With one of the largest shares of Appalachian Mountains among all the eastern states, Pennsylvania is home to many dozens of songbirds that fill our forestlands each summer. These voracious insectivores not only protect forest trees from overgrazing by insects, but also produce a rich array ...
They don’t grow them this big everywhere, but Pennsylvania has its share of giant bears. Released today by the Game Commission, the 2024 bear harvest totals prove that yet again. Consider the Venango County bear Heath Bromley, of Titusville, got with a crossbow in October. It weighed in ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — For Sue Hynicker, leaving a legacy means helping to put fresh food on her community’s tables. A Penn State Extension Master Gardener volunteer in Lancaster County, Hynicker helped pilot “Adopt a Pantry,” a collaboration between the Master Gardener program and the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. The initiative addresses food insecurity in Lancaster County by donating excess produce from community gardens to local food pantries. “I’m 71,” she said. “I was a nurse all my life. If I can get this off the ground and these gardens can contribute fruit and ...
PHOTO PROVIDED The Penns Valley Shooting Team placed first at the 2025 Pennsylvania State BB Gun Championship Match in Harrisburg recently. The team will be heading to Rogers, Ark., in June for the National BB Gun Match. The team consists of Jeramiah Shaffer, Andrew Royer, Nate Watson, Owen ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — Interested in learning about plants while exploring the natural world? Penn State Extension will offer “Plants in the Park: Plant Identification Walk” on multiple dates and locations from March to November. Led by Cathryn Pugh, forestry and wildlife extension educator, each session will feature a leisurely walk through a state park, where participants will discover common plants and learn the basics of plant identification. The workshop will cover botany terminology, plant identification of common species and wildlife uses of plants. Walks will be up to 0.5 ...
This year’s ‘State of the Birds’ report reveals that the major declines in bird populations reported by Science Journal in 2019 are unfortunately continuing. The 2019 article stated the staggering population loss of 2.9 billion birds in the U.S. and Canada since 1970. Most, though not ...
