So far, the winter in Erie has been virtually a no-show.  Sure, we have had a few light snowstorms, but folks; this is Erie.  Most years, we have had almost three or four times the amount of snow here in Northwestern …

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        Happily for me, Friday the 13th turned out to be a wonderful day for a short visit to Horseshoe Pond.  Sometime about 10 A.M., I left the house for Presque Isle.  I quickly become conscious that it was turning out to be a day of penetr…

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            It’s Friday December 23rd.   No work today and holiday shopping and wrapping done.   I decide to go for a short walk on the park once the fine mist that has been falling since 7 a.m. stops.  I recognize I will not melt; h…

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                The morning today has dawned clear and cold with a sharp crispness in the air that more than hints at the end of autumn.  I know autumn is coming to end in the way the cup in my hand no longer warms my fingers, and the st…

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The male Northern Cardinal has perhaps been responsible for getting more people to open a field guide than any other bird that I know.  The Northern Cardinal is a year-round inhabitant of PRESQUE ISLE.  They prefer to live in the tangled shrubby grow…

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           November and December on Presque Isle can be both beautiful and violent.  On the violent side, storms often assault the shoreline and cause beach erosion.  The late fall/early winter storms almost always churn Lake Erie up, creat…

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The animals of Presque Isle come in all shapes, sizes and colors. They live in the water, on the land, in the trees and in burrows underground. The little guy I am going to talk about today lives in the trees and near the pools of water on the park.  …

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This Presque Isle vista is named after the Sturgeon fish that were plentiful in Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes in the 1800s.  The vista is located at the 4th parking lot on your right as you enter the park.  It was common that the Sturgeon in La…

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Two weeks ago while sitting on a log tucked away in a quiet place on Ridge Trail.  I noticed the squirrels and chipmunks seemed to be eating one type of acorn, and ran away to hide a different looking one.  To me, an acorn was an acorn.  Boy, was I …

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Tuesday was a beautiful but cloudy fall afternoon, so I skipped out of work early and headed for Presque Isle.  I have not been walking on the park over the last six to eight weeks, so I knew any walk would need to be short and slow.  (Doctors’ ord…

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This is not the casual ride this South African mountain biker expected. The animal is a red hartebees, an African antelope that can weigh as much as 440 pounds.

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A week ago, I met a woman while on Presque Isle who asked me a question that stopped me dead in my tracks.  She asked, “Gene, you are out on Presque Isle all the time, can you tell me why someone does not clean up the woods on Presque Isle up a bit …

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It’s fall, so I am walking as much as possible on the trails of Presque Isle.  This IS the fun time of the year for me. For me, Presque Isle walks this time of year should be slow and done with the idea of enjoying nature’s world that is all aroun…

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                    Finally, progress is being made on the construction of the Presque Isle Partnership/GE Turtle Viewing platform to be located at the lagoons’ Grave Yard Pond.   The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has …

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 It started out today as a beautiful late September Monday morning, so I decided to work on choosing the pictures for my Monarch Butterfly piece, which I planned to post on this blog on Tuesday. The air was crisp and clear, just like you would expect …

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  It’s seven a.m., and I am back on the patio to write the rest of my blog on butterflies. It is more than a bit cool at 54 degrees, so a sweatshirt becomes standard equipment. This morning is sunny and bright with only a few high clouds off in …

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 It’s like someone threw a switch on Labor Day and turned off summer and turned on the fall weather. Temperatures moved from 90 degrees to 65 degrees in two days. Today, I’m up and outside early again this morning. This is a habit of mine when the…

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 There is a new group of scientists and engineers becoming deeply involved in a field called biomimetics.   They are studying and emulating the design characteristics of various insects, birds, and animals with the hope that their studies will creat…

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