acre Vista photos below.

The native plants transformed, as many started producing berries. And we will have to track down some more experts to help us identify the park’s interesting array of insects and fungi! From fallen Tuliptree flowers and Wild Ginger to golden spiders and iridescent blue damselflies, there was always something to discover in the 1.1 Acre.

We were initially relieved to see the PA Department of Environmental Protection lower the water level at Broomall’s Lake, reducing the risk to the 1.1 Acre if Broomall’s Lake Dam (immediately upstream of the park) were to suddenly fail. However, by mid-July, the lake level had again risen to full capacity.

For an explanation of the 1.1 Acre and its boundary, see our introduction to the 1.1 Acre Project.

You can scroll through our chronological pictures below, and you can also view them on our flickr page! You can see more pictures of Glen Providence Park in our facebook albums and in our photojournal.

December 2020 update: We will be updating our website to enable our Flickr galleries to again display here. Until then, you can view our Summer 1.1 Acre photos on Flickr. 

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It was another lovely bird walk in Glen Providence Park, led by cousins Al Guarente and Nick Crocetto of the Birding Club of Delaware County!  At least 15 people, novice and experienced birders alike, joined us on our Sunday morning hike. Despite the heat and humidity, we found 29 bird species, including a new one for our Park Bird List! Just as we were saying good-bye at the end of our walk, a Purple Martin flew over- bringing our species count to 101.  It’s a good thing Al and Nick were there to identify it!

We watched an Eastern Phoebe around the pond and frequently heard the comical call of the Eastern Wood Pewee. We had a nice view of the evasive Eastern Towhee, which is one of the species in Scroggie Valley that T. Chalkley Palmer wrote about in 1889. The towhee was then called the Chewink after one of the sounds it makes- it is nice to think about the continuity through the centuries of wildlife in the park!

In addition to the bird species listed below, other wildlife we saw or heard included Green frog, Painted turtle, Red-eared sliders, Northern water snake, White-tailed deer, and the lovely Ebony Jewelwing damselflies. You can read our complete bird list below!

Thank you so much to everyone who attended, to Tom Bush for entering our sightings on eBird, and of course to Al Guarente and Nick Crocetto for leading our walk- and finding species #101!
 

Late Spring Bird Walk eBird list:
June 2, 2013

Canada Goose -11
Black Vulture – 1
Turkey Vulture – 1
Mourning Dove – 4
Chimney Swift – 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 4
Downy Woodpecker -3
Hairy Woodpecker – 1
Northern Flicker – 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee – 2
Eastern Phoebe – 6 (5 adults and 1 juvenile)
Red-eyed Vireo – 3
Blue Jay – 3
American Crow – 2
Fish Crow – 1 (flyover)
Purple Martin – 1 (flyover)
Tufted Titmouse – 2
White-breasted Nuthatch -2 (heard)
House Wren – 3
Carolina Wren – 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 2 (heard calling)
American Robin – 3
Gray Catbird – 5
European Starling – 1
Eastern Towhee – 4
Song Sparrow – 5
Northern Cardinal – 2
Common Grackle – 1
Baltimore Oriole – 2

Every season is beautiful in Glen Providence Park– but Fall is just magical!  After our first year of monthly photojournals, we will continue with quarterly ones- following meteorological seasons, so our Fall photojournal is September through November.  We continue to work on identifying species of all kinds, with generous help from experts and from our knowledgeable facebook fans and nature walk guides!

At our August Nature Walk, Tom Reeves taught us about two intriguing species that are dependent on the American Beech (which is so abundant along the eastern hill), both of which we saw a lot of in the Fall!  The parasitic but harmless Beech-drop, Epifagus americana, grows in the roots of beeches and it blooms in the fall- and it is Tom’s favorite plant!  Beech blight aphids are fluffy little insects that remind us of Seuss’ truffula trees– they feed on the sap of the beech, and they are hysterical to watch.  There are even videos on YouTube– the Beech blight aphids look like they are dancing!   If you noticed gray spots on the ground that looked like ash, that is mold that grows under colonies of the aphids.

9/28 Sawfly larvae on River Birch

Amphibians and reptiles could still be found in October- we were excited to spot our first Wood Frog in the park!  It breeds in vernal pools- you can hear its call here.   Of course we frequently see the Common Garter Snake, but it was interesting to get a good look at how deeply their tongues were forked!  According to wikipedia, a forked tongue allows reptiles to sense the direction of a smell.

Insect indentifications included Sawfly larvae on one of the River Birches we planted- as identified by BAMONA, Butterflies and Moths of North America.  They looked like a buffet for birds!  Facebook fans identified a very fuzzy caterpillar we spotted by the pond as a Lined Ruby Tiger Moth, Phragmatobia lineata.

10/5 Ephemeral mushroom “flowers”

Another facebook fan identified both the black mushroom “Earth tongue”, and some delicate, ephemeral white mushrooms that look like flowers– likely a species of marasmius.

For several weeks you could find the fruit of the intriguing native Osage orange, Maclura pomifera, on the ground along the Sledding Hill- this odd-looking fruit measures about 5″ across, and can weigh over 1 pound! According to wikipedia, the fruit was once used to repel spiders by placing one under the bed, and one study found its extract elemol to be as effective a mosquito repellant as DEET!

10/25 White-tailed doe & fawn

Like last year, we began to see more White-tailed deer in the fall. I spotted this doe and fawn the day that several deer in the park were being oddly tame- I came across one napping on the Shingle Mill Trail, and after initially bounding off, each deer stood watching me from afar- and eventually they actually ignored me as I hiked around the park.

We were incredibly lucky that there was not more damage to Glen Providence Park from Hurricane Sandy just before Halloween- several trees fell and the pond level was very high, but the erosion and damage was nothing like that from Hurricane Irene in 2011.

As the leaves fell, the beauty of the park’s topography  was revealed.  Now it just needs a covering of snow….

Click on any photo for a closer look, and you can scroll through the photos for a virtual tour.   And remember we’re always adding  to the photo albums on facebook!

For one year, we kept a monthly photojournal of Glen Providence Park– walking through the park a few times a week looking for wildlife and changing plantlife.  We regularly posted photographs on facebook, and compiled them here in our photojournal.  We wanted to document what is in Glen Providence Park, and share all these discoveries with others!

It was a wonderful way to observe and learn about the park’s array of plants, fungi and wildlife. Having completed a year, we will transition to a more manageable seasonal photojournal. Here’s an overview of what we observed, with links to each month’s photojournal!

A Year in Pictures: August 2011 – July 2012

August – Turtles on fallen Oak after Hurricane Irene

Our photo-exploration started out in August with an abundance of wildlife- with frogs, snakes, and so many turtles!  A Green Heron was frequently seen fishing at the pond.  Hurricane Irene’s damage changed the landscape, including felling a large oak, which was enjoyed by the resident turtle colony until the tree was removed!

In September we discovered the Common Muskrat living in the pond, and so many fungi throughout the park! We spotted the lovely Wood Thrush before it left for the winter, and a pair of Great Blue Heron visited the pond.

Of course the foliage in October was spectacular, and there were so many bird species, it prompted us to document all of our sightings (and historical sightings) on eBird… creating a Park Bird List!

I discovered that November is possibly my favorite month in the park, with the more muted beauty of late fall foliage, and the structure of the trees and landscape visible.  I was startled by a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and snapped my first White-tailed Deer photograph in the park.  The blooming American Witch Hazel and a positively luminous dragonfly added to the enchantment!

With all the leaves down in December, we discovered more old structures in the park, including an original drinking well with a hand pump.  Variations of fog and ice gave the park a new look with every visit.

Red Fox & Ostrich Fern

January was magical with an encounter with a Red Fox, and I learned to pay attention to American Crows: their raucous calls led me to a magnificent Great Horned Owl they were pestering, and I watched them chase a Red-tailed Hawk. We learned how remarkable the park’s abundant Skunk Cabbage is as it melted its way through the frozen ground.

February brought a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers, the tiny flowers of the Skunk Cabbage, and early buds on trees including the Silver Maple.

In March, the pond exploded with sound on first day of spring, as the comical American Toads started their startlingly loud mating call.  And with the warming weather the snakes and turtles emerged, along with the lovely ephemeral Bloodroot!

April was magnificent with so many flowering trees, and the ever-entertaining Common Muskrat re-emerged at the pond.  And there were oodles of American Toad tadpoles!

Right on cue on the first of May we heard the ethereal song of the Wood Thrush, returned from wintering in Central America- and later that month we saw it on its nest! Glen Providence Park was in bloom with elegant Waterlilies in the pond, Mountain Laurel on the eastern hill, and Jack in the Pulpit in the woods.

June brought gorgeous iridescent damselflies, dragonflies, and more muskrat antics.  The abundance of birds included a striking Scarlet Tanager, an especially blue Great Blue Heron, an endearing juvenile Eastern Phoebe, and a Canada Goose family.

In July we wound up our monthly photojournals with butterflies, fungi, a pair of White-tailed Deer, a Green Frog by the pond’s island, and a Skipper on the Echinacea in bloom from our Earth Day Plantings!

There is a photo for each month below, and you can click on any month above to see all of its photographs.  Enjoy the park- you just never know what you will see!

We just passed the first anniversary of Friends of Glen Providence Park, and now we have one year of monthly photojournals!  It was fun to track the plants and wildlife in Glen Providence Park this past year, starting last August.  In July, we were happy to see the Echinacea we planted as part of our Earth Day Plantings in bloom, and hosting wildlife!

By early in the month, the Duckweed had overtaken the pond- much more so than last summer.  This did not seem to deter the pond’s Common muskrat– it would be nice to think the muskrat would eat some of the duckweed!  Frogs at the pond are always entertaining to watch, and when startled, the Green frog makes a sound like “eek!” before leaping!

7/29 Female Ebony Jewelwing

The birds were much quieter in July– as naturalist Tom Reeves explains, they are no longer defending their territory or seeking mates, so sadly there is no need for all that singing! By mid-month, their sound was replaced by the “singing” of Cicadas– last year the Cicadas ended in the first few days of September, so they should remain through August.

With things in the park getting quieter, our focus got smaller- with plenty of interesting insects and fungi to observe!  There were jumping spiders, butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies– we learned that damselflies use their hind legs, covered with hairs, to capture prey as they fly!  And something about the little mushrooms is enchanting- it’s like there’s a separate miniature world in the park!

7/19 White mushroom

We were able to observe a pair of White-tailed deer as they munched on vegetation, which made me glad for the deer fencing protecting our Earth Day Plantings! Now if only we could train the deer to eat all of the invasive Multi-flora rose…

As this summer may be the hottest summer on record, I especially appreciated that the park usually feels several degrees cooler than it does in town (just a few blocks away!).  According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “the net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.”  Glen Providence Park has an awful lot of natural air conditioners!

After last year’s lack of acorns, it was nice to see the park’s oaks full of acorns this year.  That should give the wildlife that dines on them plenty to eat this fall!

Click on any photo for a closer look, or scroll through the photos below for a virtual tour.  You can view more photos in our past photojournals, and in our Facebook Albums: including Wildlife, Plant Life, Scenery, and History.