TrulyGrace

Birdwatching, Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology

To prepare for our trip last weekend to Pymatuning, I met up with my friend and coworker, ": )" and her friend Isabel (who is visiting from San Francisco) to look at her Pennsylvania Audubon book on good birding sites at Pymatuning and at Presque Isle this Thursday the 10th of August. We went to Rita's Ice afterwards and enjoyed various flavors--Island Fusion for me, with a little paper umbrella on it.

Friday afternoon Jen F., Anjali deS., and I headed out in Jen's convertible for Pymatuning. I had made arrangements to meet up with a BioSci graduate student, Tom P., to visit his field site. After purchasing provisions as we arrived at 6West, we drove through Linesville and over the spillway for beautiful sunset views of both parts of the lake. We prepared a dinner of sloppy joes, fries, and veggies, and Tom visited. He explained his field sites, future work in the department, and we planned to visit one of his field sites Saturday.
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Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast of eggs, sausage, bread, we met up with Tom and Jill and spotted an osprey in the stand of trees by our cabin. Then we went to the administrative buildings to visit classrooms; computer facilities; and the library, where there were soil surveys and a Munsell soil color book. From the equipment room we retrieved some sieves, and two shovels (for shabbaru-do). Off to his field site we went, for a cursory look at a soil near his field tract. He dug partially into the profile, then I determined approximate horizons, and there were mottles less than 2 feet from the surface. It's a sandy loam that classes between two mapping units...really a neat, interesting soil for someone to look at that is a sandy loam with mottles at shallow (<2ft.) depth. The soil is similar to the Chenango (Shenango [sic]) and Venango soil series. Roots were restricted to the upper two horizons in this fallow field. We returned to PLE and a lunch of turkey sandwiches, fruit, and snacks, supplemented by cold pasta. The ubiquitous Canadian geese, a turkey vulture, and other birds were spotted that morning.

We gals spent the rest of the day at Tuttle Beach, Anjali snoozing under the trees while Jen and I took to the water of the glacial lake (moraine)/reservoir. We saw Canadian geese, as well as evidence of them. After a nap, we dined on Mexican food and peach angel food cake, and lights out were early ~8pm...We were tired and decided to turn in early, skipping the community bonfire.
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Sunday, we arose for the 8 am Mass at St. Philip RC Church, with a visiting priest presiding at Mass. We stopped for a bit at the gift shop, and spoke with the priest about various matters--about how he went to seminary with Archbishop Donald Wuerl, about a priest who was previously a professor, about how the bishop of Erie is named Donald, etc. We then headed to the Driftwood Restaurant, from recommendations from Christine R. and Tom, where the breakfast was even better than we expected--a western omelet; and blueberry, red raspberry, and sweet potato pancakes for Jen and me; and the buffet for Anjali. I met up with Tom for a discussion of the soil survey and his location on the survey; interpretation of the survey, etc. Then we headed out for a trip to the spillway (which is undergoing construction), where we saw many terns, went hiking, and where we watched in awe as people fed carp the bread. Totally disgusting, but a tourist attraction. They are flipping over each other to get to the bread, eating it with their big gaping mouths, and the birds try to walk near/over them. Kinda gross. Jen and I had a discussion about the de/merits of bringing a date there!

In returning for a nap, we spotted some groundhogs. We then drove out to Al's Melon Stand; called Barbara for dinner recommendations; and celebrated a belated birthday dinner for Jen in Cranberry at Dynasty Restaurant, where I had a chance to talk to Phyllis and Anjali's Mom on the phone between courses.

posted by Grace @ 8/15/2006 08:06:00 AM