Trailblazers Adventure Summer Camp, July 2024
Our second session of the 2024 summer season was Trailblazers Adventure Summer Camp! Of the three camps we offer, Trailblazers Adventure is our middle-level of difficulty. This camp is for students entering 3rd through 8th grade, our field trip locations are closer, and our camp day is not as long as Trailblazers High Adventure. We still hiked an amazing 14.5 miles during our four days together. We also were able to survive yet another heat-wave week during camp!
Our first day of Adventure features activities on two nature trails! In the morning, we split the group in half and enjoy a guided hike and bird walk on the Bethel Springs Elementary School Nature Trail. Students learned the importance of trail etiquette, and we also observed a family of Eastern Bluebirds that just left the nest! In the afternoon, we board the bus over to Concord Elementary School's Nature Trail to do a walk in Webb Creek in the afternoon! This ended up being the perfect afternoon activity since it was sunny with temperatures in the low 90s. Unfortunately, this would not be the only day of weather like this for us! We did have two exciting wildlife observations at the Concord Nature Trail: a Great Blue Heron that landed in a tiny tree in the meadow, and a Two-lined Salamander found down by the creek.
Tuesday's field trip was a full day at Okehocking Preserve in Willistown, Pennsylvania. This location has been a Trailblazers favorite over the years; 2024 marked our 7th visit with summer camp! We find this location offers the perfect mix of challenging hiking and refreshing waters to go creek walking. It also has a variety of quality habitat so we often see lots of wildlife on our visits! Today's trip required a different strategy than usual. Since we had another heat-wave day, we decided to go on a brief hike in the morning. Then, we spent a long afternoon of cooling off as we explored the waters of Ridley Creek!
Wednesday's field trip took us to White Clay Creek State Park in Newark, Delaware! This was our third-ever visit to the park with Trailblazers (the last time was in August of 2018.) Like yesterday, we had heat-wave conditions in our area (sunny with temperatures in the mid-90s.) We had a brief 1.5 mile hike to our creek, and then we spent the rest of our day in the creek once we arrived. Water levels were much higher than last time we were here; the previous night's rainstorms brought down considerable precipitation along with lots of debris! Even though the water level was higher, conditions were still safe for creek exploring. We even met another group there who let our students borrow boogie boards to ride down the rapids!
Thursday's field trip was to John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This trip was quite different than all the other days since we finally had a break in the heat! Today was entirely devoted to hiking and wildlife watching (no creek necessary!) Our morning consisted of a trip to the Big Boardwalk, which stretches across the main impoundment. Here, we observed interesting birds such as Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Barn Swallow, and Least Sandpipers (with one single blue Croc shoe in the marsh to help the kids find the birds.) We even had a pair of immature Bald Eagles soar over for us! Later, we had a bonus adult Bald Eagle land across the refuge in a tree for all to see! All photos taken by Brian "Mr. BQ" Quindlen unless otherwise noted.
In the afternoon, we hiked to the observation tower! Here, we were treated to the most exciting bird of the week: Yellow-crowned Night Heron! This species is most commonly seen along the Atlantic Coast, but they do stray inland into Pennsylvania (especially after the babies have dispersed from their nests.) This juvenile type bird has been hanging around the refuge for a few days. We first had obscured looks from the observation deck, but a short walk around the corner to a nearby bench offered up incredible views of this hard to find bird!
This observation represents a first for Trailblazers (a "lifer" or a "life bird," meaning the first time you've seen this in your life.) Our last lifer for the club was almost one year ago when we saw a Cliff Swallow at Okehocking Preserve. The longer one birds, the harder it is to find new species you haven't seen yet! Trailblazers now has a life list of 167 species observed since the start of the program.
Overall, we had a fantastic week of camp despite some very challenging conditions at the beginning of the week. We were able to brave the heat as we hiked 14.5 miles! We observed a life bird for Trailblazers (with amazing looks at said bird.) Best of all, we had lots of fun connecting with nature and connecting with one another. Thank you to Trailblazers families for your continued support, and we look forward to our last session of camp for the summer: Trailblazers Summer Camp.
For more on the birds we observed, check out our eBird Trip Report here!
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