Trailblazers Adventure Summer Camp, June 2018

We had a super exciting start to the summer with our first Trailblazers Adventure Summer Camp of the season! This session marks the start of our 6th year of summer camp and our first camp of the 2018 season. With three sold-out weeks of camp, this summer is our biggest season of camp ever! It is only fitting that we started off our summer with an awesome first week!

Our first day was split between exploring our home bases here in Garnet Valley. Between the Bethel Springs Elementary School Nature Trail & the Concord Elementary School Nature Trails, we had a healthy dose of birding and creek walking for our first day! On the bird walks at BSES, we observed nesting species of birds such as Eastern Kingbird, Gray Catbird, and Indigo Bunting. On the Concord Nature Trail, students got knee deep in Webb Creek as we looked for crayfish, salamanders, and toads. Those who stayed out of the creek were treated to views of an Orchard Oriole on the nest!

Our second day took us to one of our favorite locations: Okehocking Preserve! Known for its rolling hills, the scenery of this spot is some of the best that we visit! Also, Ridley Creek is quite picturesque as it rolls through the preserve. The students love to creek walk there to find critters and cool off after a long day. During our day, we observed bird species such as Tree Swallow, Common Yellowthroat, and Wood Duck. We even heard a White-eyed Vireo, a less common species for Trailblazers summer camps!

Our third field trip of the week was to Valley Creek Park! Valley Creek Park is located in Malvern and is near a few different quarries. The geology of this location is unlike any other place we visit as it is loaded with limestone! We got the chance to observe huge faces of limestone rock and even handle pieces of stone. We also had fun exploring the ruins of an old spring house that is deep in the woods along Valley Creek!

The final field trip of the week was to Palmyra Cove Nature Park in New Jersey! Our furthest trip of the session, this habitat was the most different than the ones we've visited this week. We visit this location to observe the nesting location of the Peregrine Falcon on the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. We not only got to see the nest, but we even got to see one of the birds soaring high over the bridge as we were birding along the Delaware River! Definitely a highlight of the week for us!

All told, we wrapped up our first session with a total of 58 species! It was a super exciting week together, and we are looking very forward to our next two sessions. On deck: Trailblazers High Adventure Summer Camp from July 23rd-27th, 2018!!!

58 species for the week:

Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Mallard

Double-crested Cormorant

Green Heron

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Cooper's Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Mourning Dove

Chimney Swift