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Halloween and Hermit’s Cave
October 24, 2020[caption id="attachment_271748" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Kris Soffa as the "Woman in the Wilderness" at the Hermit's Cave. Photo by David Soffa.[/caption]
It’s Halloween, a normally festive holiday that’s been made even scarier by the pandemic. Lots of Halloween events have sadly been canceled this year out of care and caution; one of those was typically set in a very special place in Roxborough:
The Hermit’s Cave along the Wissahickon. Which amazingly was created by a Philadelphian who immigrated here from-- you can’t make this stuff up-- Transylvania.
You may have heard of the legend that a hermit lived in a cave…
A Life of Quiet Giving: Dana Tobin, 1946-2020
October 21, 2020Editor’s note: Dana Tobin worked for many years at the Schuylkill Center from the 70s into the 90s, and was founding executive director Dick James’s right hand man for many of those years. We sadly heard he had passed away recently. Our friend Jon Roesser at Weavers Way Coop, where Dana was also very active, just wrote this essay for the Shuttle, their newspaper. We thought we’d share it with you, the Schuylkill Center family, as well. RIP, old friend.
A few years ago, Dana Tobin had an idea: Set up a way for Co-op members to have their five…
Window Strike Season
October 14, 2020[caption id="attachment_271710" align="alignnone" width="768"] A towel, some gloves, and a cardboard box are all you need to help rescue window-strike victims like this black-throated blue warbler.[/caption]
It’s fall migration season- do you have your bird rescue kit ready?
During the summer, if you come across a bird on the ground that can’t fly, it’s often safe to assume that bird is a baby. But during spring and fall migration, birds that are found on the ground that do not fly away are frequently adult migratory birds that have struck a window or become disoriented and are in need of human…
Manayunk and Manatawna: Our Lenape Place Names
October 11, 2020One of the pleasures of teaching and talking about our Roxborough land are our historic place names, so many of them Lenape in origin: Wissahickon, Conshohocken, Manatawna, Cinnaminson, Manayunk. Widen the lens a bit, and Philadelphia maps burst with Lenape words: Shackamaxon, Wingohocking, Kingsessing, Tulpehocken, Tioga.
Sadly, Phildelphians are taught too little, if anything, about the Lenape, the original people here, our First People, and too much that is taught is at best misleading and too often wrong. That statue of a Lenape chief that guards a bluff above the Wissahickon? He is carelessly outfitted as a Western Plains Indian,…
Fall Bird Migration
October 4, 2020By Jasmine Lee, Communications Intern
Fall migration, the large-scale movement of birds from their summer breeding homes to their winter grounds is part of an annual cycle that is undertaken by more than half of all the birds in North America. Unfortunately, it is estimated that in the U.S. alone, one billion birds die each year as a result of collisions with glass windows, walls, and other structures, with numbers typically spiking during migration months. At the Schuylkill Center and the Wildlife Clinic, warblers of all kinds, flycatchers, woodcocks, and even hummingbirds are passing through as they make their way…
Belated Earth Day at 50 exhibition in our gallery
September 22, 2020“There is no planet B” was one of the many slogans calling for environmental action during Earth Day in 2019. Even if this year’s celebrations of Earth Day’s 50th anniversary have been subdued in the wake of the worldwide pandemic, its ideals and insights are more vivid than ever before. After a significant delay, the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education is presenting for this occasion the new exhibition “Ecotactical: Earth Day at 50,” which opened to the public on September 21, in its newly reopened Visitor Center.
Since its beginnings, Earth Day has lobbied for an expansive view of the…
Weathering the Storm: How wild weather affects wildlife
August 26, 2020Fallen tree limbs and storm damage got you down? If the recent inclement weather and severe storms are having an impact on your neighborhood, imagine what they are doing to the homes and shelters of our smaller wild neighbors!
From downed trees and flooding to high winds and extreme heat, wildlife is feeling the effects of severe weather patterns just as much as humans. The consequences of these storms are clearly seen in the number of animals admitted to the wildlife clinic which are often 4-5 times higher following stormy weather than would be seen on a typical day. Here…
Our Staff Pandemic Stories
August 8, 2020Over the past five months, most of the Schuylkill Center staff has been working at home. For us, being indoors is anathema to the spirit of our mission of connecting people with nature. But, we have pressed on with our Zoom meetings and online teaching while continuing to learn how to share our passion for the environment with our students, members and the public via a virtual platform. Here are three vignettes of how our staff is facing the Coronavirus head-on.
[caption id="attachment_271519" align="alignnone" width="640"] Teacher Ann with feathered friends Louis and Serena[/caption]
Ann Ward, Kindergarten Lead Teacher
When the…
Kindergarteners reboot their relationship with nature
August 6, 2020
“To Cattail Pond! To Cattail Pond!” several of the kindergarteners shout as they skip towards the Schuylkill Center’s serene, sunlit woodland opening at the edge of our forest, just a few quick steps outside our back door. This is one of our most active sites on the property in the late winter and early spring when water is abundant and vegetation is emerging.
For our 5- and 6-year-old kindergarteners, it’s an ideal place to set the outdoor classroom scene. Given the overwhelming evidence of the many health benefits of learning outdoors, especially in the context of the current health crisis,…
Schuylkill Center’s latest response to COVID
July 31, 2020While the Visitor Center remains closed during the week, we are open on Saturdays for the month of August. Hikers and visitors to our trails will be able to use our facilities and visit our gift shop from 9-5 on Saturdays only. The Visitor Center will remain closed weekdays
The gates to our main parking lot are now open 9-5.
The Wildlife Clinic is currently accepting patients for rehabilitation, but is unable to accept walk-in patient admissions. If you have found an injured or orphaned animal in need of assistance, please call our 24-hour wildlife hotline at 215-482-7300 x option…
