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Fly, Eagles, Fly: A Dive into Real Eagles
February 1, 2023With our Philadelpghia Iggles heading to their second Super Bowl in five years and the first under Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts, the town is bleeding Eagles green. And if they beat Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs in Arizona on Super Sunday, this town will lose its collective mind, and we’ll all be singing that fight song long into the night.
With everyone into all things Eagles right now, as you plan your party and decide which cheesesteak purveyor to use (Dalessandro’s, c’mon!), this is a great time to do a deep dive into the bird that inspired our team,…
Finding joy in the outdoors
January 14, 2023The return of leaves and flowers, insects and animals greets us each spring day at our Nature Preschool. Our children show up with smiles on their faces, ready to explore and discover what the day might have in store. As the weather turns warmer, we shuck off our mittens and boots and head out to see how the world is changing around us with the coming of spring.
Our 3-5 year old Nature Preschoolers–and their teachers–are a hardy bunch. They find joy in each day, whether that day includes sunshine and warm weather or rain and cold. Their days are…
Welcome to New Staff Members
December 20, 2022This fall we welcomed several new staff members (and two returning staff members in new roles) to the Art department and to the Education department. We are thrilled to have you and look forward to seeing the great work you will contribute to the center.
Zaina Asaad
Manager of Public Programs
[email protected]
Zaina is very excited to join the amazing team at Schuylkill Center. She grew up in the Middle East and moved here to find opportunities that allow her to explore more diverse ecological systems and be a part of an equally passionate community. She is specifically interested in…
What is Overwintering?
December 11, 2022As the temperatures continue to drop and we begin to pull our heavy sweaters out from storage, we know one thing is for certain – winter is coming! There are many reasons to enjoy this season: unique changes to our ecosystem, hitting the ski slopes, cozying up by the fireplace, and of course, the holidays. For most of us, however, winter is also associated with grueling temperatures, snowstorms, and a lack of sunshine. These things can have a huge impact on the way we operate in our everyday lives. To get to work on time, you have to shovel out…
Preserving the Schuylkill Center’s Boy Scout Tract
December 7, 2022
The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education is thrilled to announce that we have received a pledge for a generous gift from anonymous donors that allows us to fully preserve the 24-acre Boy Scout Tract in its entirety. We’ll be placing a conservation easement on the land that will protect it in perpetuity: the forest will never be subdivided, developed, or even farmed.
And we’re elated.
The $3 million donation, the largest gift in the center’s 57-year history, is conditioned on the easement, which will take perhaps nine months to complete; the Center will not receive the donation until this action…
Wild Turkeys: The Truth Behind the Bird
November 23, 2022On Thursday, Americans of all shapes, sizes and colors gather around tables overflowing with colorful cornucopias of food. And whether that table includes cranberry sauce or couscous, tortellini or tortillas, the centerpiece of the meal is likely that quintessential American bird, the turkey.
Consider that turkey, one of our biggest natural neighbors. Likely one of your holiday plates includes an image of the tom turkey, chest all puffed out, strutting its stuff. That's not how turkeys appear in November. Sleeker, thinner, turkeys are now forming winter single-sex flocks, a tom and its brothers joining a fraternal order of other males.…
Those Autumn Leaves – Leaf Them Alone!
November 8, 2022Autumn is many people’s favorite time of year, with leaves changing color and the weather becoming crisp, but not yet overly cold.
Autumn also ushers in one of our least favorite chores: Raking leaves. But before you start bagging all those leaves up for curbside pickup, two thoughts to consider.
First, those leaves are loaded with the exact perfect combination of nutrients your lawn needs to grow beautifully thick and green. One of the ironies of the season is those of us with lawns feverishly remove every speck of leaf from the lawn—and then spend too much money on fertilizer,…
Deadly Fungi
October 24, 2022According to the Poison Control Center at CHOP, there have been 11 wild mushroom poisoning cases in the last month. While this may seem alarming, severe mushroom poisonings are rare. In our area, there are only a handful of species that will cause life threatening illness or death. These species include: Funeral Bells, Destroying Angels, and Gyromitra korfii. A few others are known to cause severe discomfort and GI distress including Jack-o-Lanterns and the Vomiter.
Here are some FAQs about mushroom safety that everyone should know:
All mushrooms are safe to touch and must be ingested to cause illness of…
Wildlife Clinic is temporarily closed
September 19, 2022Unfortunately, our Wildlife Clinic is temporarily closed and not accepting new patients.
If you have an animal that is contained, contact your local PA wildlife rehabilitation center. The Pennsylvania Association of Wildlife Rehabilitators also maintains a list of wildlife rehabilitators across the state.
Wilderz Wildlife in Willow Grove, the Aark Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Bucks County, or Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research in Delaware.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
What to do if
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The Now-Endangered Monarch Butterfly
July 27, 2022[caption id="attachment_275332" align="alignright" width="169"] Monarch caterpillar on a milkweed plant outside our front door[/caption]
When one worries about nature, the world is so much like a Springsteen song, one step up and two steps back.
One step up: the Schuylkill Center’s staff have seen multiple monarch butterflies and their caterpillars in and around the center recently, many of them right outside the Visitor Center’s front door. This beats several recent years when there were few-- if any-- sightings of the Halloween-colored insect. For butterfly lovers like me, it’s been a great week for monarchs. In fact, only hours before I…
