#RBWinterWildlifeWednesday - Eastern Chipmunk

Join us for today’s edition of #RBWinterWildlifeWednesday as we explore one of the most common and easily recognized mammals in the park—the Eastern Chipmunk!

As a member of the squirrel family, Eastern Chipmunks are a frequent sight throughout Pennsylvania. They thrive in our deciduous forests, where dense underbrush and abundant leaf litter provide ideal conditions for foraging and burrow construction. They're also often found in suburban areas, parks, and gardens, where they take advantage of human-provided food sources like birdseed, garden vegetables, and dropped picnic items.

Adult Eastern Chipmunks typically weigh between 2½ and 4 ounces and grow up to 8 to 10 inches in length, with their bushy tails making up about a third of their total length. They have soft, short, reddish-brown fur, accented by distinctive white, black, and gray stripes along their backs. One of their most remarkable features is the large, expandable pouches in their cheeks, which they use to carry food back to their burrows, sometimes transporting dozens of seeds at once!

These excellent diggers create burrows that can extend over 30 feet and include multiple entrances, storage chambers, and tunnels. Inside these burrows, they stockpile nuts, seeds, acorns, and other food items to sustain them through the winter months until spring. Although they face predation from a variety of animals, including hawks, snakes, foxes, bobcats, raccoons, owls, coyotes, and domestic cats, these predators usually don't significantly impact local chipmunk populations.

Next time you're at the park, keep an eye out for these lively creatures as they dart through the underbrush in search of food!

#RBWinterWildlifeWednesday - Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

On today’s edition of #RBWinterWildlifeWednesday, we take a look at one of the smallest migratory birds that visit R. B. Winter State Park – the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird!

Weighing in at only 2 to 6 grams and reaching 3 to 3.5 inches in length as fully grown adults, Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are one of the smallest of the more than 150 bird species documented at the park. These tiny birds are easily recognized by their distinctive plumage: iridescent green on their back and the top of their head, and white on their undersides. Males have a brilliant iridescent red coloring on their throats, which gives the species its name.

Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are a migratory species that arrive in Central Pennsylvania around the beginning of May. They can be found in open woodlands, gardens, orchards, and other areas with abundant flowering plants. At R. B. Winter State Park, they can be found throughout the forest, but the best place to look for them is at the Park Office. It is not unusual to see a dozen or more hummingbirds using their long, slender bills to sip nectar from the bee balm planted there or from the feeders that the park staff put out for them.

They stay around the area of the park through the summer until August, when they begin their journey south to Central America to spend the winter months. Many birds will fly through the southern states to Texas and then on into Mexico, while others reach Louisiana before launching themselves out over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Flying continuously for up to 500 miles, they can reach the Yucatan Peninsula in 18 to 24 hours. Towards the end of the following winter, they begin building their energy reserves before once again returning north. A hummingbird that winters in the jungles near Merida, Mexico and returns to R. B. Winter State Park would need to fly over 1,500 miles—a journey it undertakes twice a year, every year of its life!

The next time you visit the park, be sure to stop at the office where you can sit and watch the amazing aerial acrobatics of these incredible birds.

#RBWinterWildlifeWednesday - Cedar Waxwing

In today’s edition of #RBWInterWildlifeWednesday, we take a look at one of the most visually striking birds found at R. B. Winter State Park - the Cedar Waxwing!

A year-round inhabitant of Pennsylvania, Cedar Waxwings are medium-sized songbirds comparable in size to an American Robin. Known for their silky, shiny plumage and sleek crests, they typically have a pale brown head and chest that fades into a soft gray on the wings, with a distinctive black mask outlined in white. Their name derives from the bright red, wax-like tips that form on the secondary wing feathers of some adult birds.

Cedar Waxwings can be found in a variety of habitats, ranging from open woodlands and orchards to suburban gardens and parks. They are especially attracted to areas with abundant fruit-bearing plants, particularly berries, which make up approximately 80% of their diet. Unlike many other North American birds, Cedar Waxwings can survive for months at a time on just fruits and berries. They are also known to naturally disperse the seeds of the plants they eat, as they consume the entire fruit and pass the seeds through their digestive tract, spreading the seeds across the landscape as they search for their next meal.

At R. B. Winter State Park, Cedar Waxwings that have not migrated south can be found in the winter as flocks hunt through the forest for berries and other dried fruits to eat. The best time to see them at the park is right now! During the summer months, they often supplement their diet with insects and can be found near the dam, performing dizzying aerial acrobatics as they pluck mayflies, dragonflies, stoneflies, and other insects out of midair.

The next time you’re at the park, be sure to stop by the parking area near the Raymond B. Winter memorial at the dam and watch for these sleek-looking birds!

Picture by Friends of R. B. Winter State Park Board Member Kyle Fawcett