Vernal ponds are temporary wetlands that fill with water each Spring. They are seasonal breeding and feeding grounds for many amphibians, reptiles, insects, birds, and mammals. Some of these animals need the pools for breeding while others rely on them for food.

The word “vernal” comes from the Latin word for spring, vernalis.

Vernal ponds are formed each year in the late winter or early spring. A shallow ground depression fills with spring snowmelt, precipitation, and the rising water table. They are generally less than 40 yards in diameter and no more than 4 feet deep.

Feeding birds month is wrapping up. The last thing to think about is when to stop feeding birds. Dr. Brittingham notes that feeding into spring may allow you to see some migratory birds on their fly through, and the birds that are normal “PA residents” in the spring and summer, but leave for the winter.

She suggests you keep an eye on the area you’re using and if you start to see mold or mildew, to stop feeding, or change your feeding area. Typically in the spring there’s more moisture from melting snow and spring rain. Things might get moldy, and you’ll want to prevent it from becoming a problem.

She also states that if a bear visits your feeders, you need to stop feeding. Bears coming out of their winter hibernation are really hungry and your bird feeder is an easy source of yummy calories.

Penn State Extension and the Pennsylvania Game Commission both have resources to review about bears in general, with some information about bears and bird feeders.

Penn State Extension provides the following chart to help you understand, who eats what, and what kind of feeder you need for that food source:

Species – Food Preference -Feeder Preference
Mourning dove – Cracked corn, millet, sunflower seeds – Ground, platform feeder
Red-bellied woodpecker – Suet, sunflower seeds, peanuts – Suet feeder, hanging feeder
Downy and hairy woodpeckers – Suet, sunflower seeds, peanuts – Suet feeder, hanging feeder
Blue jay – Sunflower seeds,  suet, peanuts – Platform feeder
Black-capped chickadee – Sunflower seeds,  suet, peanuts – Almost all feeders
Tufted titmouse – Sunflower seeds,  suet, peanuts – Hanging feeder, suet feeder
White-breasted nuthatch – Sunflower seeds,  suet – Almost all feeders
Red-breasted nuthatch – Sunflower seeds,  suet – Suet feeder, hanging feeder
Carolina wren – Peanut butter, suet – Suet feeder
European starling – Peanut butter, suet, sunflower seeds – Suet feeder, platform feeder
White-throated sparrow – Sunflower seeds, millet – Ground, platform feeder
Song sparrow – Sunflower seeds, millet – Ground, platform feeder
Dark-eyed junco – Sunflower seeds, millet – Ground, platform feeder
Northern cardinal – Sunflower seeds, seed mixes – Ground, platform feeder, tube feeder with tray
Common grackle – Cracked corn, sunflower seeds – Platform feeder, tube feeder with tray
Brown-headed cowbird – Millet – Platform feeder
Purple finch – Niger, sunflower seeds, millet – Niger feeder, hanging tube feeder
House finch – Niger, sunflower seeds, millet – Niger feeder, hanging tube feeder, ground
American goldfinch – Niger, sunflower seeds – Niger feeder, hanging tube feeder, ground
House sparrow – Niger, sunflower seeds – Platform feeder, tube feeder with tray

Different bird species eat different things. While a Mourning dove likes cracked corn, a Red-bellied woodpecker prefers suet. What you put out in your feeder will be a large factor in determining who you end up seeing at your feeder.

Penn State University’s Dr. Margaret C. Brittingham, Professor of Wildlife Resources, recommends small black-oil sunflower seed as the best all-round bird seed. In a publication she wrote for Penn State Extension she noted, it “is preferred by many smaller species, including chickadees, nuthatches, and titmice. It has a high oil content that is nutritionally important for birds, and a thin seed coat that is easy for them to crack open.”

Dr. Brittingham also suggests providing a variety of foods to help increase the variety of birds you see. Your feeder will need to be one designed to dispense the seed. For instance striped sunflower seeds are larger than the black-oil sunflower seed. A feeder that easily lets the black-oil sunflower seed out might jam up because striped sunflower seeds are too big to exit the holes in the feeder.

She also recommends using a seed mix if you’re interested in a variety of birds, but don’t have the desire to maintain a variety of feeders, or space for a variety of feeders. She does caution, that some mixes contain items that birds in our region don’t eat, so you want to be sure to read the label and pick a seed mix that “fits” what birds in your area eat.

Dr. Brittingham shares the recipes for “Marvel Meal,” a favorite for chickadees, titmice, wrens, and bluebirds. The mixture can be smeared on the trunk of a tree, or a tree stump. You can also freeze the mixture into blocks, slice it and put it in a suet feeder or put it on a feeder tray.

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 4 cups cornmeal
• 1 cup flour
• 1 handful of sunflower seeds (optional)

While we’ve celebrated “Feed a Bird Month” before it’s too much fun to not celebrate again this year.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology coordinates Project Feeder Watch which allows citizen scientists to track and report the bird species they see at their backyard feeder. PA’s top ten birds are feeders are:

• Dark-eye junco
• Mourning dove
• Tufted titmouse
• Northern cardinal
• Blue jay
• White-breasted nuthatch
• Downy woodpecker
• House finch
• American goldfinch
• Black-capped chickadee

This is a statewide survey, so what you’re seeing in your backyard in Tioga County is probably going to be a little different than what a NPC member in Lebanon County is going to see. The landscape might be different and the few degrees difference in average temperature can make a big difference.

The Pine Creek Rail Trail runs for 62 miles from Wellsboro Junction to Jersey Shore using the rail bed that once hauled celery, lumber, and ginseng to market. The Trail is popular with tourists, Boy Scout Troops earning bicycling badges, and local residents staying healthy by biking and walking.

From Wellsboro Junction to Ansonia the Trail runs along Marsh Creek. Through this area, the stream has a defined channel, but there is also a network of wetlands that help feed the stream. During spring high water events, it’s not unusual for there to be standing water in areas for days.

NPC is working with the Bureau of Forestry on the Cavanaugh Access. While the site will provide more recreational access to the Trail and opportunities to develop walking paths into wetlands, the property also is important for its ecological values.